How not to finish a Mountain Bike Race
Written by Mike Cheliak on September 29, 2009 – 5:59 pm -There are many people who will tell you the deepest, darkest secrets of fitness, training, nutrition and competition. What you will very rarely find is someone like me who is going to tell you the cold, hard truth about the things you need to do to ensure you DON’T complete your race.
Sunday September 13th, 2009
I woke up with a sore throat. I was at the Wasaga Beach Triathlon/Half Marathon weekend doing what I do best…taking FANTASTIC photos of all the hard working athletes. I stayed hydrated and made the best of it.
Monday September 14th, 2009
I felt like shit! Sinus congestion, cough, irritated throat and general crappy feeling. I managed a half assed workout but my heart was NOT in it.
Tuesday September 15th, 2009
I felt like shit! Sinus congestion, cough, irritated throat and general crappy feeling. I did as little as possible. Got up…did mostly nothing…went for a nap…drove the kids around…went to bed.
Wednesday September 16th, 2009
I felt like shit! Managed to sit in front of the computer for a bit and then I had a nap, had chicken broth for supper and went to bed.
Thursday September 17th, 2009
I still feel like crap but I now have Flonase which cleared up my sinus issue. I went for a 20K trail ride (really just a VERY LIGHT RIDE). I felt like crap! My energy was really low and my breathing was not bad but still a bit laboured from the cold.
Friday September 18th, 2009
I paid for yesterday’s ride
Saturday September 19th, 2009
Lakeside II Triathlon Weekend day one. I now have very little voice left thanks to cough-o-mania. Up at 6:30AM, out the door at 7:30AM, on site at 9:15 AM. Started shooting at 10AM and finished around 5:50PM, left the site and got home around 7:40PM. I FEEL LIKE SHIT! Process what I can and off to bed.
Sunday September 20th, 2009
Lakeside II Triathlon Day 2. I REALLY FEEL LIKE SHIT! Off I go again to a shorter day of shooting. I manage to make it through and I sounded like a cast member of the Soprano’s.
Monday September 21st, 2009
Processed all the weekend and relaxed…still not feeling great.
Tuesday September 22nd, 2009
Did a 20K ride around the easier trails today. Made it through, still feel like shit!
Wednesday September 23rd, 2009
Today is the first day I actually feel like I have any energy at all. Went to the gym and did a light push/pull/big/small/core workout. Didn’t really feel great but at least I hoisted some iron! Rode to and from at an easy pace and felt OK.
Thursday September 24th, 2009
Out for a little rigourous ride. It did NOT go well. I had to stop a couple times just to recover.
Friday September 25th, 2009
Not feeling great but pushing through. Just a doggie walk today. Getting ready for the Milton TRiKiDS event tomorrow.
Saturday September 26th, 2009
Feeling a lot better and the TRiKiDS Triathlon is a really fun series to photograph. The event was from 9:30 until nearly 4PM. I squatted ALL DAY! As any good photographer will tell you, you HAVE to shoot at the level of your subject. Anything else looks stupid. I did bodyweight squats for around 6.5 hours straight! If you have any concept of quad workouts, I guarantee you would have a lot of trouble making it through this one!
Sunday September 27th, 2009 RACE DAY
After I woke up, I should have decided not to race. Instead, I prepared myself. Light simple food for breakfast along with some really heavy coffee for some energy. Lots of hydration before the race and a nice 2-3K ride warmup followed by a good core and leg stretch session (yes I know what I am doing).
THE RACE
I really felt pretty good going into this. It had rained pretty much for the last couple days and somewhat heavy at times. Last night was really a good downpour so I knew the course would be yucky. I didn’t mind.
I started out great. The first couple stages weren’t particularily tough and were just a bit mucky. Once we started getting into the hilly sections of the escarpment, things changed! Several racers were wiping out on the short bridges and narrow trails and most of us were walking our bikes up the bigger hills.
My first wipe out was on a small (6 foot long) wooden bridge. As soon as I hit it, my bike went left. Not a bad still but still a little pain. I picked up and continued to Hydro Hill (Nasty piece of work). I made it up via ride/walk as did most.
Another 3km up, I decided I was too clean and wiped out once again. This time was a little down hill (off trail) slolom. I ditched about 20 feet off the trail but managed to push back up. My quads at this point were “tweaked” to say the least. The previous day of Squat Fest was now starting to rear it’s ugly face.
I managed to push through anothere 7 km or so and then I wiped out one more time. After getting up this time, my quads said “STOP” and I agreed. It took me a good 30 minutes just to get my quads to release. My cramping was so bad at this point that I had to sit in the MOKUSO position to engage my quads so they wouldn’t spasm.
The morale of this story is simple. I do this stuff to have fun. When it ceases to be fun due to whatever the reason, I stop. No matter of “must complete” mentality will make up for the fact that I really shouldn’t have started this race in the first place. I really shouldn’t have done this race given the couple of weeks I had previous to the event but I did.
I DID have fun (until my body said it wasn’t fun). My fun is played between the limits of what I am able to do. On a good day, this race would have been doable and fun…on this day…mail it in Mr. Rockefeller, this boy is going home!
Whatever you do…just have fun. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t “hit the mark” and don’t make excuses “not to participate”. Just do what you can , what you enjoy and what gives you a sense of fun.
In Happiness and Health as always!
Mike C.
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