This weekend I spent more time being social than racing.
On Friday, we hung out with Rich for an hour, talking about work, cycling, bikes, balancing cycling with the rest of life, and just generally chatting.
I rode the 7.7 miles back to the start with Anthony, chatting the whole time.
Today after the race, we went out for brunch with Anthony, Cary, Steve, and Fran. Like most cyclist outings, conversation skewed heavily towards racing, training, and equipment.
Somewhere in the middle, I did a race.
The race is called the Sandrino's Sacrifice Time Trial, held as a fund raiser for http://www.honoringsandrinossacrificefund.com/ I was happy to see all the riders who won money unanimously donate it to the foundation.
Today's course was a 7.7 mile one-way course. It's mostly flat with a few climbs. Nothing steep, but just long enough to make it hurt a little more. It didn't help that we had a pretty consistent 10 mph head wind with a few stronger gusts.
After last week, I was in the lead for the series, so I got to start last. Anthony started 30 seconds in front of me, so I had the advantage of being able to see him throughout the race.
It didn't really help. I put everything I had into this race. It's so short that you can really fly, holding back just enough to last the entire distance. I hit the finish line with absolutely nothing left, but I could tell Anthony had pulled away from me.
It was a little disappointing since I won this race last year (my first win ever) and was hoping to defend it. I was over a minute slower this year than last year, but I averaged 8 watts higher. That head wind really made a difference.
The good news is that no one else got ahead of us. Anthony won at 18:16. I was second, 20 seconds behind him (and 7 seconds ahead of the guy in 3rd). Now he's back in the lead in the series, with 146 points. I'm in second with 145 points. The guy in 3rd has 107 points.
With two races to go and a maximum of 20 points that can be won in each race, it's all but certain that I'll finish in 2nd place at worst and 1st place is still in reach.
What I did right:
Gave it all I had
Kept my power up on the downhills and when the wind varied a bit
What could have been better:
Nothing that I can think of
The Numbers:
Distance: 7.7 miles
Time: 18:36
Speed: 24.9 mph
Avg Power: 280 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 169 bpm
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Lots of surprises, not all of them good
Today was the New Jersey State Time Trial Championship, a 25.2 mile race over a slightly rolling (and pretty steep in a few spots) course. This is a different course than last year. It uses most of the same roads as the Blueberry TT from last year (which I won).
The weird thing about today's race is the categories are not based on actual license category. Instead, they are based solely on age in 5-year groups except for the people who don't live in New Jersey, who are all lumped together into one category. For the series, the organizers group the times by category and figure our placings among our own group.
I didn't have high hopes for this morning. I really have not been training for this length of race. My next longest race is 11 miles, which is less than half of this course. I have, however, been training like a lunatic this last month. I got in 4 weeks of solid training and took the last week really easy. I was hoping to average of 250 watts, but I was expecting to see something in the 246-249 range. Assuming the winds were not too bad, that should be around an average of 25 mph.
It was a great race morning: a little humid but in the lower 60's and winds only at about 5 to 10 mph.
Like other TTs of this length, I broke it mentally into quarters and set my computer to reset every 6.25 miles, helping me to keep an eye on my average power and know where I am in each quarter.
I did the first quarter just about right on target: 251 watts and 25.1 mph. I felt pretty good and knew the next quarter was a bit uphill and into the winds, so I picked it up a little. The second quarter was awesome, 264 watts and 24.6 mph.
I had a terrible turnaround. The road was a bit narrow and I came into it too fast. I slowed down to almost 10 mph and forgot to downshift, so I really had to fight to get back up to speed.
The third quarter was slightly downhill with a tailwind and I was flying, doing 257 watts and 25.9 mph. On the third quarter, I passed a rider who I wasn't expecting to even see during the race. I saw Anthony soft-pedaling as I flew past him. I guessed he had a flat tire. I was a bit disappointed; that's not how I want to beat him.
The fourth quarter, I poured on everything I had left. I was a little surprised at how steep the couple climbs in this section were, with one of them slowing me to 17 mph. Still, for the quarter I averaged 261 watts and 24.8 mph. I could see another rider up on the horizon but just could not bring him back.
I hit the finish line going full speed and saw my time: 1:00:29. I was a little disappointed that I was over an hour but was pretty happy overall. I hit my speed target and exceeded my power target by quite a bit. In fact, I was only 1 watt short of my all time best of 260 watts from last summer. I was absolutely stunned.
What's more, I was actually a little surprised at how good I felt. I think in hindsight, I could have gone a little harder since I was able to pick up the power quite a bit in the last few miles. My heart rate tells the story: I only averaged 160 bpm. I should have been more in the 163-165 range. I played it a little too safe today.
I finished 9th out of the Out of State category but, more importantly, I think I finished 3rd out of the 4/5 group.
So, what does this mean for the TT series results? Assuming that I'm right about being 3rd (I won't know for sure for a few days), I have a very slim lead in the series. I need to beat Anthony in at least 2 of the remaining 3 races to keep that lead. That's a pretty tall order, but I now have the advantage of starting behind him and can use that to help keep him in sight on the very straight courses coming up.
