Race Report and whatnot: Dalton State Collegiate Cycling

This will be slightly abbreviated because a week has already passed and I don’t really care that much about it. (Okay, after I finished writing I realized it wasn’t too abbreviated. I guess I got caught up in the excitement again.)

My first impression of the weekend was crap. I went in expecting to sweep the omnium and that’s what I told myself the whole time. I didn’t win a single race. I took “2^nd,” 4^th, and 3^rd. Race morning Saturday was wet and still raining a little bit. The registration table seemed chaotic and attendance looked small for a race. The time trials were supposed to start at 8:30 and my start time was 8:42:30. As time progressed, it didn’t seem like there was any chance that they were going to start on time which is about when they announced that the TT would be moved back to 8:45. Okay, sweet. That means the start times are moved back 15 minutes so I should start around 8:57. Wrong. While I was waiting in line for the porta-potty and frantically trying to pin my number to my jersey, my start time came and went. I made it to the start line over five minutes late. My new start time was moved to 8:46; however, I was never informed of this. I knew I was starting behind so I thought I could just make up some time. That led to me hitting it hard out of the gate. Not the best idea either. Since I was rushed, I never warmed up. My legs have never felt so heavy in my life. The whole thing was painful and I never got into a groove. I pulled off a 27:09 for an average of 22.5mph over the 10 mile out and back course. If that was the time that actually had been recorded for me, then I would have finished 2^nd. (Not only in C’s, but overall since turnout was low that morning for the ITT.)

Later that afternoon was the crit where I thought I stood the best chance for a win. However, stupid us waiting for another teammate to get ready, we missed the start of this race too. We saw the peloton coming over the hill while we were riding to the start line. The race official confirmed it was the Men’s C group and let us pull a quick 180 to jump in. That is of course after we chased them down over the first mile. Just another huge effort on cold legs to start the race. No big deal. Since the course was a 3.5 mile loop, we were only set to do five laps for the 40 minute race. For some reason my stupid self thought it would be a good idea to pull the entire second lap. This ended with me going straight through the back of the field as we hit the climb to the finish to start lap 3. I never recovered from this like I thought I could on the descents. I put in some good efforts and almost bridged the gap with another rider on my wheel early in lap four. When we got close to the break, there was some miscommunication and he jumped on an attack to bridge and left me behind. More work for me. I kept at it although I never really expected to catch the front break. I guess I pulled back enough riders as they fell off because I finished fourth. Oh, and I overtook and outsprinted the guy that I had drug back to the group in lap four.

So going into Sunday’s road race, I wasn’t feeling too excited or expecting too much from my performance. The course was supposed to be hilly and would probably have some breaks. I was fine with just getting out there and riding the two lap 37 mile course. On a positive note, I did make the start line for this race. About 3 miles into the race, one rider went off the front, how stupid. We let him bleed. Then about 9 miles into lap one, a break started to go. Sitting middle of the pack, I was not with the break, but I was able to see it go. I was determined to make it. A shallow decent allowed me to launch a huge effort and fly pass the other riders strung along the course. I made the break consisting of 6 riders represented by 6 different teams. It felt good. As we rolled through the pace line, I guess I took too big of a pull in my excitement because as we rolled through the next hill, I fell off the back. Damn it, Matt, you did it again. I was stuck in no man’s land for a few miles with the group in my sight but still out of reach. I was suffering, but knew that I had to bridge the gap again; otherwise, the race was over. I hammered and eventually made it back on. Now I’m two big efforts in on the race and still 20 miles to go. The group stuck together from this point on and kept rolling through the pace line. Race official told us we had 4 minutes on the peloton with about 9 miles to go in the race, so the winner would be in this group. I was starting to like my chances. Over the last 5 to 6 miles, we started picking up the pace. Riders started making attacks in the last two miles. Each blip in the road was a new launching point. It was starting to hurt. I wasn’t positioned very well heading into the 90 degree right hand turn 150 meters out from the finish, but I thought if I took the outside line and launched my sprint appropriately things could work out. I got bumped way to the outside in the corner and came out of it in 5^th place or so. The rider leading into the corner had a great line and came out over 20 feet in front of me. I still gave it a shot, but the legs didn’t feel too great. I came up beside the guy that took second, but couldn’t overtake him. I finished with 3^rd.  (race results) 

Overall spring break was really good to me. More sleep, no stress from school, and more time to ride left me with a four pound weight loss for the week. On top of that and the races, I got to go camping in Alabama and get some training done on the ITU Worlds course.

