Sharing my data - "Form = Fitness + Freshness"

Thanks for the well-wishes ahead of Battenkill. Many of you have asked how it went. Some of you were there. Unfortunately, I came away disappointed in my performance. I had numerous distractions in the month ahead of the race. I did my best to stay on target but fell short of my expectations.

The end result reminded me of a common quote, "Form = Fitness + Freshness". Good form is what you want to have when you toe the line of your big event. It is a complex combination of many things. We gain fitness as we pile on the miles, intervals, and sporadic races or big rides. We increase our endurance, our VO2 Max, maybe drop some weight, improve fundamentals and hone our form. Although we gain significant fitness, we can suffer from the accumulation of training demands.

As we approach our big day (or cluster of events), we incorporate additional rest. Workouts are shorter while maintaining the high intensity or our racing edge. We allow for more recovery. We spend the extra time to finalize our equipment choices, tuning bikes, putting on fresh tires, and generally get ready for battle. In general, we are resting, recovering and gaining freshness.

The end result is great form. We have done the work needed to improve fitness. We allowed for recovery and reached a state of confident calm for the big event(s). Our engine is tuned, cleaned, fueled, and waiting for the green light. We are fit and fresh.

In the month prior, I was forced to do some scrambling. The legs were good and fit but I was dodging obstacles. As I need to taper and gain freshness, I was feeling flat. Legs sore on most days. They did not respond to recovery days. Too late to change much. I reduced the volume and did the intervals and races that my legs would allow. The body continued to feel bad.

The Rhonde Van Mullica two weeks ago compounded the issue. It was the first race this year that my mind could not overcome my legs. "Shut up Legs!" was not good enough and I just rolled through that race. The next week didn't include many hard efforts. It was intended to top off my freshness. The flat legs, fatigue, and soreness continued.

I warmed up for Battenkill with a strange numbness. Too excited to feel what my legs were telling me. At the first big climb of the race...it became clear. This was not going to be a good day. It was arguably the first of four decisive points in the race. I made it through with the contenders but it was obvious to me that my time there would be limited.

I didn't back off and continued to race. At the next significant climb, I put myself in a good position at the front. Hoping that I would still be within the group at the top. That didn't happen. I finished the race playing leapfrog with a few people in my race. Even some from earlier races that were less fortunate than myself.

So I'll share my race data. Ignore the early spikes of heart rate. My Garmin sometimes does that in the early portions of workouts. I'm too lazy to edit the raw data this time. You can see the erratic power while I'm riding within the group. Alternating between pedaling and coasting. We hit that climb near the middle and all that changed. The rest was just me telling my legs to shut up.

I had the good fortune of being with friends and clients for the entire weekend. After racing, I was in the feed zones handing out bottles to others. Battenkill provides a very rare celebration of bike racing. I came home with souvenirs and good memories.

I have felt slightly better this week. I had a very good race out in Lancaster, PA today. Just short of a win. I'll have to settle for just a great day of racing instead. That's not bad. I'll share that experience and data in the next couple days.

As the days get longer and warmer, I'm out riding with all of you more often. I put my own race ambitions aside in order to provide a better coaching service to you. I'll continue to race as my schedule allows. I have a habit of pinning a number on while out there providing race support for all of you. (wink)

Thanks for reading.