20 August 2007
I've been sitting at home this week, struck down by a bout of fatigue... sometimes the body just says STOP ! So I decided to listen to it and take a 5 day rest period, plus skip the weekends German cup. I will also miss next weekends race, as I really feel I need some physical and mental rest to try and regain my strength for the worlds.
I think it started already in Bern, as I had 'weird' feelings in that race... with no energy for the first lap, but afterwards I managed to regain my rhythm to finish strong. The day after I did a long ride, which was perhaps the big mistake.. hard to know for sure. In any-case, since then I've been dead to the world... I still went to Belgium, but I had some really bad asthma after staying in a damp house for one night. I actually thought my problems with this were over, but clearly not. Of course, the fact that my body was already tired would not have helped my immune system either.
So, already at the start of the 105km marathon race I was suffering to breath and I knew the race was not for me. I tried to hold a descent place, but after 60km I was over it all and decided there was no reason to push myself just to finish in 30th position... so I made my first DNF for the season. I was stoked to see Susi win after so many seconds over the years in the XC worlds.. good going mate!
At home again I talked to Benoit and we decided I needed a long break... and only after a few days off the bike did my body really go into recovery mode.. I was sleeping 10hrs per night and still feeling veged all the next day.. I'm finally back into training now, but taking it a little easier for the first week... I just hope my body didn't get too burnt.. we'll see in a few weeks I guess!
Marcus had a stellar weekend though... he just won a 4 day MTB tour in the alps.. (www.transmaurienne.com/index.html) what is considered as an extreme event with 9000m climbing including a glacier pass! Both he and Anja were in the top 2-3 each day and put NZL in the headlines.. very cool to see :)
Marcus riding the glacier...
I think it started already in Bern, as I had 'weird' feelings in that race... with no energy for the first lap, but afterwards I managed to regain my rhythm to finish strong. The day after I did a long ride, which was perhaps the big mistake.. hard to know for sure. In any-case, since then I've been dead to the world... I still went to Belgium, but I had some really bad asthma after staying in a damp house for one night. I actually thought my problems with this were over, but clearly not. Of course, the fact that my body was already tired would not have helped my immune system either.
So, already at the start of the 105km marathon race I was suffering to breath and I knew the race was not for me. I tried to hold a descent place, but after 60km I was over it all and decided there was no reason to push myself just to finish in 30th position... so I made my first DNF for the season. I was stoked to see Susi win after so many seconds over the years in the XC worlds.. good going mate!
At home again I talked to Benoit and we decided I needed a long break... and only after a few days off the bike did my body really go into recovery mode.. I was sleeping 10hrs per night and still feeling veged all the next day.. I'm finally back into training now, but taking it a little easier for the first week... I just hope my body didn't get too burnt.. we'll see in a few weeks I guess!
Marcus had a stellar weekend though... he just won a 4 day MTB tour in the alps.. (www.transmaurienne.com/index.html) what is considered as an extreme event with 9000m climbing including a glacier pass! Both he and Anja were in the top 2-3 each day and put NZL in the headlines.. very cool to see :)
Marcus riding the glacier...
