How The Hammer Does it.

Last Sunday, (10/17/2010) the Triple Crown Series began with a race at Bonelli Park, San Dimas. Though Team Racer, Mark “The Polish Hammer” Tomas has been racing for us since mid-summer, this was the first event that we actually got to see him hustle in person.

The Hammer.

During the race, Mark was in the top 5 riders of his category. He was certainly working hard.

At times, he was climbing up the hills one handed, while his other arm was making hammering motions.

Mark finished the race very strong with a respectable 4th place. But here’s something that may surprise you, and blew us away…Mark and his wife just had a baby…1 week prior to the race! So that meant Mark was racing on very little training and only a few hours of sleep! With that in mind, I decided to ask Mark….”How the heck did you manage to ride as well as you did?”

Here’s what he had to say to a few questions I had for him”

1.How do you find time to train?

Anyone with kids knows its not always easy to get out and ride. But I just give my family all the attention they need. Your family has to come first, and whenever I can, I get out there, even if its a short ride around the neighborhood. My priorities when I race are…

1 Don’t get injured.
2 Be respectful to the other racers, and show good sportsmanship.
3 Have fun.

As long as I do these three things, even if I don’t finish up front, I’m a happy man.

2. With the new baby in the home, how often do you ride?

Our newborn is only a week old. so I really didn’t ride to much the past few weeks. I like to get in three rides a week, or at the least one good one a week. But right now its whatever I can fit in. Thankfully my wife supports my racing.

3. How do you utilize the Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) during the race?

I just started using a HRM. But basically when I do my regular rides, I find a fast pace that I could maintain for about an hour and a half. Next I found my max output, a rate that I can only push for about a minute, then I get light headed and want to vomit. I try to keep my body at that fast pace during the race and try not to hit my max so I won’t burn out.

So there you have it ladies and gents, hopefully this is some what of an inspiration to all the other riders out there with kids. If the Hammer can do it, so can you. If you see him at a race venue, don’t let his tattooed, hammer carrying appearance scare you…just don’t get in his way if you’re racing against him… 🙂