Elgin & Fox River Grove Criterium 2012

First off, I need to back it up a bit. It was a busy winter. I didn't get around to blogging much.  To start things off, I decided to join a new team this yr called "PSIMET.   http://www.psimet.com/ . I wasn't sure what I was going to do this year. My first thought was to take the yr off and just race my bike in a few big stage races here and there. But Then this opportunity presented itself and I am very excited about PSIMET.

Since I am so far behind on writing blogs I am going to post my team mates blog reports and PSIMET blog reports that you can click on to read.
http://jeanniescookies.blogspot.com/2012/05/19-20-may-psimet-omnium.html


 

Tour of Gila 2012

" It's The Experience That I Gained That Mattered Most"  

I had trained very hard over the winter months, and had set a goal for the Gila to see if I could finish all 5 stages of the Gila with the Pro 1/2 women. It might have been a humble goal but it was realistic and possible. Last year, I had raced the Gila as a Cat3/4 and had done very well. Everything went great with traveling this yr. No lost bikes or luggage. It was wonderful to see Stella and Norman Brown whom had hosted me last yr at there house. They are like family to me now. I love them both. They are such giving, warm, loving people. I would have just came out to see them this yr even if I wasn't racing.  

I arrived in Sliver City on Sunday about 3 days before I raced. During the 3 days, I took time to get my bike ready and body acclimated. My first ride out, I wasn't climbing well. I got a bit nervous and called "Wayne Simon from the mountain I was riding. He provided me with some good advice and then after about 1hr in I climbed the mountains and descended.  

So the racing began:

Stage 1: Women's Pro 1/2 Road Race  SILVER CITY TO MOGOLLON ROAD RACE: 73 miles

 Race started at 8:25 am. I was so nervous I could hardly breath. Infact, as I made my way to the start line, Stacy Appelwick saw me, she took me for a little ride around to ease nerves and it helped so much.  It was a big field of 60 women. Race stated and the field was riding strong and steady. Right off the bat, attacks went off and I hung on mostly in the back of the field. I saw Stacy ahead of me in the field and just tried to stay with her and watch her positioning in the field. Attacks went again and Kristen Armstrong was in a break with  5 women up ahead. At about the half way mark or so, they had geared the break in the wrong direction and ended up stopping our race and redirecting the break and restarting our race.   I was excited that I was even still with the field. It was an amazing feeling to ride with a big field of strong women all going so fast and smooth.

When I hit the 25km to go about a little ways past the feed zone, the pace got a little faster. The climbs seemed harder as we where getting closer to Glenwood. I was fading a bit.  I had lost the field. I couldn't hold the cadence. So, I just put into my "sweet spot zone" and held pace as strong and steady as I could. When I reached the big switch back climb, I gave it all I had left! The Sag car behind me kept checking on me. I kept in my climbing zone, chest forward a bit and digging deep. Ever time I hit a "kicker" it was out of the saddle and then back in". It was a mountain top finish.  It was the "toughest climb I have ever done" ! When I checked results I saw that I had finished within the time cut and only about 4-5 mins behind the field. I was super excited to had finished this stage. It was awesome.

Stage 2: THE INNER LOOP ROAD RACE  80 mile Road race.

After a good night sleep, I was still tired from yesterday. As we got to the start line, Stacy had pulled me aside. We went for a little ride. She was very honest with me which I liked that. She said," don't get discourage if you get dropped early in this race". There are 2 QOM right away and lots of riders get dropped early. I was grateful she had told me this. My goal was to try and stay with the field for the 1st 1.5 hrs. Which is most of the hardest climbs.  Race started and I was riding in the back of the field. We went over lots of rollers and smaller climbs. It was less aggressive at first then all of a sudden, about 45min in, the pace got quicker. We started climbing hard. Again, my legs just couldn't keep the cadence. I fell behind
 I tried to get out the saddle and hang on the back of the field with some of the riders. I could see a few falling back too but they caught back on. I fell way behind. I just thought of one thing at that time " STAY POSITIVE!"  That's all I could do. I also thought about my goal, which was to "finish the stage". So, I was determined to finish the race regardless. Stay positive and enjoy it. So, I went for it and road by myself for a very long time until I came upon a few racers that got dropped. Towards the end of the race, I felt so proud to have finished and crossed that finish line. It didn't matter what place I was in, all that mattered was that I finished the race and gain a lot of experience.    After the race I had talked to the officials to see about the time cut. I had asked if they are going  to make time cuts. They said they where. So, I was one of them and asked if they could reconsider . all I wanted to do was race the TT and criterium. They told us that they could do that because they had other racers to cut to and wanted to keep it fair. Also, what I didn't realize this year was that it was an "Olympic Year" Which means they are using this race to develop/choose there Olympic team. 

