Was out early for a recovery spin before hoping in the car for the drive to Beauce, Quebec and I simply had one of the best rides on my bike all week. It could be because of the more “relaxed” pace of the recovery ride. It could be due to some increased fitness gains and breakthroughs. But really I attribute the sensations to simply appreciating being outside with the freedom to do as I please.

Yep, feeling pretty darn lucky right now. Probably has to do with the great news Marc received from his doctor this week. He has been given the green light to race at Nationals next week. The head is clear. The leg is on its way. Perfect. I must say I’m pretty darn happy for Marc.

I’ve had a couple of really good days of training. Hit up the ‘cross bike on Monday after work. I wanted to escape the heat so decided to jump into the woods. Loved it. Nothing like zipping through singletrack listening to the birds. Tuesday I did a longish ride on the bike. When combined with my commute to work and back I had a four hour plus day! Then yesterday it was more of the same. Lots of pedaling in the sun and the heat. Had a super smooth avocado milkshake as a reward for the miles I put in.

Okay, well I best blast as we are about to hit the road. Miracle of miracles we are actually ahead of schedule. Hmm, I see a stop at Starbucks in my future. Have a good one. If you’re traveling to Beauce this week or next – drive carefully. Safe and fast racing as well, if I don’t get to wish you luck beforehand.

(For those of you not making the trip – feel free to send me some fast vibes at around 1:00 on Saturday and then send them Marc’s way next Friday and Sunday! I’ll be sure to repay the favor.)

(P.S. some big plans shaping up for the fall. Stay tuned for the exciting news! Oh yeah, I’m feeling super stoked about life and the future right now.)

Seize the day!

It was Father’s Day yesterday but in Ottawa it also meant it was time for Preston St. This year was the 35th running of the annual race. Pretty darn cool. This criterium is part of the Italian Festival action and always draws a huge crowd. This year was no exception.

There were three races on the day. My race was at 2:10 – this year there was a women’s category for the first time and we raced with the Masters 2/3 men. Apart from the rain and the crashing, it was a pretty darn good time. Yes, I’m fine – I was lucky to avoid the crashes. Though I did have a couple of close calls with my rear wheel sliding out on me. (I learned later that to avoid this I need to take a more straight line through the corners.) I was in the main pack when a large crash occurred, splitting the field. Yep, I was behind the crash. In the end I finished third. I’m content with this result. Not my best result but considering the conditions and my riding yesterday, I take this as a win. I must admit I didn’t ride the best race technically. I was a bit tense and apprehensive in the corners. Thanks to Amanda for helping me settle down during the race. (I’ve written a race report – go read it here.)

It’s funny, seems like the race was simply part of a pretty darn good day yesterday. I love going downtown for Preston St. Everyone in town seems to come out and it is an opportunity to catch up with people I don’t normally get to see or talk with. Thanks so much for the cheering yesterday – it does help so much. After the race we had the annual Ride with Rendall barbecue. Thanks to our hosts for a great evening. Lots of stories, reminiscing, rehashing of the racing, and lots of laughs. Not to mention some pretty darn good food – thanks Nuria – you really out did yourself! A great way to wind down the evening and close off a darn fine Sunday in June.

All athletes are familiar with the head games that happen in sport. This game can take many forms: competitors talking trash, being intimidated by the “look” or “swagger” of an opponent, and your own personal self-doubt. Well, for the first time in a long time, I fell victim to the head game.

It happened last night at the Bill Patterson Memorial Criterium race. This race is held annually to honor Bill Patterson, a former Ottawa sportscaster who was very supportive of athletes of all stripes. The race was held at the same venue we race at every other week – only difference being the course is a bit longer with a chicane, climb and downhill corner. Due to the chicane before the hill and the fast downhill corner – this is a challenging race course.

Needless to say, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure about the speed of the downhill corner – I’ve seen the guys race this course, and frankly they really push it on this corner coming very very close to the curb… But with encouragement from Marc, Glen and Hans, I agreed to race. All three essentially said the same thing “What have you got to loose? If you feel poorly – pull the plug. But at least start. You’ve got nothing to prove.” Very fair points.

