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WINBERRY REVVING UP THE CROSS ENGINE, TAKES EARLY WIN AT WESTWOOD VELO CROSS!
10/31/2009
WINBERRY REVVING UP THE CROSS ENGINE, 6th and 7th IN FIRST RACES OF YEAR! Laura Winberry of Team Campmor has had a hyper-active 2009, starting with a heavy training camp and racing action down in Ecuador for February and March… Then she returned and raced plenty pro and H2H Series events, earning many victories and placing in practically every race she entered…
Although she didn’t want to, we shut it down in mid-August, after the US CUP races at Windham (where she placed 4th in the Cross-Country – on a bad day, lol – and WON the Super D)… She took a fair amount of time off, no riding, and then we started with logical Transition and Preparation work. Last year we won the State Championship, but we started late and really had to ensure each and every day built toward her ultimate goal: gaining peak form by early-December... This year, we're doing a full, full build as we are aiming for her to peak for the NJ State Cyclo-Cross Championships in December, followed by Cyclo-Cross Nationals in Bend, Oregon…
In mid-September, as we were prepping the aerobic engine and getting her fine-tuned on the cross bike, she had a back-to-back racing weekend… The races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Race Series (MAC), a series where she wants to place well, so we entered the events…
To our surprise, Laura placed a whopping 7th out of 55 at Nittany Lion. I was worried the effort would overwhelm her, but she did great, reported feeling very good… She was able to maintain a steady pace from beginning to end…
With her aerobic conditioning, Laura felt even better the second day at Charm City in Baltimore, where she placed 6th out of 55 entrants. The course had a runaround a tree and an oversized barrier, with a power climb lead-up… With a huge crowd lining the course, she wrote that she felt “really great, except when running in the sand.” She noted this was a weakness, and that she got passed by a few women while running, but she passed them back on the bike later on! She also had asthma in high school, had to take inhalers, etc, hadn’t used them much since then, but she noted she had trouble breathing during the race, when she was running…
Laura fought hard, rocking back between 3rd and 6th, and eventually steadied it out for a solid 6th place. Laura has been practicing cross drills (mounts, dismounts, run-ups, hopping barriers, staircases) and her diligent work has amounted to a smooth cross-racer! With her mountain-bike skills, and now her refined cross skills, Laura is really hoping to pour it on later in cross-season, looking to notch some top results and finish this busy year in fine fashion!
WINBERRY 2nd at GRANOGUE CROSS, 4th at WISSAHICKON... and a week later WINS Westwood Velo Cross!
Here we are, a month after our debut cross race, and Laura is riding much stronger… On Saturday, October 17th at the Granogue Cross, Laura felt right at home in the “mud soup” out on the course, throttling it all race and able to take 2nd out of 50 entrants! Laura was able to ride most of the course, no barriers, and felt much better on the run-up (in September, the running was a bigger problem). Strength-wise, she felt much better than last time, and this was very encouraging. 2nd is already a superb result, and we’re looking for peak form by the end of November…
The following day, at Wissahickon, she placed 4th. The race was faster, colder, windier. Perhaps the previous day took something from her, but she did report feeling more tired. She also had several falls today and had to deal with serious mud-suck issues, the bike just clogging up! She noted that halfway through, she was beginning to lose steam…
There were also a few sections where she had to decide if riding or running was faster, and she opted for riding. In hindsight, she’s thinking running may have been faster… The more races you do, the smarter you get out there… This is all priceless experience Laura will stockpile in her racing brain, hoping to use this data to help her perform at a peak level later in the year…
And today, as I was hoping, Laura put on a strong performance and won the big local cross race, Westwood Velo Cross. She stormed out of the gate and thundered around the muddy course, winning the A race handily. So far so good... I will be carefully monitoring her form and training, ensuring we don't peak too soon, hoping we can roar into late-November with our best-ever form...
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