Much Needed Rest Week

It was so clear to me at Jiminy that I was in need of rest. I probably shouldn't have been racing. Well, I don't know if I'd call what I did "racing." It was more like lethargic self-preservation. Earlier in the week, all I could think about was riding aggressively and attacking the hill hard at the end of the first lap to try and instigate a break. But Wednesday I had a hard workout that I didn't recover well from, so by Friday I couldn't even do my sprint workout. (And yes, I've been doing sprint workouts on Friday, I'm still in base training, not race mode yet.) So by the time I got to the race Saturday, my legs felt so heavy and my resting pulse was pretty elevated, so I was unsure if I should even be there. With my whole team there, I would have been more aggressive, since if I didn't finish well, it wouldn't have mattered if I had teammates feeling good that day. It's a hard time of the year! I'm just finishing my second base cycle, have done no vomax-type interval workouts yet, but of course I want to finish well every weekend. Should I have just attacked and tried to instigate more "racing" in our race Sunday, or did I do the right thing by sitting in and hedging my bets for the finish? I don't know.
Well, I was second after KL up the climb after the first lap, but unless my perception fails me, I don't think we were climbing very hard at all. At least it didn't feel hard to me. Nobody even attacked except KL gave a good surge at the top. But the second time up (our finish) things felt different to me. The climbing didn't feel hard or fast, but my legs were very heavy. I was in good position coming up through the feed zone, probably 5th or 6th wheel, and still, it didn't feel like we were riding that fast. I even believed I could win. Then came the final sprint, and I was yelling at my legs, "go! go! now!! SPRINT!!! HARD!!!!" and well, that just seemed to get no response from my waist down. I just had nothing in the legs. So, 10th for me as I watched the winners so close in front of me but oh so far away and I just rolled over the line. In my last moments before the finish, I did think, "You have to pass her to get a mug, get there, get there!!" But even desire for the coveted mug elicited no response from my legs. Honestly, I was tired and I don't think my heart was in it. The "racing" was less than inspired that day, and when I felt I had no real legs to attack or make something happen, I got disheartened and just rolled around with everyone else, all the way to the line.

Sunday I had a great ride with my teammate Tami. We went out with no real aganda planned, and ended up heading out to the hills in Harvard to enjoy the countryside and the gorgeous blossing apple trees. 4.5 hours of riding without looking at my heart rate monitor felt great. Just out for the pure enjoyment of being on two wheels in the fresh spring air.

So it's rest week. I have two concerts and lots of private lesson students and a music boosters meeting and MCAS practice tests to score and.... so much for rest. I rode to school today - what awesome weather! I'm really looking forward to this weekend. After Sterling, I'm off to to NY to race Bear Mtn! I love that course. Looking forward to it! I hope to bring my legs this time. :)
Packing list:
jersey
helmet
shoes
shorts
license
LEGS