Intervals, 1st Race and Houses

This month, now over half done has been a rambunctious one. From training in the snow to being too warm in one layer, packing to move (no we haven't moved yet or even closed for that matter) to having the first mtb race of the year, life has been a handful. It's all good, just busy.

So we will start with the evilness that interval training can be. I haven't done any hard race efforts yet as I am really just getting started with my training after being sick a month. But I have been getting in some sub race efforts. Did I say some? Holy cow I meant a ton. JEE-SUS. My coach was sprinkling them in almost daily working me over each time. The husband was/is getting sick of me crawling up the stairs each night!!

And those sub race efforts are sneaky little devils too because I would hammer out a long effort up a hill starting in the warmer climate and would make my way up to snow by the end. Then I would have to turn around and descend and when I did that I was freezing my tail off. OMG the descent was cold - so cold in fact that I would find myself begging for the recovery time in between efforts to speed up so I could start my next hard effort to get warm! Now that is just sick and wrong but I was freaking cold and wanted to head back up the mountain again so I could get warm again and, oh yeah, start the process all over again. Like I said, those efforts were sneaky little things...having me beg to do the next one which is just flat out twisted.



Next up was heading down to St. George on Friday March 5th for the first mtb race of the season the next day. And on the way down I could feel a nagging, tickle on the top of my mouth that I just chose to ignore.....which as it turns out was a bad idea. I did have my suspicions of course but was trying to will the thought of getting sick away. Chris had been super sick for some time and was just barely getting over it and since I never ever ever get his colds I felt like I was safe. Not this time apparently.

By the time I woke on Saturday for the race I felt like junk. Here we were away from home all packed up, gotta hotel, I was supposed to race, bike was all ready but the engine wasn't. But I really wanted to race still! So I put all logic in a bag, stuffed it under the nasty hotel bed and prepared to race in a few hours. Not the smartest move on the face of the planet but there we were with no place to go except home and I wasn't about to do that. I thought at the very least I will get out on my mtb on dirt for the second time since November. Plus how bad can it really be - its just a head cold?

Ha! What a joke. Between not being prepared for race efforts and being sick I only had one gear during the race. No punch, no kick, no va-va-va-voom, no NOTHING except the desire to sleep. Excellent way to race let me tell you.

Local legend Lynda W smacked it hard to me and took off in front part way thru the first lap leaving nothing for me to eat except her dust. It took everything I could muster up to keep her in site but that was short lived. She was on fire and took the win. I somehow slopped it in for second. KC, Sarah K, and Jen were to follow putting in amazing efforts for this early in the season.


Sarah, some chica in her new Mafia Racing gear, the winner Lynda, KC and Jen Hanks.

All in all though: great race, great friends and great sunny beautiful weather where I got to blind people with my milky white nasty pasty a** legs. Maybe that is what did it....I blinded everyone so bad that they couldn't see the trail to put up a fight as I passed them. Need to work on that tan for sure. SCARE-EE.

For the MTBracenews.com report on the race click here.

Once home from St. George I was able to get rid of the cold which took some time actually. How many times can one get sick in 3 months for the love!? Apparently I am going for the record here. As if I wasn't behind enough in my training already! Good lord. I will be flying come fall though. Ho-Hum.

But I was eventually able to get out and work my way back into hammering myself into the ground again. And to think that was my only goal while sick that I wanted to accomplish! Crazy cyclists! The weather here did take a turn for the better and got warm, getting up into the 50's occasionally. That was nice. Think I had a few days recently that I actually only wore ONE layer head to toe while riding. I like that!


You see the 2 swans? Kinda hard to since they look headless cuz they are hunting!

As for the house........we wait. That is the name of the game in 2010. All banks are dotting their "I's" and crossing their "T's" these days. It is a rough game out there to play right now as you might imagine but we continue to hope for the best.

Oh and my Mafia Racing/Pabst/Felt team was announced as well. Check out the announcement here if you wish.

Next up is heading on over to CA next week for the first big national race that takes place next weekend. Ok, off to train in the wind...