Racergirl

When I got home from Arkansas I was Fried.  Capital "F" fried.  I was so burnt out on travelling you can't even imagine it.  I started travelling in Little Rock at 10 am and didn't get home until 12:00 PST.  To fly for approximately THREE hours!  The storm season in the US seems to be early and terrible this year.  Anyhow, I hit the wall when I came home.  I have never had a schedule of XTERRAs as compressed and aggressive as we have had this year.  If you think of it, an XTERRA is about an hour longer than your average mountain bike race so racing them back to back to back is very hard on your body.  You always find a million little bruises on your legs and arms after a mountain bike race, not knowing where they came from and after this many races I was finding bruises on my bruises and a lot of fatigue.  When I added to that the travel and lack of training I think I was just feeling "off" this week.  Like, I don't care if I ever do another triathlon kind of "off".   Don't worry, it has passed with a couple good training sessions but I was in need of some respite for sure.  We did one of the most beautiful rides in Victoria... here is a pic of us.. before we were lost and frozen.

It was a rainy day but still pretty cool to be out there.

While I was gone, Ross put the finishing touches on his baby to make it driveable.  Yep, Ross built himself a hotrod.  I can hear him coming from about a kilometer away.  :)  He loves it.  It is a really, really cool car.  Makes him look extra hot in my opinion but maybe I am just a tirebiter at heart.

Ross and his baby

Read more for the nerdy training recap and the schedule for the next week and a half.....

Gillian is Ross's sister's daughter.. so I guess she is my niece-in-law!  Haha.  Anyways, all of us are so proud of Gillian for winning the all around competition in her first dressage show.  She and Florine took 2nd place in her first dressage test, 1st place in her 2nd test and won 1st place overall (High Point) for the morning as she had the highest dressage test score of all.  

Gillian and Florian - the class of the field

I just wish I looked as beautiful and elegant at the finish of my races!

A long, long time ago, I started as a horsey person as well.  Although, I was always about speed as I barrel raced and did all the rodeo horse speed competitions.  I NEVER was able to ride as well or as beautifully as she can.  Congratulations on a fabulous performance Gill!

Shonny V ended my run towards an undefeated season with her well earned victory yesterday in Burns Park at the XTERRA South Central Cup in Arkansas.  In actual fact, I was not going to be able to sweep the entire series as I was always planning to miss one of the events but it still was looking possible to be undefeated up until halfway through the run yesterday.  Although I kept it together to hold onto second it was still somewhat déjà vu to Alabama 2008 as stupidly hot temperatures made the race one of heat managing attrition which I succumbed to like so many other athletes competing.  I was shocked to come off the bike with Seth Wealing and Brian Smith directly in front of me, two pro men that are normally light years ahead after the first two legs of the race, so weird race dynamics were evident.  With the temperature reading 100 degrees in the afternoon and the heat index registering a much higher temperature of closer to 106 degrees I think that was the hottest day I have ever experienced in my life.

I was lucky to have wonderful people to hang out with during the week.  Dan Lysk and his girlfriend Addie were incredible hosts.  I had lots of fun with the two of them as they are a couple I could absolutely see Ross and I hanging out with.  Dan owns Arkansas Cycling and Fitness in Little Rock and together with super mechanic Brandi (the best female mechanic ever!) got my Specialized Era race fit before the event.  I was lucky to have a guided tour of the course with Addie pre-race which helped me get familiar with the area and I also got a new boyfriend for the week.  Turd the cat stalked me, following my every move and cuddling at every opportunity this week.  Very cute.  I very much appreciated the help from both Dan and from Fred Phillips, the race organizer, putting on a fabulous event in a great venue and rolling out the Southern hospitality at every opportunity.  Orbea really profited from their sponsorship of the event with their athlete Shonny bringing home the title so congratulations to Tony and his team on some big success there!  It was a small contingent of MelRad racers this time around.. but Fred Smith and Todd Poole absolutely rocked it. 

I now have a pretty miserable track record for very hot races with stifling humidity.  Hawaii seems to be fine but East coast and the South not as good.  This history may have also created a crisis of confidence more than actual ability and Shonny won being altogether faster, tougher, harder and more motivated than I on the day.  I really have to give her 100% credit and admiration for being focused on the task, ignoring the uncontrollable elements and executing a winning race plan.  I, on the other hand, decided to focus on some bad luck, on past failures and the stupid thermometer all week long which I know did not improve my chances of taking the win. Read on for details… 

What I was all fussed about... 98 degrees in the MORNING?

If you look closely at the photo you can see my left knee is all bloody and gnarly.  This section turned out to be somewhat sketchy when I tried it the first time and flew over the bars.  Luckily some shrubbery and Oli the art director broke my fall.  I really am behind the seat because I needed to be.