Season Opener struggles

Last week I headed to Huntsville for the U.S. Paralympics Cycling Time Trial. This course has been good for me in previous years so I was very excited to come back and show the progress I’ve been making during this off season. A quick 12 hour drive from Pennsylvania to Alabama on Tuesday, then the next 3 days to get some warmer outdoor rides in on the course. Over these days I was feeling amazing and fully prepared to have a really fast race.

On race day morning, the rain was a steady drizzle while I was was setting up. As I got on my bike a downpour came through and I was starting my warmup completely soaked and cold. This is not a good combination for me! With my higher injury level the pressure changes on rain days cause my blood pressure to drop below it’s already low “normal”. These days also limit how high I’m able to get my heartrate to raise. I also used everything at my disposal to keep my body warmer but it wasn’t enough. After a 30 minute warmup in the rain, my core temperature was still low.

At 9:34 my race started and I immediately began to struggle. Everything was LOW! My core temperature 1.2 degrees lower than where I start to feel good. My power was 45 watts lower than what I was expecting for this race based on what I’ve been doing in training lately. My heartrate was 50bpm lower than it should have been for the effort I was putting in.

I ended up taking 2nd place in my class behind an athlete from New Zealand which was the only “international” competition that came to this event across all the classes. I’m frustrated that these conditions didn’t allow my body to perform at 100% but I did learn from this and am already working on a few ideas that may help me avoid days like these in the future. I’m Thankful to have Team PossAbilities continued support and for the opportunity to race in our new 2025 kits!