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Day 1 of the Cross series was today in Ottawa.  Under overcast skiies the weather was almost perfect for cross.  The only ingredient missing was snow and rain!  Something I didn’t  miss.

After yesterdays hard workout, 40K worth of time trials + 12K tempo run, the legs felt stiff but ok.  I woke up to give Amanda her Birthday present then we both rolled over to the race site with our bikes.

About 35-50 souls showed up ready to roll in Brittania Park located in the West end of Ottawa.  The race course looked like it had some wear as our group (Elites + Master As) went after the others.  It occured to me that I haven’t raced in cycling in over two years.  I wonder if my triathlon background could  help me?

From the gun it was pedal to the medal.  My only goal was to not get hurt (something hard for me to do!).  I had an ok start and was mid pack as we went around the first bend. 

For those that don’t know how a cyclocross race works I’ll try to explain it.  Races usually consist of 1 hour with the person doing the most amount of laps in that time the winner.  A cyclocross course is typically short, only 1-2K in length.  The terrain is a mixture of grass, woods, pavement and even a swimming pool as we had to drive on today!  In the course there are obstacles put in the way so the riders have to jump over them.  This means getting off  your bike, jumping or running depending on how long the obstacles are and then remounting.  This is by far the hardest step!

Cross is a lot of fun but it’s like a 10K race that lasts for 60 minutes (no offence to the people that run 10K in 60minutes!).  People who typically time trial well are good crossers.  Big gear and just push.

Back to the race.  So our course was a little over 2K with lots of switchbacks and couple steap parts.  There were 5 obstacles, 3 singles the hardest coming at the bottom of hill so you had to run up it and 1 double where you had to jump over two barriers. 

For the first 2 laps I was conservative, content on not hurting myself (by crashing!).  Then I started to move up catch packs of riders.  At one point I had gained 10 positions until I biked into or over a deep hole hearing a huge "crack".  I pulled over to see if I had broken my steer tube and checked my tires.  As I did this my hard work evapourated as I lost ground.  No harm done so I got back to buisness.

From then on I had a couple minni wipe outs and my chain popped off.  All things which I contribute to my lack of mountain bike/cross skills.  I finished and showed Amanda a war wound on my knee, which I’m icing this as I type! 

There aren’t any awards after the race, just at the end of the series.  Each week till the end of November there will be a 60 minute race on Sunday.  The whole package was $50!  It’s a great deal if you like to cross.  Most of the races are around the city of Ottawa with one just outside and one more in Kingston.  All the proceeds go to the local Bike Organization here.

Anywho I’m off to watch the season primere of Simpsons and Family Guy!

Happy (Healing!) Trainin!

Cliff

Ever have one of those weeks where you have the best ideas, ideas that will make millions or solve everyones problems?  That was me last week.  Lots of great ideas but making them happen is another story.

I’ve learned that if I write them down, there was more of a chance that they may come true.  Some designs I’ve drawn up and even given measurements.  Hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to make them…  I’m almost missing the days where I had the free time in University + a free machine shop to work in. 

This week is the exact opposite.  My ideas are nil.  I’ve burned myself out thinking too much and now my brain is mush.  Ma I know how you feel.

I’m thinking I’ll save all these ideas up and release them on the world at one time…  I guess that might be when hell freezes over!

Should be a great weekend here in Ottawa.  I’ve got my first cyclocross race this weekend.  I’m going to get my bum kicked but try to come out of it a little stronger.

Thanks for tuning in,

Happy Trainin’

Cliff

This is the race report for the Army Run.  I’ll give you the story or if your not up for reading go here and see the results for yourself.

I awoke at the ripe hour of 6am to prepare for my day.  At 9am was the race (1/2 marathon) and I had planned to do some hard biking before.  My cycling intervals were done out on the road about 15-20K from the race grounds.  I had planned on having about 30minutes of time to get ready (if I left at 7).

So me being me I didn’t get rolling till after 7am which meant that I was going to be tight on time.  The day was freezing, partly the reason I was late because I had to rethink my dress code. 

I rolled out to my TT road (long, no stop lights or signs and mostly flat).  Today I was also greeted by a freezing wind chill, the kind that makes your knees hurt.  Oh well, I was outside and riding my bike fast, all good!

Well I must have enjoyed it too much because I took a look at my watch and it was 8:10.  I still had 1 interval + I had to meet Amanda so I could get dressed for the race.  Oh, and a head wind all the way back into the city!  I pedaled pretty hard to get back!

I met Amanda at 8:43am.  I did a flying dismount while she packed the bike into the car while I changed.  We then had to drive downtown (yup this was going to be tight!).  After blasting through some red lights (hope her mom doesn’t read this!) I hopped out of the car about 1/2K from the start.  It was about 8:55, just enough time to have a natural break!

So I managed to squeeze near the front and boom we were off on the 1st inargual Army run!  At this point I was feeling a little hungry but thought as long  as I refuled at the aid stations I’d be fine. 

A couple guys shot off the front right away including former X-C runner Matt Stacey.  I wanted to just run as I would in a tri, conservative but always pushing.  After about 5K I had moved up to about 6-7th position.  Everything seemed to be running fine, legs felt ok and the cold didn’t seem to bug me. 

At the 9K-10K mark I was caught by a 5 person group which I joined.  This was both a blessing and a curse because I could get shelter from the wind but it was also pushing me a little harder than I felt like I could keep going.  I stuck in for a couple K but around 13 I decided to pop off and run at my own pace. 

So I was by now myself in no mans land with a slight headwind.  I had my GPS on and was keeping track of each K (everyone was marked!) so I roughly knew my speed was constant.  Until the 17th…

The whole race I had a feeling I would either just have enough calories or I could do into heavy depletion.  Stupid, I didn’t take a gel thinking they’d have them on course.  Nope.  No calories besides gatorade.

It was at about this time I saw Amanda and begged for some fuel, no dice.  I was doing this all on what I had…

I started to feel like I was going backwards.  My pace slowed from 3:40 to 4:05 and I started getting passed.  There was nothing I could do except try to limit my losses.  Man this sucked.

If this was my A race, I would have kicked my own ass but seeing as I just barely made it to the start, it was alright.

Finished 56 seconds off my PB (ouch!) in 1:20:56.  Oh well.  If I can run like this at Worlds I’ll be pumped!

Thanks for reading.  I’m going to re-fuel.

Happy (where did summer go?) Trainin!

Cliff

Tomorrow I get to lace up my runners for my third crack at a half marathon race.  My two previous attempts were both in Halifax so its nice to have a change of scenery.

This race is going to be my first of a few over the next couple weeks as I progress towards the 70.3 World Championships.  My goal for this part of the season is to improve my running and the ability to run fast on tired legs.

The Army run tomorrow will be my first race since Rhode Island.  It’s been a long layoff but a good one.  My goal is to run hard after doing some time trial cycling in the morning.  As for a time, I’m not sure.  I’d like to run a PB but realize I’m just coming off a small cold so I who knows what will happen (I sound like a pro cyclist!).

I’ll be writing up a race report over the next couple of days!  Hoping to get the latest video out too!

Happy Trainin

Cliff