Vision Quest Analysis
I want to be honest with this post. I'm not going to write the typical positive spin on something that I'm disappointed with. Am I proud to have finished? Yes. Am I happy with my time? No way. Am I happy with my performance? Absolutely not.
So to sum it up, I'm angry. Angry that things did not come together the way I had hoped. Angry that my plans failed. Angry that the preparation didn't do enough. It's frustrating to invest so much mental time and physical effort to have things not go your way.
A short list of things that have upset me:
1. Getting sick all week before Vision Quest. I don't know how much this affected me, but I missed 2.5 days of work the week before the race trying to recover. I could not seem to kick whatever I had no matter how much sleep I got and how much food I ate.
2. Not sleeping before race day. "But you just said you sleep a lot the week prior?" I rode the Thursday before Vision Quest and ate some Sport Beans with caffeine. As a result I didn't get to bed until 2AM Thursday night.
3. Feeling bad on race day. I woke up feeling bad. Feeling weak and feeling tired. My legs were sore just walking around my house. This wasn't supposed to happen.
4. Feeling sick during the race. Was it the Heed? The Sport Beans? The flavor of Clif Bars? Some strange chemical reaction caused by the combination of these things? I don't know, but I was sick to my stomach almost the entire ride.
5. Cramps. Enough said. I have worked _very_ hard to prevent cramping on the rides I've done in the last 2-3 months. The one ride I cramp on in the last 2-3 months just happens to be the most important one of the year for me. Not just any cramping either. Hands down the worst case of cramps I've ever had on the bike.
6. Slower riders hanging in there with me. I don't want this to come off as arrogant. The reality is that the longer you ride and the more you work the faster you get. I know who is faster than me and who is not. When I'm out there riding and I see someone from GeoLadders or STR that I know I am faster than I get mad.
In other words on some other day I'd be way out in front of person XYZ, but for some reason either I choked or they stepped it WAY up. (Again I don't want this to sound cocky. There were a few people I saw on the way up to Beek's that made me mad. I should have been 10 minutes in front of them and instead I passed them late in the ride. I am NOT talking about anyone I train with.)
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I'd love to rest on excuses, but the reality is that excuses are stupid. Some things I can control and some things I cannot. Getting sick was out of my control. Getting a flat was out of my control. Cramping was probably within my control. I'm mad I took it for granted that I hadn't been cramping on longer rides.
Also what I ate was well within my control. I screwed this up big time. Caffeine has always upset my stomach but for some reason I thought it would be ok by eating _SEVEN_ bags of Sport Beans, which equated to 350mg of caffeine, or about 7 cups of coffee. I had used these jelly beans before on shorter rides and hadn't had problems with them.
I still am recovering from that mistake. I was sick all weekend and have lost my appetite. I lost about 5 pounds from being in the bathroom all night after the race. I haven't been that sick in my guts in a while.
Even worse is that I haven't been able to sleep. I stayed up until 4AM after the race and then to midnight on Sunday night. Usually I go to bed at about 10PM.
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So my analysis is this: I am mad about my performance and will take it out on Sunday at Bonelli. I also plan to take it out on The Traverse. I don't want to forget how mad I am right now about failing to live up to my potential during an important race.
I learned a lot about how to rest before a race and how to eat on a ride and what to bring on long rides etc.
Just like last year I plan to use my average performance on Counting Coup/Vision Quest to refine my riding approach so that I can do well later in the year.
I plan to use my frustration as fuel to push myself harder. We'll see how long it lasts. Hahaha.
So to sum it up, I'm angry. Angry that things did not come together the way I had hoped. Angry that my plans failed. Angry that the preparation didn't do enough. It's frustrating to invest so much mental time and physical effort to have things not go your way.
A short list of things that have upset me:
1. Getting sick all week before Vision Quest. I don't know how much this affected me, but I missed 2.5 days of work the week before the race trying to recover. I could not seem to kick whatever I had no matter how much sleep I got and how much food I ate.
2. Not sleeping before race day. "But you just said you sleep a lot the week prior?" I rode the Thursday before Vision Quest and ate some Sport Beans with caffeine. As a result I didn't get to bed until 2AM Thursday night.
3. Feeling bad on race day. I woke up feeling bad. Feeling weak and feeling tired. My legs were sore just walking around my house. This wasn't supposed to happen.
4. Feeling sick during the race. Was it the Heed? The Sport Beans? The flavor of Clif Bars? Some strange chemical reaction caused by the combination of these things? I don't know, but I was sick to my stomach almost the entire ride.
5. Cramps. Enough said. I have worked _very_ hard to prevent cramping on the rides I've done in the last 2-3 months. The one ride I cramp on in the last 2-3 months just happens to be the most important one of the year for me. Not just any cramping either. Hands down the worst case of cramps I've ever had on the bike.
6. Slower riders hanging in there with me. I don't want this to come off as arrogant. The reality is that the longer you ride and the more you work the faster you get. I know who is faster than me and who is not. When I'm out there riding and I see someone from GeoLadders or STR that I know I am faster than I get mad.
In other words on some other day I'd be way out in front of person XYZ, but for some reason either I choked or they stepped it WAY up. (Again I don't want this to sound cocky. There were a few people I saw on the way up to Beek's that made me mad. I should have been 10 minutes in front of them and instead I passed them late in the ride. I am NOT talking about anyone I train with.)
-------------------------------------------
I'd love to rest on excuses, but the reality is that excuses are stupid. Some things I can control and some things I cannot. Getting sick was out of my control. Getting a flat was out of my control. Cramping was probably within my control. I'm mad I took it for granted that I hadn't been cramping on longer rides.
Also what I ate was well within my control. I screwed this up big time. Caffeine has always upset my stomach but for some reason I thought it would be ok by eating _SEVEN_ bags of Sport Beans, which equated to 350mg of caffeine, or about 7 cups of coffee. I had used these jelly beans before on shorter rides and hadn't had problems with them.
I still am recovering from that mistake. I was sick all weekend and have lost my appetite. I lost about 5 pounds from being in the bathroom all night after the race. I haven't been that sick in my guts in a while.
Even worse is that I haven't been able to sleep. I stayed up until 4AM after the race and then to midnight on Sunday night. Usually I go to bed at about 10PM.
-------------------------------------------
So my analysis is this: I am mad about my performance and will take it out on Sunday at Bonelli. I also plan to take it out on The Traverse. I don't want to forget how mad I am right now about failing to live up to my potential during an important race.
I learned a lot about how to rest before a race and how to eat on a ride and what to bring on long rides etc.
Just like last year I plan to use my average performance on Counting Coup/Vision Quest to refine my riding approach so that I can do well later in the year.
I plan to use my frustration as fuel to push myself harder. We'll see how long it lasts. Hahaha.
posted by prevents email spam at
2:31 PM
2 Comments:
Nice ride recap! Sorry to see you are so frustrated with your performance. You didn't mention that you barely got to ride on your bike after getting it repaired. The 6700 would have pushed you to the next level. Ha!
Don't be so hard on yourself. You attempted something most would never dream of and you succeeded despite the obstacles you had to overcome to do so.
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