Keeping the eye on the prize

Less than a month and a half left until Duathlon Worlds. Got my jersey this week. Sweet jesus it is sick. Excited? God Yes. Ready for it to be over? Also yes. I owe a HUGE thanks to my family and friends for giving me so much support with this. My grandparents for helping my mom and I with travel expenses and my friends for training with me and giving me travel advice, and also listen to me bitch and complain on the days when I have to do my second or sometimes even my first workout of the day and I dont want to do it. I guess training goes through ups and downs though, very much like a roller coaster. There are days when you want to go out and kill it, and more power to you on these days. There are also days when you feel like your body is going to kill you, and these are the days that test our will. I certainly have had my fair share of both over the past few months.

Races are good not only to serve as tune-ups and gages to see "where you are at" but they also make things fresh and interesting and give you short term goals if your goal race is possibly a while down the road. This weekend I raced at Giro Di Coppi, a 3/4 bike race in Maryland. It was HOT and the course way HILLY. Fortunately, both of these are great news for me. Being smaller helps me stay cool and climb hills, this was my kind of race. The roads were also narrow and the on and off pace of the field gave many of the riders an uneasy feeling and was the result of alot of nerves among the riders. By the last lap the heat and climbing had taken its toll on many of the riders and the field had been reduced to less than half.

The sprint was an uphill finish, another positive for me. Unfortunately, I managed to get stuck behind and Evo rider whom the uphill finish did not benefit. Seeing riders go by me I wiggled my way past him on the outside and gunned it for the line. I got two riders right before the line and finished in 7th, my first top 10 finish in a Cat 3 race. Solid finish? Yes. Satisfied? Not really. Thats bike racing though. You've got to pick a wheel or be at the front, and pick the wrong wheel and your hosed. Such is life, live and learn. Overall result of the day, a good 50+ miles of riding with alot of climbing and some points towards my Cat 2, Ill take that.

Thats enough for tonight, work has drained me. Next weekend is the Crystal City Twilight 5k in Arlington. Should be a fun race. Big names, fast times, post race beer...enough said. My goal? Hell yes I have one, that said though... HELL NO, im not telling, don't want to jinx it. As always, thanks for reading.