Shall I start with sleep?
Or the lack there of.... Everyone knows the importance of sleep on
training and racing, so being a new dad (5 weeks old now!) there are nights
where I get some sleep and nights where I get less sleep, although I will be
the first to admit that my wife does the lion’s share of the night shifts it is
inevitable that my sleep is not has good as it used to be. How does this affect
me? Well for a start a tired body and mind are
less efficient less able to process what’s going on and mistakes
are more likely to be made, for me it also means that my heart rate is higher
at resting and as a result is higher when exercising, that said there is
nothing about being a dad I would change, it is, with no question, the best
thing in the world.
So on to
the next topic, alcohol. There was a time where I could drink countless
pints and feel fine, no ill effects, no hangover... I was younger and at 18
stone heavier as well! However, in a show of support for my wife during
pregnancy I stopped drinking, this inevitably had a positive effect
on my wellbeing (I didn't drink a lot) as I was able to
recover better, and get up earlier to get the training and to be
honest I did feel better for it, that said I like the occasional beer or glass
of wine so after the birth of our daughter I have tried both, the
results have been very odd.... Firstly I
feel the effects after a small bottle of beer, not that
surprising really, however it doesn't end there, I also feel like I
am burning up, my HR and blood pressure go up and on Saturday night I was
left awake in bed trying to calm down, it was not great. It’s an odd one
and I am not sure what to do, I could power through and hope that it gets
better, or accept that I am now a "non-drinker"!! I am sure there
will be more to follow on this point, I shall continue my testing, I want to
ensure that I am thorough.
So to the
small matter of the start of my Cyclocross season, Round 2 at Northallerton.
On paper the course was well suited to me, flat and fast a power man’s
course, but as with all cyclocross races, the start is everything.
I got
there in good time, had some good banter with the lads and got a short warm up
in familiarising myself with the course.
As I
missed the first round I was not gridded, so I started 2/3rds of the way down
the pack, the start is a sprint to the first corner. I set off next to
Andy Johnson, another York Cycleworks club member and was hoping to sit behind
him and get towed around to a good result (Andy is a strong CX rider so I was
hopeful to learn a thing or two).
Immediately
I lost Andy's wheel, but he was still in sight so a bit of effort and
I could get back, however at the first bottle neck I got caught up in a small
crash, two riders come together in front on me and I had nowhere to go and
ended up with a rear mech in my front wheel. Fully expecting my race to
be over with a very broken front wheel, it took some time to free my wheel
check it was okay and carry on, by which time I was close to last.... right
some work to do.
Thinking
there was still a chance for a good result I pushed on, only to
find stationary traffic at all the bottle necks for the first 2 laps, this
ended up putting pay to significant progress, all that was left was to bury
myself and have some fun.
On the
3rd lap I was making progress and had just picked off a group of 6-7 riders,
taking a different line into one of the corners I was soon to realise that
there was less grip than I had expected, cue my "standard" cyclocross
fall off. No injury, although I lost the places I had just made
up and was kicking myself as a result. The bike seemed okay and I picked myself
up and carried on, going to change gear, click from the shifter,
nothing from the rear mech, another click on the lever this time is
changes, 3 gears! Turns out it had taken a bit of a hit and was no longer
aligned and also full of mud.... mint! Now I was basically riding a bike
with 2-3 gears this was going to be hard work.
I plugged
away and caught a small group of 3 riders, we proceeded to battle it out for
the rest of the race, elbow to elbow at times it was great fun and we pulled
each other round picking off some places in the process.
I was 47th out of 115, not bad given the day, to be honest I am not that fussed, cyclocross is more about
getting out and having fun for me, and to that end it’s the most inclusive form
of racing I have come across and there is always someone to race against,
regardless of your ability. Full results here
Needless
to say it was a hard effort, max HR was 181 bpm with an average of 171 bpm
which for me is right on the limit.
So, what’s
on this week, some training, some dad stuff, some work, then on to round 3 at
Wakefield.
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