Rest week! You know what that means, right? Yes, unfortunately this week was NOT restful at all, and really very unhealthy. I did do my planned workouts (or lack thereof), but since I’m trying to get my own business started, I went to a ton of evening networking events and other events.
So let me tally this up: the Saturday before this week I raced JF hungover, and then Tuesday night, 5 drinks, Thursday night 7 drinks, Friday night 6 drinks, Saturday night I just couldn’t hang at the PACE open house and only had 2 beers, completely exhausted and alcohol poisoned as I was. Dude!?
One day (hopefully very very soon) I will grow up and learn not to drink myself into a state of oblivion. Especially if I’m going to keep doing this sort of thing (selling biz). Free booze kind of loses its luster when you start waking up hungover every day of the week. I’m supposed to be getting healthier and more rested during my rest week, not use it as an excuse to party like its 1999. Blech.
Anyway, today was Banana Belt No.1, my first road race of the year, and my first road race as a Cat 3. So my only plan was to play it safe, scope it out, see how I felt. If you know anything about me, you know that I hate playing it safe. Sitting in the back, waiting for the end, is most assuredly not my thing. Generally, the race was unremarkable. We climbed at a pretty good clip, but mostly it was pretty slow. The weather was OK, not terrible not great (we were completely filthy with sand and dirt at the end), but I actually felt pretty darn awesome. The first few laps I just kept thinking to myself Why do I do this again? Road racing is boring. Arg I wish I was somewhere else right now. Oh man we’re kind of going fast up this hill, I just want to go slow, I don’t want my legs to hurt, wah wah wah.
But then about halfway through lap 3, I started my usual thought pattern. OK… thoroughly bored now… I wonder if I have the fitness to break away, these are some tough ladies. I could probably get away for a while, hammer myself to death, get caught and then ride to the finish alone. But it would be so worth it to blow myself to smithereens. That sounds fun. So I decided to attack Lee Hill on the 3rd lap. Attack it I did, but then for some very strange reason, half way up I heard them right behind me, and I slowed down. Huh? They circled me, sat down, and that was that. Oh. Hm. What a waste of energy, oh well. I decided to just sit in again and attack Lee again on lap 4.
And thus I did exactly what I did last year, but with slightly worse results. Use up what sprint I might have left on the hill, almost get dropped by the leaders (which were about 10-15? people), somehow grab a wheel in a haze of ow, and just hang on for dear life. I placed somewhere in the middleish of this pack, not really even bothering to attempt a sprint for the line (not that I could have, really).
So, goals achieved. Considering that I almost wussed out on the race entirely, I feel pretty good about my results. Time for a burrito!
Hey, nice job on Sunday. We need more attacking in the field, so that’s awesome. Yeah, it was pretty slow – till right at the very end – that’s how most women’s racing goes, right? Hopefully that’ll change some time soon. Anyway, you looked pretty strong up the hills and the attack at the end was great cause it made everyone ‘hop to’ a little earlier than they might have otherwise. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Karey; seems like BB1 went this way last year too in the cat 4 field: everyone just seeing where they stand. I’m hoping people will be more willing to take chances as time goes on.
Good job on a great sprint!