Do the du

So it may have taken me 21 years but I have finally found my niche. Endurance sports are definitely my cup of tea. The longer the better, cause when they're short people simply just feast on my extreme lack of anaerobic power. Thank god for races that last longer than 20 minutes. My slow twitch fibers definitely appreciate and thank events like todays. A year ago in anatomy i learned that it is actually possible to determine the proportion of slow twitch to fast twitch fibers in someones body, pretty sweet! I would almost even consider doing it...except I have no need, mine probably looks something like 99% slow twitch to 1% fast. Anyway, on to the race report, where, fortunately, my severe fast twitch fiber deprivation played no role.

The race was at 9am this morning and fortunately it was not far from campus, just across the river in Surry. Pretty sweet when the race is so close given that I've grown accustomed to driving for 3-4 hours for cycling races. Id like to thank Alyssa for coming with me to the race this morning and waking up at 6am after going to bed last night at 2am. Beda, you are awesome! I also attended Palm Sunday mass yesterday with Alyssa, so she wouldnt miss service this morning to come with me. Unfortunately the wind gods were not on my side this morning. Beda and I arrived at Chippokes state park this morning in Surry a little before 8. It was 45 degrees and pretty windy. I was desperately hoping for it to warm up so as not to freeze on the bike. Fortunately by the time the race started it has gotten up to a warmer 50 degrees, i was definitely dressed the least out of anyone but it turned out not to be a terrible decision as it definitely warmed up as the race went on.

The run went pretty well. Not having run a 5k in a VERY long time I decided to sit on the leaders for the first mile, we crossed in 538 and I felt VERY strong. I remember thinking at the start how good I felt and wondering if it was just going out slow. I definitely think lifting and biking have made me a stronger runner, even if I only run 2-3x a week, it seems to be working well for me! The second mile I picked up the pace and dropped a 533 and lead the race for the rest of the 5k. Coming into the transition I had a bit of a helmet mishap where I may have put my helmet on backwards and cost myself some time(greg, you are an idiot and this is why we cant have nice things).

The bike was windy as hell and the roads were certainly not smooth. I talked to many riders who discussed felt the need to check their rear breaks to see if they were rubbing, unfortunately it was just the gravely ass bumpy road. Going into the race I had discussed with Cory goals for the bike and we decided 21mph was definitely doable, so even though I got passed by a few people on the bike I definitely dont feel bad about my 22mph avg. I do feel the need to proclaim my hatred for rich asses riding Cervelo P3's with disc wheels or Tri-spokes, please go fuck yourselves and then give me your bikes? Love, greg

After the bike dismount my second transition went what i considered relatively well, although I must say in the state of fatigue i was in the difference between left and right shoes can be quiet hard to tell. Luckily I was able to figure it out and get out on the run. Starting the run I felt like SHIT. I reassured myself that I only had 18 minutes of this hellish jaunt left, then I reconsidered and compromised with myself, 20 max right? I was relieved to see my effort had paid off as i went through the first mile in the 530's. When hurting like hell it definitely feels good to know that your effort is being matched by the clock and knowing your not just hitting a wall. I began gaining on the guy ahead of me and finished about 20 seconds back, not bad considering at one point he had probably about a minute on me. I ended up finished the second run in 1750. Finishing the race in 1:38, 7th overall and 1st in my age group. Definitely psyched for the next one, who knows, maybe ill even put my helmet on the right way?

I hurt...this must mean i did something right this weekend.

This weekend ended up being the UVA/VCU race and by that i mean the VCU race and by that i mean the King's Dominion hammerfest 10'. Iv got to say, the two crits this weekend were definitely, without a doubt some of the hardest bike racing I have ever competed in. The beginning of the season looked VERY promising for me, I had two weekends with consecutive top 10 finishes and breaks from the field. I also had two road races, both of which with rollers which very much fits my riding style. Unfortunately our home race was not such a success for me, neither was the Wake forest crit. Therefore when I heard this weekend would consist of two crits, I was less than pleased.

I will forever be a runner. Endurance athletes are a RARE breed, most people for example soccer players look at running to work their aerobic/anaerobic system as a means to improve their game. Endurance athletes are all about fine tuning their bodies to give themselves a leg up on the competition. This involves dedicating themselves to training, spending long hours in the saddle or pounding the pavement as well as dong sprint intervals till they feel like vomiting. Since I have gotten out of being told to do anaerobic work, I must say I do very little I love to flirt with my threshold on long rides, trying to see how much I can push myself before my legs pool with lactate, but Im a bitch and dont do sprints. Why? cause I suck at them. This needs to change.