The dichotomic following weekend:

Saturday I had probably my best training day of the year. I had a really hard bike and pretty impressive run following it. Everything here has hills so I have to take that into consideration when I compare times and splits to previous years that I trained solely on the flatlands of Memphis. So when I pulled a 20.4 mph average 55.5 miles on the road with 5 intervals of 4 minutes into the pain and lactate threshold with my heart rate above 170 with 3 minutes recovery each set and followed it with a four mile run averaging 7:42 with four decent hills and the last mile being the fastest even with my VMO’s cramping, I was pretty satisfied. After when I was relaxing I could feel the work and damage my legs had undergone. It was a very rewarding and satisfying exhaustion.

The rest of the weekend didn’t go quite so well. I got stood up Saturday night which was so much fun and then my Sunday workout turned to crap. I was determined to make it a great one on Raccoon Mountain with an off-road brick, but God had other plans. My first lap was going fine until I passed my first guy at about 9 miles into the ride. I immediately burped my front tire on a rocky section which made me feel really cool. The Stan’s sealed up nicely, but I still stopped and put some air back into it. I continued on. I came out to a really rocky section next to the dam. Not being familiar with the trail and just blazing through, I decided to just hit it hard right in the middle. Why not, right? It was a three step rock drop-off of considerable size. It was the only line I saw as I approached it. As I dropped off the first rock, things went straight downhill: my front wheel turned and got stuck on some rocks, I endo’ed, I banged my left elbow and knee, I could now hear air screaming out of my front tire, and as I looked up from the ground, I caught my bike as it came the rest of the way down the rock. I had a little gash on my elbow, my pre-patella bursa was swelling quickly, and I had ripped a hole in the sidewall of the tire. I had had such good luck with all my equipment and now that I am away from my shop all hell is breaking loose. It really makes me miss Outdoors Inc. I flipped the bike upside down and started to put my spare tube in. The tube has a hole of course. So I begin to walk it out. I don’t know how many miles back it was, at least two. I figured someone would pass me once I made it back to the road and give me a ride back to my car; I wasn’t so lucky. Halfway along the road, I was tired of walking in my carbon fiber shoes and messing them up so I decided to take them off. While that might have spared them some damage, it left me with a nice blister on my right heel which would keep me from doing any running once I made it back to my car. I don’t remember the last time I flatted and had to walk out of a trail, but I know the last time I had to walk my bike because of a mechanical issue was on this exact same road. After the time trial at the River Gorge Omnium, my crank arm fell off and I had to walk halfway back to my car before someone picked me up on this same road around the reservoir on top of Raccoon Mountain. The only other time I’ve tried to ride this trail was on my birthday last year. Only a few miles in and I took a descending corner too fast and tweaked my right knee (which has undergone three previous surgeries). We didn’t finish the ride that day either. You can say I am not a fan of this trail. But then again why shouldn’t this have happened? I would be greedy to expect two good workouts in back to back days.  

America

America: The first team to ever pick me up.

I guess I can deal with that. Hopefully, it won't be the last team though. I'm honored to get to wear the Team USA kit in a race. It should be an amazing experience. I've also bumped up training ever since I got the news in order to better represent; and you know, kick ass for myself. I took a camping trip to Pelham last weekend to do some training on the course. The run course has changed to eliminate the last of the death march hills. That's good for me and my running game, but it helps everyone else too. The trip was two days of ups and downs. I planned on doing two laps of the bike course and then a full run through of the run course for a solid brick workout. Two-thirds of the way through the first bike lap I noticed my crankset was loose; therefore, sliding back and forth on my $220 ceramic bottom bracket. The trail included a few creek crossings too which is great for it I hear. So I found a road out and back to the car where I got out my tools in an attempt to fix the issue. Satisfied with my work, I headed back to finish the course. Once complete, I wasn't really feeling another lap since I was still a bit tired from road intervals the day before and still needed to set up camp and get wood before it got completely dark. The post-ride run went decently well and I could tell some of my weight training was paying off on the short, steep hills.