What I did right:
Improved my training
Got lots of rest
Warmed up well
Paced it very well
What could have been better:
Picking my target power more accurately
My turnaround
Might have been able to go a little harder
The Numbers:
Distance: 25.2 miles
Time: 1:00:29
Speed: 25.0 mph
Avg Power: 259 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 160 bpm
The weird thing about today's race is the categories are not based on actual license category. Instead, they are based solely on age in 5-year groups except for the people who don't live in New Jersey, who are all lumped together into one category. For the series, the organizers group the times by category and figure our placings among our own group.
I didn't have high hopes for this morning. I really have not been training for this length of race. My next longest race is 11 miles, which is less than half of this course. I have, however, been training like a lunatic this last month. I got in 4 weeks of solid training and took the last week really easy. I was hoping to average of 250 watts, but I was expecting to see something in the 246-249 range. Assuming the winds were not too bad, that should be around an average of 25 mph.
It was a great race morning: a little humid but in the lower 60's and winds only at about 5 to 10 mph.
Like other TTs of this length, I broke it mentally into quarters and set my computer to reset every 6.25 miles, helping me to keep an eye on my average power and know where I am in each quarter.
I did the first quarter just about right on target: 251 watts and 25.1 mph. I felt pretty good and knew the next quarter was a bit uphill and into the winds, so I picked it up a little. The second quarter was awesome, 264 watts and 24.6 mph.
I had a terrible turnaround. The road was a bit narrow and I came into it too fast. I slowed down to almost 10 mph and forgot to downshift, so I really had to fight to get back up to speed.
The third quarter was slightly downhill with a tailwind and I was flying, doing 257 watts and 25.9 mph. On the third quarter, I passed a rider who I wasn't expecting to even see during the race. I saw Anthony soft-pedaling as I flew past him. I guessed he had a flat tire. I was a bit disappointed; that's not how I want to beat him.
The fourth quarter, I poured on everything I had left. I was a little surprised at how steep the couple climbs in this section were, with one of them slowing me to 17 mph. Still, for the quarter I averaged 261 watts and 24.8 mph. I could see another rider up on the horizon but just could not bring him back.
I hit the finish line going full speed and saw my time: 1:00:29. I was a little disappointed that I was over an hour but was pretty happy overall. I hit my speed target and exceeded my power target by quite a bit. In fact, I was only 1 watt short of my all time best of 260 watts from last summer. I was absolutely stunned.
What's more, I was actually a little surprised at how good I felt. I think in hindsight, I could have gone a little harder since I was able to pick up the power quite a bit in the last few miles. My heart rate tells the story: I only averaged 160 bpm. I should have been more in the 163-165 range. I played it a little too safe today.
I finished 9th out of the Out of State category but, more importantly, I think I finished 3rd out of the 4/5 group.
So, what does this mean for the TT series results? Assuming that I'm right about being 3rd (I won't know for sure for a few days), I have a very slim lead in the series. I need to beat Anthony in at least 2 of the remaining 3 races to keep that lead. That's a pretty tall order, but I now have the advantage of starting behind him and can use that to help keep him in sight on the very straight courses coming up.
What I did right:
Improved my training
Got lots of rest
Warmed up well
Paced it very well
What could have been better:
Picking my target power more accurately
My turnaround
Might have been able to go a little harder
The Numbers:
Distance: 25.2 miles
Time: 1:00:29
Speed: 25.0 mph
Avg Power: 259 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 160 bpm
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Training, Training, and More Training
The last few weeks have been a nice break from racing. We went away for a weekend and got in some quality relaxation time and we got another long weekend for the 4th of July.
I've been under tremendous pressure at work lately so I've been stress eating a bit more. We're also in the middle of renovations at work and I don't have access to showers so I have not been riding at work. With those two complications, I have not been losing weight the way I wanted. Well, I have not lost any at all (but at least I have not gained any).
I've taken a slightly different approach to training this summer than last summer. Last summer, every time I successfully completed a workout, I would try to increase the power on the next one. That was not working this year so I tried going the other way: instead of increasing the power, I'm increasing either the duration or the number of repetitions. I'll increase an interval from 10 minutes to 12 minutes or do 4 the next time instead of 3.
It's hard to say if it's having any effect since I have not done any testing yet. If nothing else, I am at least able to finish the longer workouts (which are topping out around 5 hours now on the weekend).
It's been 3 weeks since my last race and I'm just starting to miss it... by the time my next race rolls around in 2 weeks, I should be really eager to race. Which is good. At 25 miles, it's by far the longest race of the year (with the next longest only 11.2 miles).
I've been under tremendous pressure at work lately so I've been stress eating a bit more. We're also in the middle of renovations at work and I don't have access to showers so I have not been riding at work. With those two complications, I have not been losing weight the way I wanted. Well, I have not lost any at all (but at least I have not gained any).
I've taken a slightly different approach to training this summer than last summer. Last summer, every time I successfully completed a workout, I would try to increase the power on the next one. That was not working this year so I tried going the other way: instead of increasing the power, I'm increasing either the duration or the number of repetitions. I'll increase an interval from 10 minutes to 12 minutes or do 4 the next time instead of 3.
It's hard to say if it's having any effect since I have not done any testing yet. If nothing else, I am at least able to finish the longer workouts (which are topping out around 5 hours now on the weekend).
It's been 3 weeks since my last race and I'm just starting to miss it... by the time my next race rolls around in 2 weeks, I should be really eager to race. Which is good. At 25 miles, it's by far the longest race of the year (with the next longest only 11.2 miles).
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