Going into the crits this weekend I was coming off 2 big training weeks on the bike. Between Spring Break at OBX and the past week where I was well over 200 miles before the race weekend, I had spent ALOT of time in the saddle. Unfortunately Saturday my legs were feeling it. Theres not alot worse than watching the field gain on you and having your legs tell you to fuck yourself when you feebly attempt to catch up. I found myself in this situation far to many times Satuday. Fortunately, I was able to stay mentally strong and work hard enough to get myself back in the field for a 13th place finish. Not excellent, but Ill take it for the way my legs felt. Definitely one of what I felt the hardest races Ive ever done was, not sure if this is because of the intense technical asepect of the race or simply my dead ass legs.

Fortunately Sunday i warmed up better and my legs felt MUCH better than they did on Saturday. I was determined today to race hard and if I wasnt going to win I was going to make everyone hurt like hell to stay in the pack and I feel I did a pretty good job. Its hard when your legs feel good not to take pulls, this is something I need to work on because it frequently leaves my already feeble attempt at a sprint in shambles. Its not like running where i can just go by them, cause unfortunately they can latch onto me in cycling. Heres a picture of "the face" that my team knows me for when I exert such efforts. Anyway, I worked my ass off, stayed in the field, tried to catch the duke sandbagger but didnt. Thats ok, the A's can have fun chasing his ass down, and most of them wont be able to either funnily enough. Good riddance duke and navy, its been fun but Ill enjoy competing now!

O I almost forgot, one of the best parts of the weekend was not the races but the idea to ride back to campus from Kings Dominion AFTER the race. So after Cory's race, Andrew Moore, Cory, and I embarked on our adventure. Stopping once at hardees to feast some apple turnovers was a much needed relief on our taints. It was fun, my legs hurt like hell and now that I have wasted my valuable sleep time typing this up I am going to go do what I should already be doing, SLEEPING

Life pillages blogging

So I have not posted a blog for nearly a month now and to be honest Im not truly in a posting mood right now. HOWEVER, I have little better to do and its Spring Break so I dont have to feel bad about not doing my homework so I guess Ill make another post.

So the cycling season has begun and Iv been doing quiet well. My first race at NC State turned out pretty well minus the dissapointment of the Saturday road race being canceled. The sunday race went well though and I got in a break and placed 6th. The next weeks road race at Wake went fairly similarly. The pack was staying together and one break with 4 guys had gotten away early. Sick of climbing hills at 12mph i decided less than halfway through 2 of 4 laps to go and made a break from the field. Just as trying to hold myself off from the ensuing field started feeling futile I caught one of the members of the break. Working together we were able to distance ourselves from the field, putting me in 5th.

After two hard weeks of racing I decided not to race at Navy and instead get drunk at 8am in the morning with The gypsy, the darster, and KG. It was good times. It went something like this, wake at 8, drunk by 9,off to the sunken gardens to swing a golf club as hard as I could at a tennis ball, walking back to my room at 10ish? Wake up at 4pm in the afternoon. Definitely a good rest from 2 hard weeks of racing! The rest of the weekend was pretty much a gigantic head ache, Kyle was sick, all i wanted to do was nap but it was all worth it.

The week to follow was interesting, unless your Kyle, then it pretty much just sucked ass. Tuesday was kinda fun though. My buddy Billy Rison and i went with the cycling team to Bellisimos pizza, to attempt to feast the entire Bellisimo's beast, a 30 in pizza, 1 hr, eat it all and you get free pizza 1x a week for a year. We were athletes, we eat alot we could do it? right? WRONG, it bent us over and fucked us side ways, BIG TIME. Never again will I attempt an eating task like this. I think Emily put it well the next morning when we were swimming and she commented on how she felt the pizza poking her in the lungs...whats funny was i think it actually might have been. Besides that the week was full of quizzes, and midterms, luckily i dont think I failed. C's get degrees right or for some of us D's too i guess (love ya jonny boy).

Thank god this week is Spring Break. The home road race went well, none of us did stellarly. The top finish for W&M was Evrett who placed 13th in the road race....ya not the best week for Tribe cycling. Its all good though, i only rode my bike 1x all week, far less than I should have. This week is fixing things though! The weather is beautiful, things seem to be falling into place and life is good. I could write more but Im not in the mood right now. Check back in in a few and maybe I will have written more, but dont count on it. Laterzzzzz