Rain during the night made for a muddier trail system the next day which was topped off by rain at the beginning of my run and the end of my bike. I swapped up the order to get a better quality run on the course. Overall, I wasn't really thrilled with the trip or my performance. I expected more and was a little down about not living up to it. It made me question my training and progression towards my goal. It made me question my ability, skills, speed, and the qualifications for making Team USA. I wondered why I go through all of it if it's not ever going to really amount to anything; why I sacrifice the things I do in pursuit of this dream. I know I am doing damage to my joints, especially the ones I've already damaged and continue to hurt. These are some of the things I think about on long rides and runs. They get emotional and have extreme highs and lows. Not emotional in the way that I'm going to break down and cry, but that feelings towards people and objects come from nowhere and I feel I must express them and talk to people about it. Thoughts race through my head more during those long rides than any other aspect of my life. It's one of the reasons I do it, and love it. Then once I step off the bike or out of the shoes, the conviction fades. Things go unsaid and feelings just sink back down; the words that say the ideas and feelings so perfectly simply disappear. If I could dictate my thoughts during my rides, I'm sure most people would think I'm crazy, but in an oh so eloquent way. On the other hand, some rides I feel awesome and think I'm flying through the trail or on the road. I think I could win any race and am practically uncatchable on the bike, especially in a sprint. Those are good rides.

So coming off this low, I looked through my book of notes and saw some stats from last year's training trip in Pelham. This year my average speed on the bike was up over 1 mph and the max speed was up over 5 mph. I also saw a note saying that my shoulder didn't bother me when I swam down there. I didn't remember having any shoulder problems last year and was now curious if it was the same issue I've been having this year. I couldn't find any other notes in last year's training log though. When I was scrolling through the log, I saw some impressive runs. I was running much faster last year posting a 46 minute 10K after a 26 mile road ride and a 44 minute 10K during an 8 mile run. I also weighed 178 four days before the Southeastern Championship race. I am nowhere near those times or that weight, which might not be a bad thing since I am still so far out from the race and last year's runs pretty much all sucked except for the one Casey Fannin and I did head-to-head the whole way at Xterra Lock 4 Blast. Plus my weight is different this year. I've been hitting the weights like I never have before. I've put up some serious numbers and feel stronger than ever. Ultrasound analysis says my body fat is only at 9.2%, making 178 almost unachievable. I'll get further testing done over the next few months since I'm signed up for some research studies that include BodPod body composition testing and several VO2 max testings in various environmental and hydration conditions.

So, some positives and some negatives. Overall I'm going to assume it's a positive, which could be reassured with a dominating and definitive win this upcoming weekend. It will be the first race of the season and will be a collegiate cycling race at Dalton State. So I'll take advice and perspective from a more seasoned veteran in the ups and downs, Andrea Wilson, and "cheer up emo kid." I mean it's not all bad.

The technical section of the course: Blood Rock. Crazy fun to rock on the 29er.

I now have a way to make coffee when I go camping at races.

Great scenery. Unfortunately to see most of the good stuff, you have to actually go yourself.

Albino Turkey Vulture

Red-Tailed Hawk. I think he wants to eat me.

Turkey vulture eating food court Chinese, I mean chopped rat. Sorry

I don't know how this came out so well. At the campsite as I was packing up.

Troubles

While some things have been going great, I am still me and I will always get hurt. I'm already dealing with quite a few injuries and setbacks this year. So in no particular order:

I am trying to get back into running shape, which is hard having taken off for such a long time after the end of last season. To make matters worse, I have developed a big lump of scar tissue in my left heal from when I landed on a piece of steel last August. I was trying to mount bike hangers in the walls of my new apartment. The mount was sitting in the floor and I was up on the dresser drilling into the wall. I was done and jumped back off the dresser and my left heel hit first, right on the 2mm wide piece of backing steel for the hanger. The steel bent, the drill bit snapped off in the carpet, and my heel wrenched in pain. I had to walk on the ball of my foot for the next few days but eventually the pain subsided and the radiographs showed no fracture. Now, the knot of scar tissue is making it very difficult to stretch my plantar aponeurosis and heel striking is just about completely out of the picture. I'm slowly working it out with some painful massage though.

