You've already read how my Workingman's didn't turn out. Competing there was a bit of a surprise, but I think it would have worked out if I hadn't got sick. Sick. Yeah. Still not sure what happened. Could have been food poisoning, could have been some kind of flu. I was already having flu-like symptoms when all hell broke loose the night of the TT. My weight had gone back up to over 78 kg in June, but with my fifteen hours in three days training on the holiday weekend, I was starting to get it back under control. My plan was to mix up some short races with long-assed rides to get me ready for a big block of Hilltowns-Concord-Bow-Gate City-Mt A-D2R2 starting Saturday and ending next month. But these things don't always work out the way we plan.
Ten days later, I still have not found the four kg I lost during the sickness. This puts me at the lowest weight of my adult life. You might think that would be a good thing with some hilly races coming up. Maybe it would be if I had the strength to turn the pedals. Recovery from the sickness was pretty slow. Only recently has my appetite returned to sort of normal. I probably should have sought some qualified medical advice, but since I felt like I was slowly getting better, that did not seem necessary. The emphasis is on slowly. I'd feel ok, go for a little ride, then sleep 12 hours, eating little. I'd rest and try to eat, repeat the process. My bathroom patterns were the complete opposite of what brought the weight loss on, so I knew something was wrong. Well it turns out that after a vicious round of diarrhea, constipation is quite common because you are dehydrated and your body is trying to suck the water out of the shit before letting it pass. You people with kids probably already know this, but since I have not been blessed that way, and hardly ever get sick myself, I'm rather ignorant in the ways of PediaLyte and all that.
You still reading? So anyway, with a diet that is rather low in sodium to begin with, compounded by a general loss of appetite, my daily attempts to train in the recent heat and humidity were probably keeping my electrolyte stores and hence hydration at less than optimal levels. I wasn't dieing or anything, but I was running out of gas after less then two hours on the bike. Not that I was used to the heat anyway, with the way this "summer" has gone. Bow is kind of an important race for me. It's my favorite road race, having won it as a Cat 3 a long time ago, as well as scoring a first and a second at the old Manchester Road Race, which had a course that overlapped what is now Bow. The race has not been too kind to me in recent years, as they've made the loop harder as I've grown softer, but last year provided a glimmer of hope when I stuck in the lead group of the 45+ until the end. For this reason, I wanted to go to Hilltowns just to remind my body of how much you have to suffer in one of these things, even when you are going well. TOTH is a 40+ and the long climb does not suit my "talents" but it would have been great training. However, the nature of the last hour of the race puts stamina and endurance at a premium, and these two qualities have gone down the toilet for me lately, both literally and figuratively (did I already use that? Not sure). I kept holding off on registering to see how I'd feel close to race day. Things were getting better, but it wasn't until Thursday that I figured out I might need a little salt in my diet. By Friday I started to feel much better, but faced with a long drive, $40 entry fee, tolls, traffic, locusts, etc, made the executive decision to bag out. I simply lacked confidence and did not want to spend $100 to get dropped and ride in alone and broken, which was how I've been finishing even modest rides around the flat suburbs this week.
As luck would have it, Saturday I felt like a million dollars on the bike. I headed over to Big Blue, anxious to see if my new Rasmussen-esque physique was going to help on the steep stuff, even with my motor running on three cylinders. The road up was more like a mountain stream than a road. Water rushed down, with rocks and storm debris strewn across six inches deep in places. It was humid too. My legs felt good, but I was sucking wind. Not racing will do that to you. In a few spots I had to hold myself back because even though I had the ability to turn the pedals, I felt out of breath. I got to the top in 5:06, my best this year, though not that great. Under the conditions I'll take it. Reminded me of the old, old, old days before the road was reconstructed, when you had to pick your line to keep from spinning the back tire. My best back then was 4:48. The new pavement has to be worth 15 seconds at least. I rode 4:46 three years ago and I know I'm not as strong as I was when I was thirty. Saturday came to 414 watts average, which at my current weight of 73.5 kg calculates to a CP5 of "pretty good."
The rest of the ride was ok too, but I still sort of fell apart at the end and subsequently slept all afternoon, so I'm glad that I skipped Hilltowns. I have a feeling that would have gone OK until about halfway up the climb and then I'd end up crawling back to Windsor as I initially feared. Sunday I recovered but not as well as I'd hoped, but my appetite is finally back and my body once again seems to know how to process food. All good with Bow coming up this week. The bad news is that without any racing or even hard group rides, I'm not sure my suffering capacity will be up to the task. I'm also unsure on whether or not the Concord-Bow double is within my capabilities right now. Concord is one of the best, oldest, longest continually running crits in New England, on a great course, but it also can take a bit more out of your legs than the average crit. Bottom line is that I'm not much of a bike racer this summer. Time for work. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment