A Focused Training Week

So after the race I quickly realized my legs were dead. So was my body – even my arms were sore. How the heck were my arms sore? Two theories:
- I was wrenching so hard on the handlebar on the climbs and then the brakes on the descents that I cramped my arms
- There was so much lactic acid in my body that it spread to my arms
Both are viable in my mind – it was probably a combo of both.

So on Sunday after the race I went for a 3 hour spin to try to clean out my legs – and I had NOTHING in the gas tank. I had trouble holding 30kph with very little wind. But it gave me time to think about the race and what to do for the next time, and I came up with 2 things to work on immediately: legs speed and cornering. So now I just had to work on both, no problem, right??!

So on Tuesday I found a (fun) criterium in Arnhem and decided to join. Knowing that the coming Sunday I was going to do a 160km classic race in Belgium I also realized I should get some serious km’s in my legs, so I left work early (don’t tell my boss…..ok go ahead – I was there until 10pm on Monday night) and rode to Arnhem to check out the course, then go for a spin in the woods.

I did about 2.5 hours of spinning and working on leg speed a bit before the crit, then joined up with them. 4 corners and a 2km course = lots of laps! So we rode for 1.5 hours at about 41kph, and I hit my goals of working on leg speed (it hurt a lot but I could tell it was helping) and cornering – I was hammering through the corners by the end of it! Then I rode home 1.5 hours, so that made for a long day in the saddle, but really – I needed it!

Then a casual spin on Friday afternoon almost killed me – what had happened? My legs felt like they were totally clogged, and my lungs didn’t work any more! Shite – and the race was on Sunday! Uh oh……..