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Okay first. Thanks for being here on my page and spend a few minutes reading my little stories. And thanks a lot for the sweet messages last time, it made me want to continue and write another report from this weekend. Sunday means race day, and this Sunday was no exception. This time 10 minutes from my home, so cool. It was the first out of a series of 5 races. The track was awesome and it's one of my favorite riding spots ever. (mtbliga.dk) The week leading up to the weekend was good, but a little hectic, coming home from Nice on Monday, Team Danmark test on Tuesday, a school presentation on Thursday, and so on, so a lot of things for the head. But everything turned out just fine and when Sunday arrived I was super excited and pumped for this race. On the start line, I felt like everything was prepared and I knew every meter on this track by heart. We started and I took the front already from the first climb. I pushed hard and after the first lap, only my teammate Alexandra was with me. I pushed with everything I had up every climb and down the hills. And it felt really good. The track contained 5 climbs and 3 straight sections. On the climbs and in the downhills I won a few seconds, but Alexandra was strong especially in the flat parts, and she managed almost every time to close the gap. I was so contracted and fighting my lungs out, that the gels in my pocket.. stayed there.. Through the finish area, on my way out for the last lap, I felt a bit dizzy. Shiit. I hurried up and took the gel from my pocket. But I knew inside that it was too late. Up the first climb I felt the power missing a bit, and in the downhill, I had a hard time keeping the eyes contracted. Alex came fast from behind and sprinted me out in one of the flat sections.. Noo. Malene.. I managed to keep Alex in sight and finish in 2nd spot. But damn.. If I had fueled properly I think that win could have been mine. Not that often I feel so good. This feeling where you can push through the pain on the climbs and just continue doing it. This year I have felt it 3 times, cx worlds, a day on Cyprus, and yesterday. It's on of the best feelings I know. I just can't believe I did such a rookie mistake. Positive; I'm on the right way, and I'm excited to battle with the big guns next weekend it Heubach. Learnt; even though things seems to be perfect, you need to remember that you're racing for 1,5 hour... Numbers was good too - attached are some power and heart rate profiles if anyone are interested :) Best Malene 
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Going into this season's first race-weekend with a good winter of training behind me, felt good and I was so excited to finally kick off the 2017 season. I have spent a month at home trying to do great training hours and catch up on some missed school. I like being at home and use some time with family and friends, so it suited me really well to have a long time (4 weeks) in the same bed, before a long season. My mum drove me to the airport Friday night (we woke up 4.45 am, so it was pretty early..), and from there I flew to Munich where the team mechanic Uwe picked me up. From Munich to Nalles we had a 4-hour drive. Unfortunately, we had delays so we arrived just before a dinner, with our sponsor Kiku (an apple brand from the area), so no time for an easy spin. But oh well it was rest-day anyway, so no big problem :) And then I saw my boyfriend for the first time in 7 weeks, so the day was not that bad.. at all! Saturday’s plan was a couple of laps on the course and then rest rest rest. The team had split up, so we were only 3 riders here in Nalles, Lisi, Alex and I. We went on the course together with Loic (my boyfriend), to check out some of the technical parts. The track was super dry and dusty. Coming from the danish dirt it felt so different. In one of the first corners my entrance speed was to high and in no time I was sliding away on the ground. Auch.. We continued down the hill, and I tried to get the feeling back. But I struggled a bit. I tried to take out some of the air pressure so my grip perhaps would get better, did one more lap, it felt better but I didn’t feel 100%. After lunch, it was time for a sleep. I was laying there and wondered how tomorrow would be like. I knew I had worked hard to improve my VO2 the last month and my shape was getting better and better, but in today's training, I didn’t feel so comfortable and my leg was hurting. Hm. ZzzZzz  Ego-promotion When I woke up Sunday morning the temperature was already high, a hard day out there was about to start. My leg had swollen up on the left side, but I was sure when I first got started it would disappear. And it did, when I started racing and the adrenaline pumped around, I didn’t think about it. It was 5 times up the long climb, and 5 times down the hill.
First time up everything felt just fine and I was in a good position. But when we came to the downhill I felt like something was wrong. My brakes, mind and riding didn't come together, which freaked me out a bit because I normally always enjoy the technical parts of a track. My race remained a bit like that, I felt good in the uphill and then having struggles going down again. And in a race with so many fast riders, is there no time for mistakes. I crossed the finish line in 11th position. With mixed feelings. Good things - I was able to push hard all 5 times up that long climb + It was 30 degrees but I succeed to not get too hot (which sometimes is a big struggle for me). The things that bothers me is that I know my shape and skills are better than what the outcome of this race looks like. I just didn’t manage to put all the right elements together that day. Like a Tetris game, where you have all the right boxes but you don’t place them right. I felt a bit like that.. If that makes sense haha. /Malene |
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January 2024
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