The Good and the not so Good

I orginally wrote this in the week after the race but never got round to re-reading it and deciding if I should publish it. The one thing that I must remembered is that although the race was hard I enjoyed it. Sat 21st was a real low but I can use the experience to move on. The important thing is I love riding bikes.

So this was the first race med free, it was something I really wanted to do but I'm not sure the positives out-weighed the negatives. The couple of months leading up to the race were hard and that effected training a bit. The main things I knew I needed to do was ride my mountain bike and ride hills as most of my miles had been flat and on the road through commuting. The mountain bike miles happened mainly thanks to Ali's refound enthusiasm for getting out on bikes. The weekend in Kielder was good as it meant I had ridden the Newcastleton trails again.

The race itself was hard with various highs and lows and I certainly learnt some things from the race.

The Good

• I managed to drink consistently at the start of the race. I rarely need to stop to go the toilet but this time I did. Staying hydrated is something I struggle with day to day, mainly as I just don't drink enough so I was really pleased to manage it in the race.
• I was happy with my lap times for the first part of the race. Even with my lack of climbing in training I felt I was climbing okay.
• My back held up, apart from the soreness mentioned below, I didn't suffer from the problems I'd had in the lead up. I had tried to be really careful at work the week before not to aggreviate it and riding didn't seem to be a problem.
• I had fun, as I went into the night I was thinking how I enjoyed these silly things and I should do another one.

The not so Good

• The lack of climbing in training meant the climbing really hurt. My back hurt from a couple of laps in. I dealt with this by climbing more stood up as actually commuting most of my climbing is stood up.
• Feeling anxious in the lead up to the race is not ideal. Normal race nerves can be fine but the level anxiety made things hard to deal with.
• Dying in the morning. I'll probably have no idea exactly what caused that, I assumed it that I wasn't fit enough but a friend asked if it could be head stuff. I suspect it was a combination, the course was tough and very hilly I wasn't really fit enough for that. But the other issues probably paid a part.