It's official..... I'm old
I should be complaining about how stiff and sore I am today I suppose. As afterall, I am now officially old. Yesterday I made my debut as a "Masters" athlete in the NZ National MTB series. A little ridiculous really as I'm only 29. But the rules say it's your age at Dec 31st 2008. By then I'll be 30.
So a coped a bit of stick. Understandibly as I'm still going pretty quick. However, I figured by racing Vets all the pressure of expectation would be gone, and I personally wouldn't be tempted to start doing high intensity intervals to be competitive with the Elite's when what I really want to do is ramp up the speed in March.
So it was pretty cool lining up on my home track, the layout of which I'd designed, and sections I'd built. With no pressure it was great fun. I was hoping to have a good battle with Hisky but my bike prevented that. Bloody 29'ers. They roll far too well up the rocky climb and I proceeded to ride away off the front for a personal TT. Mission one was to mow down all the U17 whippets who got a 5min head start.
I finally got them at the end of lap one, so with no real pressure I dropped the intensity a bit in lap 2, As I just enjoyed the flow of the track and the great support out there. I was stoked to see I'd posted some pretty quick laps. As in two of the fastest 4 laps of the day (including the Elites). So I have to be happy with the form?!
While it would have been interesting to see if I could have run with Stu Houltham and challenged for the Elite win.... in reality I was pretty happy not to be in that race. Instead I went for my now customary run afterwards. This time one full lap of the K-Loop track, making it a great XTERRA training session. This weekend its off to Christchurch for the 50km point to point Crater Rim race. With 30km of singletrack its one tough race. Can't wait! Just need to rest up these old "Vet" legs......
So a coped a bit of stick. Understandibly as I'm still going pretty quick. However, I figured by racing Vets all the pressure of expectation would be gone, and I personally wouldn't be tempted to start doing high intensity intervals to be competitive with the Elite's when what I really want to do is ramp up the speed in March.
So it was pretty cool lining up on my home track, the layout of which I'd designed, and sections I'd built. With no pressure it was great fun. I was hoping to have a good battle with Hisky but my bike prevented that. Bloody 29'ers. They roll far too well up the rocky climb and I proceeded to ride away off the front for a personal TT. Mission one was to mow down all the U17 whippets who got a 5min head start.
I finally got them at the end of lap one, so with no real pressure I dropped the intensity a bit in lap 2, As I just enjoyed the flow of the track and the great support out there. I was stoked to see I'd posted some pretty quick laps. As in two of the fastest 4 laps of the day (including the Elites). So I have to be happy with the form?!
While it would have been interesting to see if I could have run with Stu Houltham and challenged for the Elite win.... in reality I was pretty happy not to be in that race. Instead I went for my now customary run afterwards. This time one full lap of the K-Loop track, making it a great XTERRA training session. This weekend its off to Christchurch for the 50km point to point Crater Rim race. With 30km of singletrack its one tough race. Can't wait! Just need to rest up these old "Vet" legs......