So I lined up. But I wasn’t into it. I really felt like I was racing waiting to get dropped or to gap myself. This lead to not very smart crit riding on my part. I always needed to be a couple “rows” further up in the group but wasn’t willing to find the holes and waves to move up. This put me in a bad spot going into the chicane, this poor positioning caused me to loose some spots on the hill and then I would panic a bit and end up braking on the descent into the corner. All culminating in gapping myself coming out of the corner and doing the long chase to catch back on – only to repeat again next lap. I have to say massive thanks to Doug and a couple of other unknown guys for the pushes from behind – never have I been so happy to feel a hand on my butt! In the end, I did pull the plug.

It took about three minutes. And I felt it. The remorse of dropping out of a race. Of knowing that I don’t fully commit myself and admitting that I could have ridden smarter. Sigh. So what can I take from this? First off – I don’t want to experience these feelings again. Quitting doesn’t sit well with me. The other lesson: trust myself and believe in my skill, fitness and desire. Don’t get sucked into the head game.

Upside was I did get to watch the race and catch up with a bunch of folks I don’t normally see. Congrats to the Ride with Rendall team for sweeping the podium! Nice ride guys – impressive team work.

Some of you may know that Marc crashed last night. He crashed on the downhill corner. Too much speed. Thanks very much for your emails and calls today. Marc is doing okay. He has a slight separation in his shoulder and a lot of road rash. The one thing I learned from his crash? Wear a helmet!! If you have any doubts about helmets – let me know and I’ll send you a photo of Marc’s helmet. I’m a firm believer that helmet is the only reason we’re not sitting in a hospital right now. Many thanks to Ross for his diligent care last night – much appreciated. Thanks to Steve (Fearless Leader) for giving Marc’s bike the once-over. (Yes, the bike is fine – some ripped bar tape and a couple of dings on the brake lever.)

So there you have it, the many lessons learned from a local race on a Tuesday night.

Local racing action this weekend at the annual Preston St. criterium. Check out Bike Race Ottawa for the race details.

Wow – Saturday was a most excellent day on the bikes. I got in a large amount of riding and was able to work on so many key components. Really for me, Saturday was all about focusing on my weaknesses. We all have them, those areas of our fitness or riding skills that simply aren’t as sharp as other aspects of our fitness and skill set. The easy part is to kind of push this to the side and do what is “fun”, i.e. focus on the areas we are good at. But this simply does not translate to long-term growth.

So Saturday started off with two hour session on the road bike. On the schedule were VO2max intervals. I so struggle with this range. During my critical power tests I dread the 3 – 5 minute all-out effort. And I typically crash and burn with little to no style during these intervals. But yesterday I took a new mental approach to these. I realized that there is a reason that I’m doing them. I also recognized that I struggle with these intervals. So my goal was simply to focus on banging out one solid interval. I concentrated on not going out super hard at the beginning only to flame out 1 minute later. The first interval was really good. I verbally congratulated myself. (Roll your eyes if you want but positive reinforcement, however it comes is critical to confidence and success.) I gave myself a good rest period and then hit up the second and third intervals. Guess what? Each one got progressively better. I wasn’t all over my bike and panting like a dog. I was in the drops, turning the legs over and in control of my breathing. Better yet, the wattage numbers were bang on to what I was “aiming” for. Sweet. And yes, I did verbally congratulate myself again. I was able to finish off this ride with a feeling of satisfaction and success. Don’t get me wrong, those intervals hurt like nobody’s business. But the pay-off will be huge and I know the next time I do them, I’ll be able to approach the work-out with more confidence and “fun”.

Got in the door and after a quick super smoothie, I was out the door to meet Sheri for a ‘cross ride in the Gatineau Park. I’d been wanting to get out in the Gatineau Park for so long on my ‘cross bike but I don’t know very many of the trails in the park. So Sheri was generous enough to give up her afternoon to take me out.