Lastly, I made the best of it for the next 3 days. I had met some women from "Team Naked" that where staying in Pinos Altos. Rachel Scott and I rode in the mountains and I learned some great skills from her. It really boosted my confidence and I was all smiles when I came back from riding. Got in some really mountain climbing and descending. We even got a chance to hike in the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It was amazing.

2012 Hillsboro

" Deep Focus May Only Comes when your mental chatterbox is turned off"

Big storms hit early morning and continued to downpour the entire morning. It was hard to keep a positive mind/attitude in check. Before the race, I rode the last part of the course several times, with my new awesome Psimet wheels and brake pads. (Thanks Robert) I had gotten the wheels on Friday, so I wanted to make sure I was confident racing/braking with them. during this time, I also, took time to visualize myself racing and keep my mental focus.

Kelli and I lined up for the race and I was very excited to have a team mate. Race started neutral until after the bridge. It was raining steady. There where two teams of four women, IS Corp and Mercy-Specialized that I knew might go at it. There was one woman who was wearing all black that I had not seen before. About 30mins or so into the race, attacks came from Mercy and IS Corp. They where fairly strong but, not enough to cause a break. The two teams went at it a bit but nothing took. There was one attack that no one chased. The field was slowing down. I wasn’t going let this go. I attacked and went for it and ended up bringing 2 women with me and the field was not far behind so I just sat up and went back in the field.

Kelli was doing great. She looked smooth and consistent. She had almost taken a fall in the potholes, but she recovered nicely. The rain came down harder so it was pretty much slow and then speed up a bit. Just a lot of huge puddles , potholes, gravel, that was hard to see now. 2nd lap, pretty much the same. After the feed zone, the field was all together. Again, IS Corp and Mercy made attacks but nothing stuck. I stayed conservative but kept alert. I went to the back of the field to eat and refuel a bit.

Last part of race, I was sitting top 10 in the field before the climb. I hit the hill and saw that the women in black was a very strong climber, I shot up that hill, hard with a cadence that was much better than I remember from last year. I past about 5 riders, I was super excited!!! I think my emotions came over me a bit. I couldn’t stand it. I clicked it into a bigger gear on the little false flat and pushed harder. I now knew I was in the lead for 3rd, 4th place. I clicked to even a bigger gear and went all 105 pounds of me down that hill “Like someone was chasing me with a knife,” down that hill holding my line. I hit the cobbles, there was NO breaking, I took the left corner hard and held my line to the right more and pushed as hard as I could, I knew I was maxing out before the sprint. I wasn’t looking back, so as soon as I hit the smooth road, my legs where a little shaky. I held my line on the right side. At about the 200m, I did see 3 or 4 other riders from Mercy team on the left. I pushed harder and tried to gain speed but it just wasn’t enough. I was disappointed. Overall it was good to get the jitters out and 1^st race of the season done with. Looking forward to racing with my awesome teammates and seeing how this all comes together.

Results below http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=2217913

Winter Training.2012

Intense Training And Mental Game.


So, I feel that this is so important that is worth posting this quote and keeping it close by me all the time during these winter months.


Adversity causes some men to break; other to break records.”

William Arthur Ward

There is a fine line between hitting the next level and crumbling under the pressure. It is easy to get caught up in the emotions of giving your all and you find yourself physically and psychologically exhausted from intense training. I find that I can lose sight of my goals when training gets especially tough. It becomes much harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel and realize that what you are experiencing is not self-inflicted punishment, but a journey with yourself to find what you are capable of.

Sitting in front of a computer screen and writing about my goals, training ideas, workouts to test myself with, everything seems manageable. When I am lost in the pain or frustration of a workout or when I fail at something, I can lose track of why I am training in the first place. It can feel too overwhelming. At that moment I have a choice to keep going, or let the emotions win and quit right then and there.

There is a feeling I get when I decide to ignore the part of me that is hurting or feeling sorry for myself. There is something that shifts inside and I no longer care about the discomfort. Those moments when I can find the mental strength to continue are when I discover things I never knew I could do. Those moments are why I love being an athlete.

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