Brain Power & Leg Power

​Find your strengths and turn them into your superpowers 

​It takes the best of me to perform the best I can. I don’t think I’m some kind of super-talent-power-house, but I have other components, that makes me capable of top performances. Find your strengths and turn them into your superpowers, right? 

January marks a beginning. Believing in new years resolutions or not, it is a new year. The word new is in the sentence. So this Jan-Feb, I’m prepping for the 19’ season with a different setup than previously. Not that my training-plan has changed a whole lot, but many other things. I have together with my boyfriend found a good base in Spain, the Barcelona area, where I’m putting in all the basic work. With the new location, I decided to add two shorter stage races to fire up some longer intensity and taste the sweat & blood a bit, in the early months. So after 4 weeks of riding around on the skinny tires in the Spanish landscape, I packed the new Oiz to met up with the Danish National Team for a week of racing on Lanzarote. 

​On the road bike I have logged weeks between 16-22 hours of training; mostly just riding, with a hint of intervals around my threshold and a day with some lovely 3-minute efforts in the painful watt zone. So we’re making a base to build on. Timing is important. It has been enough to push me but also with a margin to let me stay healthy and give me energy for life off the bike. So to end the month in a good way, the 4 stage race on Club La Santa Lanzarote, was what was up. For stage racing, you need the ability to keep a high tempo for hours + have the room for firing up the power and stay in a higher zone for a while.

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​High tempo for hours? Perhaps I can do this. Going into the red zone a lot? Not quite there yet. 

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 ​​I must admit I never really liked the stage-race sort of racing so much, and I’m not sure if I ever will. It’s not my favourite, but it has something to it that is quite challenging and that’s good for me. I always regret it 10 minutes into the first stage - like ‘oh god, what did I do, it’s gonna be this hard for hours and that’s not even the end, it will be this hurt-box for days…crap’. But when I’m out there, no matter how many jokes I make in my head on my feeling of stupidity, something deep inside of me is not giving up. 
​The first stage in the Lava rocks of Lanzarote was challenging for me, I was a bit stressed and unsure on the bike. I only rode the Oiz a couple of times before the start-line, so to be out there in the fast, furious and tactical racing was a big potion for me. Which culmi-

-nated 15-10k’s from the finish with a stupid crash on the pavement - luckily I didn’t take anyone with me down! I got up from the road, collected myself and my stuff, jumped back on the bike and started to hunt the front group that I just lost. My right arm was pumping a lot from the shoulder down to the wrist. Hip and knee were only painful on the outside, but the arm didn’t feel good. So I was really motivated to get to the finish as fast as possible...
I got a green light from the doctor after the stage. Good, so nothing is damaged, it’s just really painful. 
After a shitty night, I was scared for the upcoming stage. But Mads and I briefed it in the morning, and nothing seemed like it would get worse with my wrist, it was more a question of how much pain I would take. Still being smart. Nothing worse than playing hero to ruin your season, so I needed to bring the brain that day. Which worked great for me (hah) and I attacked early on, got away and got some seconds in the overall standing (ending 2nd on the day). 

A mix of adrenaline, will, support and brain power does a killer cocktail. ​

​The mind is a fascination place, you can manipulate with yourself if you know how to tackle it and speak to yourself. I think. I kinda knew I could do this. Because in November I crashed really bad on my tailbone on the road bike, and the following days I was able to continue training if I 1) let the pain be pain, and 2) mixed it with a hard effort (1minut - ish) every 30 minutes. I could literally feel the pain release just after I had pushed hard in the pedals.

The next 2 stages I just continued with the same speed/effort and finished on an overall 4th place. Stronger - both physically and mentally. I’m happy with my riding, and the feeling of my new bike. My next stage race is the Mediterranean Epic in 2 weeks, I hope I can continue to get better and stronger :-) 

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I think experiences like this, is good. It reminds me that my brain has just as much power as my legs. And I need to use that in order to perform at my best 

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Here is the profil's from the race - if anyone is wondering how the stages were looking.