Lee Williams Blog : Tired Legs But Good Form

Tired Legs But Good Form.

Lately there’s not a day that goes by where my legs actually feel fresh, strong maybe, but fresh….no chance! Everyday even if it’s a recovery day or an easy ride the day before a race my legs are screaming at me from a good session the day/days previous. Although as draining as it is and maybe not the best preparation for cross races at the weekend, its all part of my strength training for the mountain bike season which before you know it will be just around the corner. In saying this, my cross racing haven’t been going all that bad to say the least…

On the 21st of November I raced in Rd 7 of the Welsh Cross League in Margam Park, where despite on the warm up feeling pretty heavy/burny legged and assuming that I was going to have my butt handed to me in the race, it went surprisingly well…

Welsh Margam CX

Off the start and for the first lap I followed William Worrell (Towy Riders) just to get a feel for the course as I hadn’t pre rode it, but after that I managed to pull away to the finish to take the win clear of the rest of the field lapping all but 2nd and 3rd. This for me was a pleasing win as my training leading into the race was heavy and the fact that I had a good performance against some strong competition was very satisfying.

Unfortunately, despite performances going well, my flow of good races was slightly disrupted for a weekend (28th Nov) as Rd 4 of the National Trophy Series in Southampton clashed with something small like, and I know my other half (now wife) is going to kill me for saying this…my wedding day, so I had to miss that one! Actually my wedding day was on the 27th, but we decided we’d make a weekend of it and a great one it was! Knowing that I had two rest days due to the wedding weekend I give it all in the week leading up to it and by the time we’d (me and the old man) got to the venue (obviously on our bikes) on the Friday I was pretty slammed and earned them well needed rest days. The wedding itself was spot on and everything flowed so perfect despite a small scare of heavy snow on the Friday evening and not expecting any of our guest to get there. But, everything happens for a reason, everyone turned up and we had a weekend certainly to remember!

So with the wedding over, it leads me to the honeymoon…the Welsh Cross Champs (5th Dec)!

Again another good weeks training leading into the event and I was confident that my form was still good and that I could retain my title for another year. Again “what goes up must come down” and the night before the race I started getting the sniffles and I felt sure that was the end of the “up” for my form and we was now on the “down”. The following morning I woke up with a head cold and despite a muzzy head I was determined to keep my Welsh Champs jersey, so off all the usual Williams support crew (My sister, her husband + their two kids and dog, my parents, my wife an daughter plus our dog) went to Glan Usk Estate, Crickhowel for this years Championships. Although my cold didn’t feel that bad there was the risk that the race would make the cold go to my chest or perhaps it was already in my chest and that the race would kill or cure me.

On the start line there were a few comments on me winning the race, but I wasn’t my usual confident self, just a bag of nerves instead. Soon as the race was underway I forgot all about my cold and everything was back to normal. I didn’t for the whole race feel any discomfort from a cold and was happy that by the end of the first lap I had started to pull away and continued to do so for the remainder of the race to be crowned the Welsh Cyclo Cross Champ for another year, with team mate Ben Simmons coming in to take the Bronze! I can honestly say that I felt better after the race than I did before it started and that I’m happy that the legs are still working well ready for Rd 5 of the National Trophy this coming weekend in Bradford where I hope to get another good performance.