Book of Chad

I historically have really enjoyed the Cobble Hill race. The course features a long steady climb trail with plenty of room for passing. It’s a true threshold climb that really works well with “roadie” power output. This year’s course was different than previous years however still featured the major climb. I rocked up to the race not feeling fully into it and probably with a bit of a negative mindset. Nevertheless I lined up and got ready for the start as always.

The start went as expected, it was quickly into a really steep section with only two lanes, I was in a good position and settled in pretty quickly. Through the first trail and emerging into the second climb, my coach came blazing through. I remember thinking that either he was faster than I thought he would be. Down the first downhill, and he just disappeared on me. I went into the main part of the climb ready for the steady threshold effort. I settled in really well and thought that maybe I was going to have a good day after all. I saw my coach ahead and slowly ran him down, then another and another. Now I was feeling great. The first main climb was 282w NP and 294w NP from the start to the top of this main climb. Everything was going great.

The first downhill was pretty messy, I was just going much faster than in my pre-ride laps and couldn’t quite put any two corners together. I lost a couple of spots but was still rolling along well. Up the secondary fire road climb, I grabbed another 2 places back and made it through to the line in 17th.

The second lap started like the first and I got onto the main climb and settled in. The couple of guys that passed me on the down have reappeared on this climb and I went past them steadily. Then it started to fall apart, it started with a steady stream of blood coming from my right nostril. It wasn’t anything other than a nose bleed, but at 192bpm it can really be concerning. The nose bleed under control the next obstacle was something I’m quite familiar with. My lower back and hips started to cease up. It hasn’t happened to me since last fall and I thought that the recent mobility and strength training I had done had made this a problem of the past. Unfortunately it was quite painful although it didn’t hit until near the top of the main climb this time it was down a little to 272w NP. The downhill this lap felt much better and I was able to connect the dots and feel comfortable with this section. The secondary fire road climb was pretty painful and then it was on to the final lap.

I was hoping to power through the pain and maintain my position still in 17th going into the last lap. The main climb was truly painful and my hips and back were tightening like a vice. 249w NP to the top of the main climb this time I had truly lost my ability to push through the pain and I felt like I was going backwards. I was going backwards actually as my position started to fade away. The down went pretty ok and onto the secondary climb with only 7 minutes remaining in my race. On the two and a half minute final passing section my old friend and opponent Graham went by with my coach in tow. They both went by me into the final section of single track and I was completely dead. I rolled the next 4 minutes to the finish on the final down hill and through the line completely destroyed in 23rd place.

I don’t know exactly what caused the back and hip pain to return but I am hoping it was a combination of the current training load and lack of mobility over the last two weeks as the training load increased. I am going to add more mobility into the next training block and hope to come back better on the next one.

Time: 1:31:29
Distance: 13.9 km
Avg Heart Rate: 184 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 193 bpm
Normalized Power: 253 W
Place: 23rd