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Carla Cosentino's Journal
Menlo Park Grand Prix Grand 'Wheeeee'!
posted by Turbo at 05:09 PM on March 11, 2009
Two weeks prior to the Menlo Park Crit, I had one of the worst races in my life. Who 'woulda thunk' that I would have the BEST race of my life just two weeks later?
What made it good:
I leanrned a LOT from the Snelling fiasco and promised myself that I would head into Menlo Park 'ready'. The two weeks prior, I found small areas of time to work out and I did NOT over train. A friend of mine said to 'listen to my inner voice' in the morning and I would know what to do and how hard to train that day...he was right. I probably under trained according to any real coach out there, but all I know is that the morning of Menlo Park, I felt STRONG!
Our team- we had strategized and agreed upon a plan to execute. The beauty of the plan is that it 'stuck'. We supported our one team mate by protecting her during the race and helping to keep the pace of the race high. She podiumed! (is that a verb yet?)
The race
My goal was to work for my team mate, as mentioned above. After a crash on the course from the previous race that held us up at the start line, Lori Lee Lown kept us warmed up by letting us ride around the course together. Between her and Mike Hernandez, they did the best they could do given the situation. I was appreciative of this, and in fact, very appreciative that any little pre race jitters subsided by the time we actually started. I found myself 2nd wheel to the CRM gals up front. They had the dominant presence and I knew who to watch. I saw the other teams and 'duos', and set out with the plan.
The first few laps, I found myself staying in the front part of the pack towards the sides, working on the best way to handle the chicane with this particular pack. I was watching the dynamics of the various duos and teams, hunted down the few strings of attacks that attempted, and made sure that none of my team mates was working too hard. If the pack started to slow, I came up the sides to the front and did my best to pick it back up.
Mid way through the race, I found myself yo-yoing a bit from front to back, as I lost positioning around the back of the course. At times, I had to sprint up the sides to catch up and get back into the front part of the pack.
Unfortunately, the worst thing happened....I didn't see or hear the lap cards, as I was 'boxed in' on the last two laps and lost perspective of what was happening. This is where it unraveled...this is where I found myself on the back of the pack knowing it was the last lap and I couldn't get up front...I worked hard at jockying, but others up front were already picking up the pace and by the time I was able to surge, we were on the last stretch and I was in the middle of the pack as others swarmed around me on the sides. DANG!!!! Knew our team 'winner' was where she needed to be starting two laps ago, and I saw her up ahead and sighed some relief. At least that part went right!
I did laugh when I looked just to my right to see one of my team mates alongside of me. She was ahead of me by a hair...at least we were 'together' :)
I wasn't breathing hard, I wasn't tired, my muscles barely felt like they worked. My brain...............well, that was confused. That was the muscle I realized needed the most workout.
What I learned:
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER EVER EVER BE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PACK TOWARDS THE LAST 4 LAPS OF A CRIT.
I am still happy for my success as a team mate. I am also happy that I trained 'smarter' and ate/drank 'smarter' for this race. My legs were happy, my heart was thrilled at how we did as a team.
categories: General
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