I've been beaten by the same rider the last two weeks, definitely telling me who the competition will be for the NJ TT series and, to be honest, getting me a little worried. If he beat me again this week, it would be three times in a row and make a really big point gap that I would have to make up in the coming races. I really needed to break the streak.
It's no secret that my training plan now is pretty intense. This week included back-to-back, high intensity days on Tuesday and Wednesday at a power output that is much higher than I'm used to. My legs were really tight and sore on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. By Thursday night, I was in a panic about my legs recovering in time for the race today.
On Friday, I did a good warmup ride, doing a couple of efforts at 90% of my target power for the race today. My legs felt awful. My panic was getting worse.By Friday night, they didn't feel any better
Warming up this morning, I was still not all there. My legs still felt tired and heavy and my heart and lungs were not responding quite right. On the plus side, it was cool out, but I was at least happy that it was not windy or raining.
I got to the start and just focused on doing the best I could.
The course was mostly flat but with a LOT of tight turns and curves. A few times I went into the turn at full speed and was leaned over as fas as I could without coming up out of the aero bars.
I hit the turnaround and I knew I was in trouble. My average power was only 265 watts, a full 15 watts down from my 280 watt target. My legs were just not putting out the force I needed.
To make it worse, my turnaround was awful. I came in way too fast and had to apply brakes in the turn. I was doing 12 mph when I came around the cone and started getting back up to speed. I looked up to see Anthony bearing down on me heading into the turnaround. He was a little closer than I wanted to see.
On the way back, I dug a lot deeper. My legs did not want to go at all, but I pushed with all I had, blazing through the turns as fast as I could, not wanting to let up the pressure for even a second in case my legs wouldn't pick back up again.
It worked. On the way back, I held the power around 285 watts... much better. With a mile to go, I picked up the pace just a bit more, holding it around 300 watts. I hit the finish line at 18:24, with an average of 273 watts for the day, a whopping 12 watts below target. I felt like I had given it all I had, but I was hoping just to be on the podium. I kind of wondered if I had lost the series today.
It turns out... I didn't.
I first suspected when Anthony and I were talking after the race and he thought he was around 18:40. I know how easy it is to be a little off on your time, so I tried not to get too excited. Sure enough, when we got the final results, I had won. Anthony was in second at 18:36 (12 seconds, the same margin that he had over me last week).
There are a lot of unknowns today. I don't know how I put out so much more power on the way back. I don't know how to put in the type of intensity I need without it impacting my race. There's a lot for me to think about this week.
Of course, we get to do it all again next week. The next one one is 10 miles, dead flat, almost completely straight, and a wide turnaround that barely requires you to slow down.
What I did right:
I noticed that I was overdoing it and focused on recovery
I contained my worry at the warmup and the start, focusing on doing what I could
I picked up the pace in the second half
I felt like my position was the best it's been yet this year
What could have been better:
My weird pacing problem on the way out
The Numbers:
Distance: 7.9 miles
Time: 18:24
Speed: 25.7 mph
Avg Power: 273 watts (285 target)
Avg Heart Rate: 162 bpm (168 target)