A week and a half ago, a few friends and I went snowboarding with the UTC Outdoors program. It was a great trip, but I didn't realize until the next day that in one of my high velocity falls I injured my left shoulder. I was scared it was a rotator cuff issue. I couldn't swim at all last week, but my stroke is coming back this week. I haven't been able to do my power cleans in the gym either. It is still painful, but the progression and the presentation of the pain leads my professor and me to believe it is more of a deltoid or impingement issue that I hope will work itself out soon.

Since I've been back at school, I have not had a pain free bike ride. My lower back has been giving me problems with most of the pain coming from the right side around L4/L5. I usually get about 30 minutes into the ride before I start noticing the pain. I can make it to about 40 mins before it peaks and I usually give in and dismount the bike to stretch and give it a little break. It subsides rather quickly and I'm back on my way. It usually comes back around 1:45. Sometimes I make it back, sometimes I have to get off and stretch again. I adjusted my fit some after I videoed myself and saw some issues. I was hoping this would take care of my issue and that the pain was just from over reaching by rocking my hips to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke. This past Sunday was the best ride I've had all year. I started out a little faster than usual so the pain started coming on at about the same distance but a little earlier, around 28 minutes. I wiggled around a bit and somehow overcame it. The ride was going great. My legs were flying around the pedals and the pace was not dropping. I was making my way the furthest east I have gone since I've been riding in Chatt. (My goal is to find a reasonable route to North Carolina. I think I can make a 7 hour trip there and back. Spring Break training camp?) I was at 19.7mph at my turn around point of just over an hour and a half. I wanted to keep going, but I really wanted to get back in time to watch Brandon wrestle App State, the last regular season home match. So, I made the U-turn and started heading back. The legs began to fade a bit and a third of the way back I had dropped to 19.5mph. I tried to keep pushing on as I grabbed a bite of Clif Bar. Carefully retracing my path to make sure I didn't get lost on the new roads, I came soaring back to my normal routes when the back pain started to hit again. I was too close and too pressed for time to get off and stretch. So, I just tucked and pushed through. I suffered through the big climb near the end and kept pushing the pace to try to maintain my average speed. I had made it back up to 19.7. With a screaming back and legs, I pulled into my apartment, stripped the chamois off and headed to the arena to catch the match. I kept the 19.7mph, but the change in bike fit and stretching had failed to alleviate my back pain.

So, I set up a time to meet with one of my professors and go through an examination. We found that my right multifidus was grossly atrophied. It was mush and weak compared to my left side. We're not sure why, maybe a strain from last November when I missed the hook for the barbell at the end of squat session, but some type of inhibition is going on and I need to wake it up. I hope it is not from anything more serious such as joint or bone trauma. I'm working on strengthening it and firing my transverse abdominis to see if that might bring it back.

In order to win the Xterra Region, I have to race four races including one championship distance race. I've done the southeast championship twice and planned on doing it again this year to help me clinch the jersey for the third time, this was one of my goals for this year. However, I got an email today saying the championship race has been cancelled in order for Xterra to host the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship. This is awesome, but it also means I have to find another race to do. I can either travel to Richmond in June or Louisiana in May. I haven't heard too many good things about the Richmond race. They have even had issues of vandalism and competitors getting lost on course because of it. I've experienced this at the Colorado State MTB race in '07 and don't really want to do that again. Louisiana is a great course, but that would be a far drive and it's not technically a championship race. It might have to do though. This is in fact if I don't make the Team USA which will be racing in the world championship. I applied earlier this week. Fingers crossed, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for that email.

Alberto Contador also ran into some trouble this week. His positive test for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France finally caught up to him. He has been stripped of his 2010 Tour victory, his 2011 Giro victory and is banned from racing in either this year and from competing in the London Olympics this summer. Harsh stuff especially when you factor in the fine he will receive. The board is pushing for $3 million. Most have been saying this is bad for cycling, but I don't understand. The positive test was already exposed. Everyone knew about it. They only change is the punishment. This affects Contador and not necessarily the sport as a whole. Maybe I'd be more upset if I liked him, but I personally think he's an ass. I'm glad Andy gets the win now for the 2010 Tour. Sort of like retribution for Contador attacking on the slopes when Andy dropped his chain. Karma's a bitch isn't it, Contador? It's also pretty lame that Contador said he thought he was supposed to be protected and untouchable "like Lance" since he had spent so much money on lawyers. What a load of crap. Lance never tested positive during Tour.

