Nats and the Past 6 Months

Nationals was a very fun time and you never stop learning. Last year it was muddy but the course was flat. This year it was less muddy as the week went on but the climb to the run-up made things difficult and the downhill gave little recovery since it was very slippery.

I was pretty happy with my placings (23rd, 45th and 20th) and my easiest race was the last one which was the single-speed. The hardest race was the first one which was B's.

Leading up to nationals I had an injury to my calf which had me off the bike for 4 days. I then got a cold that week and won a race the Sunday before nats. I had a sinus infection from the cold and was on antibiotics all through nationals. So, all things considered I managed well.

I tried to really train hard this summer and fall with 2 peaks in mind, the first was the GA single-speed MTB championships in August and then the second was cross nationals. Looking at my PMC below I had the highest training stress I have ever managed. I had a very good summer of riding but should have taken some days off. I think I went something like 6 weeks without a rest day off the bike. The training stress was managable since I could take naps and get good rest.

The MTB races I did this year were great fun. I missed racing MTB since the 90's and I enjoyed the single-speed challenge on top of that. I was able to raise my FTP up to what it normally is around cross season to about 300-315w. My results were pretty good and I managed a few wins on the MTB. I fell short at the ss championships getting 3rd in the XC.

Going into cross season I felt great and in practice was going very well. The training stress was beginning to pay off a bit and throughout the season my CTL fell as it should but remained pretty high overall. Coming into nationals i had a CTL of about 70 which is pretty decent for December.

Now I can relax a little and get ready for the Snake Gap TT and Southern Cross in January.