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
