Here I am, ten days away from the first cross race of the season and feeling pretty good. I've been putting in 17 hour weeks for the last three weeks, mostly easy riding, but with some good solid intervals, some running, and some weight lifting to get ready for the coming season. Since I'm not planning on peaking until National Championships I'm still building up to my really hard workouts, but I'm feeling pretty happy about how my fitness is coming along. This week is a recovery week for me, which is much needed. I'll be doing a lower volume of hours, as well as a lower volume of intensity before upping the hours and intensity again starting next week. I've been doing a lot of investigating and planning for the season as I get ready to embark on my first season including a decent amount of traveling to UCI races (internationally ranked). I'm pretty psyched to start the season as I've been looking forward to the cross season since last January. This year looks like it'll be a good one with lots of good local racing, a good portion of national caliber racing, and even National Championships in Bend, OR. But first, to get ready for Seattle.
Seattle is where, or at least near where, the first two big cross races of the season take place. The first is a night race called
Star Crossed, the second has the longest run-up of any cross race, measuring 80 meters, the
Rad Racing GP. It promises to be an exciting and challenging weekend. I plan on dusting out the cobwebs at a couple NorCal races before flying out to really test my fitness against the pros at Star Crossed, and trying to crack some people on that Knapp Time run-up (named for ex-pro crosser Dale Knapp, who now coaches
Rad Racing Juniors). See, I'm one of very few cyclists who actually likes running, so I will definitely have an advantage on that run-up, but it's only a small portion of the course, so we'll see what happens.
Alright, I'll be checking in again next week. Until then, happy riding!
