Happy Monday, Y’all!
Hope you had a stellar weekend! It was pretty nice over here 🙂
Saturday brought with it amazing temps and gorgeous views. For the middle of November, it is pretty exciting to see 60+ degrees. I was a little less than excited to line up for my first 3s race…mainly because Mother Nature decided to pay me a visit that morning and partly because I was scared to death to start with a new group!
I have been incredibly lucky this year as I have had a front row call up for all of my previous races. This was my first having to start behind girls and fight for space. Turns out, I am not very good at that! I had anticipated that the start of the race would be a faster version of my previous group, but I was wrong. The speed was about the same, but these ladies are much more aggressive. We are talking elbows, running into each other and lots of line hacking. I know what I need to work on! I was so thrown off by all of that, that I was the last person onto the grass.
The course isnt my fave, but I decided to make the most of it! I caught several girls while racing around the course and trying not to pass out from exhaustion. There were 5 laps and I felt good for the first and last 2, but those 2 in the middle were something brutal!
There was one ditch that I couldnt mentally get over and ended up running (planning to head over there later this week to work on it!). The rest of the course was a mix of heavy grass, slick as snot mud and some concrete. There was a steep muddy run up and then a second slick muddy run up out of a ditch. I LOVED these sections, but I didnt love that I got stuck behind girls who couldnt seem to make it up them ON EVERY LAP. Again, I need to learn to be more aggressive.
The adorable lady in the Naked kit is a great bike racer, but I think I could give her some tutoring in trail running. Killed me every time, but I couldnt seem to stay in front of her going into this run up!
On the last lap, I got stuck behind her…again…on this run up (the picture is from the first lap!). There was only a little bit of course between here and the finish. I stayed with her until we hopped the curbed onto the paved finishing straight and then I was able to out sprint her at the end. It was pretty exciting!
All in all, I was happy with how my first race as a 3 went. I have a ton of new stuff to work on for the rest of the season! There are 4 races left, though we may just do 3 of those, not sure. Glad to get some of the jitters out of the way!
Sunday was another glorious day and Ken managed to get almost 4 hours in of riding in the morning. Brooke and I worked around the house and then I was able to get 2.5 hours in with Errin in the afternoon. In shorts. And shortsleeves. HEAVEN.
Today, that is all changing. I have a rest day (thank goodness) and it is getting quite chilly out there. We are supposed to get some snow overnight and into tomorrow! Could make for some sweet fat bike conditions tomorrow 😉
Stay warm 🙂
Fit After Little Bits 
Leave a Reply