Ring around the Rosie.... we all fall down.

We all the know that nursery rhyme well. Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down. Sounds nice and fun until you learn it is really about the Black Plague. But it still sounds fun until the fall down part.

Well, that was me last weekend. I had a fun time racing the Gun Club cross, it was well run, but it was not a race I should have even done. I didn't fall down by wrecking, but I dug myself a hole of physical fatigue before I even started.

I think I am going on being on the road every weekend since about mid-august, with a busy work schedule and trying to squeeze in a small amount of "normal people" social time, that is a lot to take on week after week. It finally kicked my ass last weekend and it showed, I just dug my head down an tried to survive.

Despite my coach, Don G., getting the feel that I may be on a downward spiral, I decided it was necessary for me to race instead of take the week off to prep for Iceman. I felt I should do the race to maintain my series lead in the OVCX elite women since I would be missing a couple upcoming races for some other national events. With that plan set in place, I was happy to be home on Saturday to do some normal stuff.

That's where I went wrong. Friday I had a great (but killer) workout with my trainer after working about 10 hours. I hadn't worked out in about 2 weeks and I really missed the abuse that Darrell throws at me. Needless to say, I was brought to my knees with any type of ab use for the next 3 days. Love it!

Saturday was a major clean the house, do laundry and prep the rv for the winter day. After that, I had a OR Halloween party to see to. I wouldn't miss that if given the chance again, Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. You get to dress up, ward of evil spirits, eat candy for free and enjoy the fall splendor with friends! I love it! After a little mingling at the party and eating some great deer chili and a few eyeballs, my duty was to be the wicked witch for the haunted woods we had going on that night. I was to run around at free will and scare as many people I could on the 4 hay rides we had scheduled. It was a blast. My man Mike B and his family really put on a great party and we had so much blood and gore it even had the OR staff a little spooked! Needless to say, by the time it was all over I had ran about 20 miles of trail and not only was my ankle the size of a softball, my hips were aching from the running. Not really optimal for a muddy cross race the next day. Off to bed at 2 am I went.

Back up at 530 am to make the trip to Cinci, I was already zonked just getting packed up. I headed down the road hoping my body would wake up a little after grabbing a coffee in Gas City, but it did not. I debated weather to turn the car around, or maybe keep heading to BC to mtb, but my stupid self kept on.

After arriving to the site and doing a quick glance of the venue, I knew I was screwed. It was up and down and I could see it was very thick mud and a lot of running. Didn't I already run enough this weekend? My pre-ride confirmed the large amount of running and I had already defeated myself by that point. Mud requires a full commitment on the riders part. If you aren't in race mode, it will be a long day of mud. That's what is was for me. After having a decent first lap on and near the front, I blew up. It was just too much for me that day, and I couldn't bring myself to be in the hurt box as easily as I almost always enjoy doing most of the time. Not being able to train running because of my ankle surgery and need for more ankle surgery, leaves me the disadvantage to have to make up time on other sections and this coarse didn't really help me much there. I slowly let off the gas and by lap 2. I was basically soft pedaling and trying to salvage any type of muscle I may have left to have for Iceman. I shouldn't complain that I placed 3rd in the end with having to put so little effort forth. I was basically able to stay in my easier zone 2 heart rate area and not cause much more damage. Props to Nikki and Amanda, they prepped better than me and had good showings. I would have done the Halloween thing again- its important to maintain some bit of other social skills aside from cycling. However, I should have listened to my body and stayed in bed Sunday morning. That's often hard to do since I am always hungry for competition.

Lesson learned: if you doubt if you should race when you wake up and that doubt continues on a 5 hour drive; you should not race! I've been in the hurt box up until today! I am walking like a very old, sick lady! Entertaining for some- not me.

Regardless, I was stoked to get to race in an event that aired both Beasties and Ben Harper during my race. That was bad ass. Thanks John G and all the other dudes for the time put into this event.

Up next: Iceman Cometh. I haven't really had any endurance training (other than my witch running) to prep for this ideally. That's okay since I would rather keep my cross training going, but it is a little hard to tack another hour onto a race. I hope to break the top 6 in the pro field this year. It will take some careful recovery and diet here the next couple days to do it, but hopefully it will work out. I am trying the 29er set up this year and can't wait to see how that goes. Lots of top women on tap to race and I'm excited to have a full field this year to see what I can do!

I still have a pocket full of posies!