Since this week is the Combined Sectionals Meeting for the American Physical Therapy Association, our classes are canceled for the rest of the week. Hello four day weekend. So tomorrow I'll be back on the bike and see how the back is feeling. I'm also going on another snowboard trip this Saturday with the UTC Outdoors program. Wish me luck.

I'm saying those are the mountains of North Carolina in the very far distance. 

Great Start to 2012

Since I've been back at school, I haven't missed a single day of working out. I've made some good progress in my swim stroke and put in a few good rides. I joined the UTC cycling team. I went to see one of my best friends wrestle against Cleveland State. I've been rock climbing and entered a climbing competition. I went bowling and learned a new way to throw the ball. I did my first clinical visit of PT school last week, and we attended orthopedic grand rounds at Erlanger hospital. I went on a caving trip to Petty John's cave in Georgia and I have a snowboard trip planned for this Saturday on Beech Mountain in North Carolina. I think I am doing college right. (Let's hope this test tomorrow doesn't prove otherwise.)

A few other highlights: My dad got back safely from Kuwait; he got a promotion to the best Kroger store in the Delta division which happens to be right by our house; he got a raise with his return to work; and he bought a new car. My older sister had her baby early yesterday morning; they are both healthy and doing well. And today is my little brother's birthday. He is now 21.

Ambitious 2012

Just like everybody else, the new year brings new goals and ambitions for me. Unlike everybody else, I will actually follow through with them. Heck, I've already made progress on three of them.

So here are a few of them:

#1 Win Xterra Southeastern Championships, this is largely dependent on a good run which is where goal 2 comes in
#2 Put up a sub 45 min run split at Southeasterns

Now goal three is a little tricky. Yes, I want to just go ahead and commit to it, but I don't want to show up and be embarrassed and waste the money and time and time away from school. So goal three is dependent upon completion of goal 1 and 2

#3 Race (WIN) Xterra USA National Championship
#4 Claim the Xterra Regional Championship Jersey
#5 Race at least 3 crits
#6 Win the TN crit state championship
#7 Take a girl out on a real date, not just hang out at some party
#8 Eliminate irresponsible nights of mayhem
#9 Under social obligations I guess I must include do well in school and my first rotation coming up this summer

I found this article/list of pretty good resolutions too. Not saying I'm shooting for all of them, but I think numbers 4, 9, 11, and 15 are pretty good ones that I have incorporated into my life. (Supposedly there has been some confusion. I do know my math and that I haven't listed 15 goals here. The numbers are a reference to another article that you can find by clicking the hyperlink at the beginning of the paragraph, "article/list".)


There. So now that they are down on paper and displayed to the public, they are real goals. I can be held accountable and will hold myself accountable.


Forgot to put the goal of riding 5,000 miles. I did a rough collection of my actual miles from 2011 and came up with 3,125 miles ridden. I didn't set up my training log to tally this so this is what I could come up with retrospectively. It had to be at least this much. Should make for some fun time in the saddle.

Grad School Update

Wow, it's been quite some time. I have neglected my posting for "higher education" and "more important" endeavors. Not sure I agree with all those terms. I really miss racing right now and writing about the great times I had. Since I originally said this blog would be about my racing and my schooling, I guess I need to include some posts about graduate school.

Far too many things have occurred since my last post and the beginning of semester to attempt to summarize the trip it has been, but I can say it has been busy and very informative. Just this afternoon I had my hands in a man's chest and cut out both of his lungs. Yes, we are doing cadaver dissections in my gross anatomy class. That class is where 78% of my attention and studying has been going over the semester. I have done exceptionally well so far. Well, except for the most recent test. Not a great showing for me, but it will do. My dissection group is great. Thankfully, it consists of three amiable girls that let me do all of the fun, nasty parts of dissection. It also means that we have great gossip around the tank and get to discuss who looked super cute that day in class. We started on Bobley and then moved to Betty Sue. Betty Sue is textbook perfect and was a great time. Tina was not as easy to handle, but we ended up with a very easy dissection for her. Now wrapping the semester up I got to use the bone saw last Friday to cut through ribs, sternum, and the clavicle to reflect the thoracic cage. Lab has been an amazing tool to help me understand the body and get a very firm grasp on muscles, nerves, vessels, fiber orientation, fascia, and of course subcutaneous fat. My mental visualization of muscles in people and the workings of their skeletal system is at such a higher level now.

