Today was the last West River Time Trial of the year. I was hoping to finally get my finishing time back under 21:00. I had every reason not to.
On Tuesday, I put in a really hard training day, with threshold intervals in the morning and a really hard weight workout at night. I set another new leg press record for myself, getting 2 reps at 1120 pounds. Wednesday, I was pretty stiff.
Thursday, I spent 40 minutes at Tempo intensity, which takes a lot out of you.
Monday through Thursday, I was running a training class at work, so I was talking for 7 hours a day each day. That's a lot, even for me.
It was cooler this morning, which makes the air denser and tends to slow down time trial results, and there was a pretty solid wind blowing against us on the way out to the turnaround.
I started #4. I used the PowerTap to pace myself into the head wind, knowing that it would take a lot out of me if I pushed too hard. I caught my teammate who started in front of me about 3/4 of a mile before the turnaround and I caught #2 just at the turnaround. I actually slowed down at the turnaround for a few seconds so I wouldn't run over the #2 rider. I probably lost 10 or 15 seconds there.
The way back was a lot faster. The tail wind pushed me a lot faster and I used the Power Tap to make sure I kept my power levels up. My heart rate was creeping into the upper 170's and I could barely breathe. I was pushing as hard as I could, with my speed holding around 25 to 26 mph. I kept kicking myself for waiting for that other rider at the turnaround. If I missed my goal time, it would be all because of that.
With two miles to go, I saw that I was at about 15:50. In my oxygen starved mind, I thought I had 6 minutes to go and I panicked, trying to go even harder. You see, 2 miles at ~24 mph should be 5 minutes, not 6, but I was not in any mental shape to do that math. So I went so hard that I thought I was going to pass out when I hit the finish line.
I hit the finish line and looked down at the Power Tap. My time was 20:38.
My total data:
Morning Weight: 181.6 lbs (82.5 kg)
Distance: 8.25 miles
Time 20:38
Avg Speed: 23.99 mph (ah, so close!)
Avg Power: 241 watts
Avg Watts/kg: 2.92
Avg Watts/lb: 1.32
Avg Heart Rate: 175 BPM
It was a great way to finish off the season. I'm debating doing a couple races in the next few weeks, like the PA Masters Time Trial and the Blueberry Road Race, probably just depending on the weather the days of the events. For now, I'm really happy!
