Red Barn CX Classic

I was in Minnesota this weekend, so I looked to see what races there might be. (The Twin Cities is not far away). I saw this race, and when I looked at the flyer it said it was at the Erickson Bros. Tree farm near Taylor's Falls, and I was thinking "hum, if I remember right I there was this guy name Erickson who started a tree farm with his brother somewhere." When I looked a little closer I saw that there was a Erick Erickson who was the race director, and I was thinking "hummm if I remember right, Paul Erickson had a son named Erick." So I didn't know anyone at the race except one of the tree farm bros. and the race director who was about 6 mo. old the last time I saw him, but at least I knew someone!

It was a nice race course, about 1 3/4 miles per lap. It was mostly flat, winding around the Christmas trees, there were 2 run ups, one short and muddy the other long and steep. There was an interesting technical section of 180's on the septic system mound, and a few mud pits. All and all it was a fun course. I was quite a was down among the finishers, BUT it didn't get lapped by any of the 45+ riders.

Red Barn CX race data

A Recovery Week

This week was a recovery week. Thursday was a high cadence, low heart rate workout. I tried to keep my cadence around 100, but I found myself getting a little impatient with the low effort and my heart rate climbed toward the end. It is great to have John and Kat to train with, especially on a grey day just before a downpour. It would have been pretty easy to roll over and go back to sleep.

Thursday's Cadence workout

Friday I was back in Owatonna, and did a short 10 ride in Kaplan's woods. It has been windy the last couple of days so it was great to be in the protection of the trees. My calf muscle is not completely healed, and I spent a fair amount of time running up the hills.

Friday's workout in Kaplan's Woods

The Last Week or So

Last week was one of those stressful weeks where the race on the weekend served more as a stress reliever than a chance to perform well. On Tuesday we set up a practice course at Washington park and as we were pre-riding what was suppose to be a race simulation, something that felt a little like a big rubber band snapped in my left calf muscle. Needless to say that was the end of the race simulation. The injury does not appear all that bad but the rest of the week was so busy getting ready for the annual lock-in we sponsor for 400 middle school and junior high kids that I did not have another chance to get out riding. So I came in the the race lacking both training and sleep. Still, all and all it was a pretty good race, the course was excellent. It would have been really fast if we had not had as much rain as we have had. As it was it was pretty slow and soggy.

Psyclofest Heart Rate and Speed Data

On Monday Kathy and I had a nice easy ride on the roads around Owatonna. It sure is getting dark early these days. We came in with our lights on. Tuesday I did some easy riding in Kaplan's Woods Park in Owatonna.

Neither Rain nor Snow.....Hummm...... Actually............

I would not be winning any blogging awards lately! But my training is hanging in there pretty well, around rain storms and snow falls anyway. Today was a great day in Iowa, and the plan called for practice starts. Where you get clipped in and go as fast as you can for 90 seconds. We did 2 on pavement, and 5 on the trail north of Black Hawk park. The trail was rough in places with plenty of recently fallen leaves and sticks to make for an interesting time: Tuesday's Bike workout.

Later I did a nice easy run on the trails in Hartman Reserve. I was looking for some hills to run on and there were enough there to get my heart rate high enough. Tuesday's Run.

This past Sunday I raced the Vande Cross in Moline IL. The race was 60 minutes. I think that is the longest cross race I have done. The course was great, I stayed under control for the whole race-- it was a good day! Vande Cross race data