Lets just pour more gas on the fire

The last two weekends and week in between have been hella crazy. It was one of those weeks that I question my own sanity and human physiology. As in  "how can the human body do what it does?" and "how can the human body be so strong sometimes, yet so weak other times?"  I personally don't really know! I know what I have been doing since the beginning of the year such as base mile training and nutrition, and then as of fairly recently tossing in the mix of hi intensity stuff. But still I don't get it?! I constantly ache and feel drained of all mojo, and often times so mentally wrecked out that even simple tasks of doing laundry or eating cereal or just talking coherently proves strangely difficult.  And yet I show up to a race and my body just finds some magic button to push that allows nothing but go go go go go go. That being said, here is a quick recap on the last week and a half

Two weeks ago I was in the Black hills of South Dakota racing Tatanka 100. The course was brutal, at 5,000 ft elevation, and a long drive. All things that in combination will wreck a doood out. Zoll and I drive home after the race, but both of us are so burnt up that it takes 19 hrs to get home opposed to 13/14 hrs.

I drag through work Mon, Tues, Wed, but keep screwing things up due to mental and physical fatigue. Think 1 step forward 4 steps back. Come Thurs I make the executive decision to take the day off and legit sleep in and just chill out until I had to leave for the Dirt Crits at 4:30pm. I show up late, get no pre-ride in and no test ride of the new course chicane that was set up to thin the start of the field down. With the way I was feeling(even though everybody thought I was lying) I really didn't expect the race I had. However, it is worth noting, that even though I did end up laying the smack down I my body felt awful the whole time doing it. Was really a mental fight to override what the legs and lungs were telling me, and then the mental system began to falter and it was then just a fight to stay on the trail and not lose 1st or wreck out.

Was not without repercussion, but secured 1st.

,

 Then Friday rolls around, and I make to work and actually don't feel to slothful and surprisingly get stuff done. Fri night my friend Jesse was having her new flower shop opening. There were a bunch of rowdy dirtbags there like me and much beer and whiskey was consumed. 11:30 approaches and I hi-tail it out to get some sleep. I have a big training ride in the morn.

Sat morning alarm blasts pop music at 5:30am. The day is a planned long cx bike sit in the saddle kinda day. Training day for the upcoming Gravel World Aug 22. I rode out from the city to Lost Valley where I met up with Lindsey, Maria, Baby J., and SS Sam to do a bi-fect. Which for anybody that doesn't know a bi-fecta is riding Lost Valley and then connecting over to Matson Hill via the Katy Trail. Its roughly about 30-35miles with 20-25 of those miles being single track mtb trails. I rode all of it on my cx bike. So now that thats been done, I now know I can always throw a bi-fecta in for extra, well, you know....     After the pit stop at Lindsey's apt complex pool in Kirkwood. I ended the day with 120 miles of cx bike fun. I was so smashed, but knew Leadbelt XC was the next day. So I rallied and got my bike and gear together best I could for Sunday, and hit the hay. It was 11pm by the time I got to sleep.

Waking up at 6:30 am Sunday morn was crazy hard. It was the first time in a while that I contemplated bailing on a race. The problem is that it was Mark Grumpke's race and I love that guy. So I had a social obligation to show up and support Mark. Ian my team mate picked me up and we motor down to St Joe State Park. Get ready and race.

 Off the start my legs actually have pop to 'em. I'm 4th going into the woods with a gap on the rest of the field. I manage to hold on to E. Pirtle, Clayton, and Turbo for about 1.5miles. My heart no longer had the elasticity and my legs were quickly overflowing with lactic acid. I knew it was in my best interest to lay off the gas and go into chill mode. The remainder of the 7.5 mile lap was a struggle for recovery. Ian caught up to me and we rode the rest of the race together using each other as motivation. 2nd and 3rd laps my body got warmed up and Ian and I were really lighting up the trail. I ended up 6th and Ian 7th. We were both just out of sight of Matt Twedt and Karl Stover. That made me hella stoked when I saw the finish times and saw where they finished. So even when I'm totally cooked from heavy training/racing I guess I'm still a threat!

6th in Cat 1 on a ss, I'm cool with that.

style is everything, haha.

The way home we got Mex food. The body just inhaled it. I usually never treat myself to dining out, but the body was ravenous and La Pachanga was calling with their chips n salsa and lime water.

Now is Wednesday, it must have been the mexy food, but I feel pretty good. My stair test at the Trek Store proves I'm recovering well. However, my knees feel a little wobbly and loose. So once again we shall see how the Dirt Crits tomorrow night and the Show Me State Game on Sunday go. Its always just a matter of time before total collapse, right. Also, I don't like counting my chicks before they're hatched, so I'm not gonna assume a victory for either race. If I simply make a few others have to scramble and dive in deep into their own personal pain cave then my job will be done.

-peat