discouraged or encouraged? i dont know

as i skipped wednesday's threshold workout, i needed to get it done on thursday... what better way to get that work done, then heading up to loudon for the NHIS race.
its a points race, with points awarded to the top3 on those given laps. since my group sprinting days are over, points weren't a concern for me.

my plan was to go hard for 15mins... rest...repeat. maybe it was just me, but things seemed a little faster last night than normal. anyways, at the start, someone went to the front & was pushing hard, i just sat on his wheel for a bit... after 2 laps, my friend rob took to the front... again, me 2nd wheel.... for the 3rd lap it was me pushing the pace. the workout has started :)

i figured i would give it a go on the back hill & jumped... nobody came with, so i just drilled it. got a good little gap & stuck away for a bit... got caught... but still tried to keep the pace up by sitting on the front. im sure people were thinking "what a dumbass, just sitting on the front all night" well... that was the plan.

i tried going a couple more times... bridging gaps, etc. but nobody wanted to go... each time, the guys would quickly sit up. ugh. those repeated efforts wore me out, and i just sat at the back for the last couple laps.

i dont know. i was hoping that i would have seen this huge spike in my fitness & i would have just walked away from everyone. yeah, that didnt happen. but on the other hand, i did do alot of work during the race, and was still able to quickly move from the back to the front on the hills, any time i wanted to. so that was nice...

i have put more time, effort, devotion (and money) into getting ready for this 'cross season, then I ever have in any previous season. so i cant imagine NOT being faster than previous years....but as mark reminded me last night "everyone else is training hard too" time will tell, i guess. I do still have another month of intensity training.... mmmm...intensity training.

this morning i woke up feeling like shit. headache, tired, sore. yeah. i forgot how much racing hurts.

tomorrow, i am meeting up with my friend john, to visit the grave of a girl we were friends with in college. she died of an overdose 10 years ago today. sad. very sad.