Still Fighting the Cold

Sunday was an awesome ride in the sunshine!

I headed out with FVRC at 8:00am, cold but sunny, and we rode out fast ready to hit some hills! A good group of 7 of us who have been training consistently all winter in indoor spin class and rides outside whenever possible. We had an awesome line going just rotating pulling at the front keeping our average speed above 30km/hr. I just love that feeling. Teamwork, everybody taking their turns working together until we hit the hills, then it's every woman/man for themselves! I was quite happy with my hill climbs in the morning, I took 3 days off for my quad strain, decided not race, and it was feeling really good. I got 2 of my best times on a couple climbs in the valley, Telegraph trail climb and 272nd climb, so I was happy with that, I didn't really think I would. Spin class and California training has really done me some good!

Since I couldn't race I wanted to watch the races on the weekend, scope out the competition and see how the races run, I thought this would help calm down some of my nerves for racing and it did. I meant to stay just for an hour of the race because it was chilly and I was sweaty from our 60km ride out. I ended up staying for the whole 3.5 hours, just loving watching the races. I learnt so much watching, talking to other people, and I got to meet some very fast racers and family. I got to see one of the racers whose team we saw training down in California, so that was neat, and the family was very encouraging to me, in getting started racing. I got to cheer on a few of our club members, which was neat! So I feel more confident to race now after watching it and seeing that my training times are close enough to be in the race, now it is just a matter of building up my stamina at race pace. I learnt that there is no shame in pulling out of a race, especially at this time of the year, the beginning of the season for cyclist. No point in causing an injury coming off of winter months.

So this week I'll be nursing my quad, getting the physio's advice and will also be trying to get rid of this horrible sore throat I woke up with this morning. It's not looking too good for next sundays's race, but I'm not going to lose hope yet, Sunday is still 5 days away. I have not really taken a true day off probably in over a month, so at some point I need to do that, I may get time this weekend. California was very restful mentally, but it was hard training and of course long days after exploring all the sites. I am so thankful I got to do that, It has made a world of difference in how well I can function at home now, I really did need it, and work has been just crazy busy since i've been home! Which is nice but exhausting! Anyways, I guess I'm just processing my days and my training, somehow writing this out encourages me and helps me not to get too down when I can't accomplish a goal I set out to (racing).

Keeping my hopes high and my legs spinning on a bike until the day I will get to finally enter a race!