Ouch! That hurt.

Little Mountain RR State Championships were yesterday. They marked the end of a 3 week training overload filled with increasingly longer intervals at threshold. The goal is to break out of my usual short bursts of intensity that make me a good sprinter and teach my body to endure longer intense efforts which will make me a better time trialist and hill climber. Sometimes you have to get worse before you get better. In other words, I had pretty low expectations for this race.

The first lap was a blast! Good old fun pack racing. I survived the first small climb with the pack. After the descent Jamie broke away in an effort to make the field work. Once we caught her I counter attacked and teammate Kris came with me. I expected us to be caught sooner but once again the other teams were saving themselves, hoping Ski Utah would do the work. Then we hit THE hill.

Immediately the pack was strung out. I could see Jamie and Bre holding their own up front. I powered up until there was no power left then sat and spun my way up. The air was stagnat (that's how it goes when you're not even moving fast enough to create a breeze) and it got hot. My calves started cramping and I really thought about quitting. Instead I took a couple of endurolytes and downed some water. Kara caught me and we worked together to catch Kris and Allison, a mountain biker with Revolution. The four of us worked together until the hill once again separated us. By the last time up the hill I was fried. I watched Kara and Kris climb away from me. I hoped to catch them at the top but my right tricep was on fire and I was unable to stay aero and in the drops so the wind slowed me further. I finished 12th out of 14. About what I expected.

Breanne and Jamie along with Allison (Kuhl) managed to dump the rest of the field. Breanne finished first and Jamie pulled off another spot on the podium with 3rd. It is with mixed emotions that I report both Jamie and Breanne are close, if not there, to the 30 USAcycling points that will force them to upgrade. On one hand I am a bit happy to see them move up and give some of us a chance to float to the top. But I am sad too. It has been so much fun having them at every race. This is the first year I've had teammates that work together so well. They have worked for me and I have been thrilled to contribute to their race whenever I can. It will be great to have more Ski Utah women in the 123s and I know the Lauras will be happy to have thier help. I don't doubt that they will both continue to kick some serious ASS!