Iola and figuring things out.

Exams are in full swing till tomorrow night so a short Race Report for Iola.  Short story, led race till the “wall”, flat tire for a lap going backward to 7th, finally fixed it and finished in 7th. 

Photo Credit: Lynne Senkerik

I love seeing all my friends and familiar faces at the first race.  The relationships gained and camaraderie amongst my competitors has really grown into some cool friendships and I am extremely grateful for their commitments to the sport.  Racing against these guys every other weekend is such a privilege!  Another Privilege is the new team I am managing and it was in full swing at the venue space this weekend!  Make sure to look for team Wheel and Sprocket/Vision at every WORS race this year!

My flat tire aside, my top secret time trial courses and power numbers all say I am in better shape than ever before, but yet at Iola tis weekend I felt like I was suffering worse than racing from 100th to 43rd with a broken wheel at Sea Otter 2 weeks ago.  I have always wondered why I struggle at the April-June and September-November races.  I really hate excuses, especially when I hear them coming out of my mouth, and so I have usually just written off this nagging feeling of being limited by a physical ailments…anyways most say bad results early on is because the fitness is just not there yet, or I am over my peak late in the year, not sure I could say this is the case though after the amount training and racing I put in so far.  After 3 years of racing Pro I have begun to see a very consistent pattern in results directly correlated to time of year and how bad I am suffering from allergies and I think it is getting worse.  It is the same feeling I have had on really long base rides outside during pollen season, but on the base rides the limiter on power and breathing just sets the bar lower and lower as the ride goes on till I am wheezing and I get home and cannot breathe for a while.  Well in races it is the same way, just harder to discern because I am so focused on pain and discomfort just being a part of it…if I red line I do not recover and I just have to hold a steadily decreasing pace over the course of the race.  Right now in my basement, and when I was down south, this does not happen and many times I feel better and better as the intervals go on and my recovery times have been amazing lately.

The seasonal patter is the same every year, I suddenly come on very strong when it gets hot and humid and the pollen chills out.  Think Crystal Ridge, Ore to Shore etc.  I always thought it was due to gaining fitness from racing, but after being in other environments racing this year and having raw data to compare to other points in the season I suspect it is more than fitness.  So I have scheduled an appointment with an allergist/immunologist to try and figure this out.  Especially after my recent, fairly scary, asthmatic experiences on long rides on pollen heavy days.  Lots of work has gone into being in great shape right now and I am hoping the Doc and I can come up with both a short term fix and a long-term solution to all my silly allergies.

What I am really happy about is figuring this out now rather than later.  This is where having a workout log and power files have really helped me understand some things. 

Thanks for reading!

Now back to having fun with EXAMS1

Nathan