Ready to go?

This past week I've been trying to find my leg strength. My legs have been tired after this weekend, I probably overdid it by not allowing them to completely recover from the Mohican. As you get older it takes longer. Plus I tend to overdo things anyway so I have no excuses.

Each day the legs are returning to normal and yesterday my heart rate and leg strength seemed to almost match up. When you train with a heart rate monitor you can usually have a good idea how you are feeling by watching it go up in relation to how you are feeling. My HR had not been high compared to the perceived effort in my legs but they feel better now. I don't normally look at a HR monitor during a short XC race but in the longer events I try to regulate my efforts by staying within a certain range.

This race will be well attended with at least 170 riders so far including some big names. The weather will be warm and they are calling for a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Hopefully all the hydrating I'm doing will help with the heat.

Cyclingnews has an article today about the race and also includes the currrent standings for the Ultra Endurance MTB series. They use a factor of the winner's total time and the margin to each finisher to determine the points, the lower the points the better. The shorter the race the more the time difference hurts.