This ride was the second part of focusing on areas of improvement. I’ve written in this space many times about how I’m determined to improve my technical riding skills. So the only way to do this (in my opinion) is to put myself in challenging technical situations. Yesterday’s ride fit the bill. The trail we rode was technically challenging but also offered sections that I was confident on and could ride. This was perfect – I was able to get comfortable on the terrain so when I needed to really take a deep breathe and trust my skills and the bike, I could. We got in a solid two hour ride of climbing, descending, navigating rocks, roots, singletrack, loose gravel, etc. Great ride. I must admit there were a few moments where I was quite scared and my heart was in my throat – but the good news is, I survived it and nothing “bad” happened. For me a lot of the uneasiness with the technical riding of ‘cross is not “knowing what’s coming up” – hence my over use of the breaks and non-aggressive position on the bike. Well, one of my goals was to work on this yesterday. I’m happy to say that I think I improved as the ride went on. Thanks again Sheri for taking me out and showing me around. Looking forward to the next time out.

There you have it. A very solid training day. I got in everything I wanted to. Learned a few lessons. Reinforced some skills. Picked up a few new skills. Gained some confidence. And most importantly, I had a blast doing it. Great day on the bike.

Pretty much sums up how I’m feeling right now. On top of the world. Feeling like a million bucks. Guess this is because I had a banner day today.

Kicked it off with a smooth commute into the office on my two-wheeler. Nothing like zipping past cars that are stopped in a never-ending line of cars. I love zooming by, knowing that I’m actually getting somewhere. This morning commute helps me really take stock of things and allows me to start my day with a clear mind. I find that if I’m stuck in traffic or even feel like I’m being “held up” by the motorist in front of me, I can become a bit surly. Work was nothing spectacular. Accomplished some stuff and then left. Wow, nothing like the bright blue sky and warm sun to help me forget the time spent in a cubicle. Awesome ride home – felt like the wind was at my back the whole way.

Had a great talk with my coach today. So helpful to have a coach who guides me along this path of cycling but who I can also be totally honest with on how things are going. We had a great chat, talked a lot about my focus for the next few months with an eye on the ‘cross season. Gains are happening in the weight room and on the bike. I’m feeling super strong, my numbers are going up, and my confidence is super strong right now.

During my training ride today, I realized how integral this confidence is to athletic success. I was listening to the latest Inside Track podcast. The host Robin Brown was interviewing Perdita Felicien. Felicien is one of Canada’s top athletes. World Champion. National Champion. Countless other top results at international track and field meets. Felicien is one of the top hurdlers in the world. But as they talked about during this interview, her athletic career has seen its share of ups and downs. Felicien has had her share of injuries and disappointment (Athens Olympics), but she keeps on coming back. But through it all she has her confidence. She knows that being a hurdler is a gift and she also knows that she is talented. This has helped her get through the lows and as well keep her grounded through the highs. I’m looking forward to seeing her compete again. (In fact she raced this evening in Toronto…) One thing I really appreciated from this interview, was how Felicien stressed how she was and still is concerned about developing ego. She said it is important for her not to come off as a “diva” or to develop a big ego – for this she relies on her family and friends to keep her in check. Anyway, if you’re looking for an interesting interview and some insight into what it is like to be an elite athlete, check out the podcast.

Hmm, seemed to digress a bit, but hopefully you got my point… As for me, my confidence is really high right now. I’m feeling good about my training. I have been getting some pressure because I haven’t been racing much this summer. This pressure can be hard to take. Especially when I know I’m really fit right now. It is tempting to start racing my brains out. But I have to ask myself, how will this help with the bigger picture? Will I be recovered enough to put in the solid training rides and time in the weight room? More importantly, what about the mental fatigue? I’ve just put together my ‘cross racing schedule and it is busy, full-on from mid-September until the end of January. That is a long season. With very intense racing, challenging courses and a great deal of travel. So I need to be as prepared and as ready as I can. Hence the lighter racing schedule this summer and a greater focus on training and recovery. One thing I’ve really noticed is that with my increased fitness, I can really focus when I’m on the ‘cross bike. My brain isn’t concerned about getting up the hill or maintaining speed – rather I can focus on other things like reminding myself to look ahead, to use my upper body when climbing, or to simply enjoy what I’m doing.

Yah, so things are good right now. Feeling pretty darn lucky.

As you know, I couldn’t do this without support from my sponsors. So I want you to check out the Kingsbridge blog – the company is involved in some fundraising for cancer research. Pretty much everyone I know has been affected by cancer in some way, so thanks to the Kingsbridge team for contributing to a worthwhile fundraising venture.