It's now Saturday afternoon. Four of the six stages have come and gone, all leaving their invisible marks and scars on my internals; lungs, legs, arteries. The time trial was this morning. I got all super-duded and had a phenomenal warm up. In the TT, looking fast actually does often equate to going fast. And boy did I look like speed.
I went out way too hard. Way. That's happened so many times in the past I have lost count, and at least this time I managed to limit the damage and recover to finish well. My time was somewhere around fourteen and a half minutes for the 6.6 mile course... sounds decent, but the winning time is likely below thirteen. Bummer to have good legs and not perform to your maximum. Story of the year.
Regardless, my mind keeps pogo-ing back and forth between negativity and optimism. I am pleased to be 'in the mix' this year, but am also frustrated to be lacking that confidence; the type of confidence that one obtains from always 'being in the mix', unfortunately, is temporarily beyond my grasp. This race should prep me well (mentally and physically) for the Twilight Criterium next weekend in Boise. Big money this year. I had to watch last year's event from the curb, having hung my bike up during Cascade 2005. So glad the tide is different now.
This is a difficult time in longer stage races. Your brain is tired but sleep evades you. Your body is depleted but your stomach is boycotting and has extinguished your appetite. I can only imagine what the Tour de France riders experience, averaging around 4000 calories burned per day during exercise... three weeks straight. Sheesh, no wonder so many go home due to 'gastro-intestinal distress' and pure exhaustion. Toughies.
That's all I can muster for now. I should be stretching, sleeping, eating, or preparing my bike for this evening's criterium. Perhaps I'll read for a while. I apologize for such a boring blog.