Occasionally, we have to leave lab and learn other subjects. We've learned how to walk with crutches, do wheelies in wheelchairs, and how to do posture assessments. I learned how to do a back tuck for professional communication and I mastered how to make a powerpoint for evidence based practice. In kinesiology, I've learned that TR (a.k.a. Trent Richardson) can squat 600 and bench 450. My teacher still wants to be him when he grows up.

I've taken the things I've learned in the classroom to my everyday life too. Trying to be more like TR to ensure an A in Kinese, I started uping my weights when I do squats. I've been trying to hit the gym every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I've been making some progress now that I'm really trying. Last week I did 20 reps of 315, 15 reps of 405, 14 reps of 455, 20 reps of 315, and then 25 reps of 315. Then I went upstairs and busted out 100 lunges with 25 pound dumbbells. Watch out TR; I'm coming.

I applied the anatomy of the hand in my most recent set of injuries. I've come up with the diagnosis of a torn posterior joint capsule of the first MCP. I finally got into the doctor so I can get a referral to the hand surgeon and see what he says. Radiographs from this visit pretty much confirmed my suspicion and also showed a subluxation of the first CMC joint and a possible dislocation of the capitate bone. Should be a really fun office visit next week.

I did manage to have a little fun the past two weekends. I went fly fishing with the school (we saw a whooping 0 fish the entire trip) and went camping with some classmates. This has been the extent of my outdoor excursions since I have not been biking in such a long time. It's hard to go when I'm so tired once I finally get home from school everyday and the weekends have just been occupied with other things. It's an insult to my bikes to be neglecting them like this. I must do better.

Quite a few of us have also picked up rock climbing. We've spent several afternoons taking study breaks at the bouldering wall in the student rec center. It's a fun sport that is pretty challenging. It's always good to be humbled by a 110 lb girl that scales the wall you've been working on for 20 minutes.

All in all life is passing. The sun rises and the sun sets. I'm trying to make the most of it and include as much as I can in every day. I don't always succeed, but that's what tomorrow is for. Like I said, too much has happened to include it all, but that's what I got so far.

Take Two

It was a great first Friday in Chattanooga. After orientation was over, I met up with my best friend Brandon Wright and took another spin on the River Gorge road course. The course didn't seem nearly as hard or long as it did on Wednesday. Not sure if it was just because I had seen it once now or if my legs were shot from my 4 hours in Memphis on Monday. The climbs passed a lot easier and I knew where to get water this time. On the steep descent into Raccoon mountain, I was able to hit 53.5 mph this time. That's pretty close to my all time high speed I set back in 2007 in Colorado. It sure is fun descending these mountains. I also managed to make the last climb to the finish in 21:30. That's the cat 3 and the cat 5 climb to the lookout. I wasn't killing myself, but I wasn't taking it easy. Hopefully that bodes well for next Sunday's race.

I did run into some mechanical issues though. For some reason my Sram Red front shifter has been freezing up. It doesn't seem to be catching and gets stuck in the big ring. This happened twice and after enough fiddling with it and pushing on it I got it to drop back down. If that happens in the race and I have to do some of those climbs in the big ring it sure will hurt. Let's hope things go smoothly.

Now it's back to preparing for the first week of classes. The physical therapy department has already put the fear of God in us here and it's kinda unnerving. On top of the regular classes I have to prepare for, I am having to study 22 chapters of medical terminology. I never took a course in undergrad, so now they are giving us the option to clep out of it by taking the final exam this upcoming Friday. I finally found the book online yesterday and started going through some it. It's going to be one heck of a week. I really hope I don't start out behind, but I also really hope I don't have to add another 3 hour undergraduate course in the spring because I fail this final exam.

So, I might not be able to get as much playing done here as I thought I would be able to. Kinda disappointing.  I thought I was coming here to bike and learn how to climb...

East Overlook on Raccoon; R.G. RR finish

Views from the visitor center on Raccoon