I left home yesterday feeling a little cold, trying to remember how to ride a TT bike (after not having been on it since March 12), and kind of nervous that I was going to have a pretty crappy day.
I got to the race early and hung out with Drew and Sue of Inspired Training Center (which is awesome if you are a Colorado cyclist and haven't been - great coaching and facility). As usual, they were awesome and gave me some chain lube and let me warm up a little more on their trainers. I talked to Drew about racing and numerous other subjects, but I think it got me in a good mindset to go.
I started feeling pretty good, the initial road after the start felt slow and I was nervous - back to thinking about my lack of time on the TT bike, but I turned and immediately started screaming down the hill. As I was going through the long, flat, straights, I realized I was averaging 21.5 mph which is way faster than I had done on the course. After the first few miles, I realized a new personal record was within my grasp but I could slow down on the hilly second half of the course, so I wasn't positive.
I came up the first sizeable hill a full minute or so under what I remembered was my time goal for hitting the top of that hill last year. Coming through the straight and down the next hill, I thought about some records on Strava for that leg thinking "people here stand up and lay down power to gain speed" so I did just that. Geared out, I came down the back side to the lollipop loop. I had handled the lollipop loop well last week because I was on my road bike where I feel more confident on handling. The TT bike in turns kind of feels like driving a truck, so I was definitely more tentative.
I came up the last hill doubting how far I was from my old personal record, but towards the top of the hill, I saw the finish line close and knew I would make it - but by how much? I shifted again to lay down more power and pulled through almost 2 min faster than my previous record.
I still only finished 5th (out of 11 and one DNF) but TTs can be hard with that because sometimes very good triathletes come in to the bottom category. I was happy to beat my old time by such a great margin. It was nice and reassuring to see such a large gain this early in the season, especially after some rough races this year.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Sunday, April 24, 2016
[Race Report] Denver Federal Center Classic
This was one of my favorite races last year. I ended up off the back but in a group of women whom I felt well-matched in terms of fitness and ability, who had decent handling skills and made this race enjoyable. I was pretty excited to revisit this race.
Today my goal was to stick with the pack. Maybe a little lofty after my (almost) 2 weeks off the bike and my Friday spent playing volleyball (accidentally making my hips sorer than I intended...oops. BUT I decided that is my goal for pretty much every race until I decide it is too easy of a goal and then I'll try for something else. Additionally, this was my first race in which I raced entirely on heart rate and heart rate zones, which became really interesting data to look at throughout the race.
On the start line, I looked down to see my heart rate was already at an aerobic rate just sitting there in anticipation. I took some deep breaths to try to calm myself down. It was interesting just seeing the exhaustion of anticipation from just sitting there. We went off and I missed my clip, but was able to at least pedal to stay with the group before finding it again. Immediately through the first corners you could tell a lot of the women were tentative and not choosing good lines. It made me a little nervous.
Coming through the first lap of this course (which is roughly 4 miles), I felt good, even sitting towards the front of the group sometimes. However, I quickly would find my way towards the back and the effort of trying to make my way back up to the front seemed too risky so instead I tried to push my way up in the group from the inside. Sometimes I had more success at this than others. There were some corners where I felt scared and nervous and like my lines were bad. I felt the group around me was sketchy and then I felt I was getting sketchy as a result. I wanted to move up but I was just tentative.
I came through the second lap with positive self-talk saying "you made it this far, you can stay here!"
I stayed through the third lap, coming through a few of the corners I hated that really freaked me out. I psyched myself out saying "after this you only have to do it one more time"!! (In my head, of course.) But sure enough, towards the last few turns that really got to me, the pace surged and I was no longer able to reel them in after my tentative moves in the corners. I was 50 ft back, then 75...and the gap widened. I worked to catch some of the other stragglers who had suffered from the surge in the pace. I caught two and we worked together until we broke up at the end. I tried to finish strong, but it definitely was disappointing.
I know I should be fairly happy to have spent so much time sitting in the pack, having achieved 3/4 of my goal, and really only ending up finishing a minute behind where I would have liked to be. However, I can't help but be somewhat disappointed. I learned in this race that I need to work on not being as scared of some corners or riding through holes in the road. I also need to continue to work on moving up in the group and staying there.
Additionally, my blog name has changed - since lots of my posts anymore have lost their multisport focus, I want to stay true to the content. Still under construction, but PSA.
Today my goal was to stick with the pack. Maybe a little lofty after my (almost) 2 weeks off the bike and my Friday spent playing volleyball (accidentally making my hips sorer than I intended...oops. BUT I decided that is my goal for pretty much every race until I decide it is too easy of a goal and then I'll try for something else. Additionally, this was my first race in which I raced entirely on heart rate and heart rate zones, which became really interesting data to look at throughout the race.
On the start line, I looked down to see my heart rate was already at an aerobic rate just sitting there in anticipation. I took some deep breaths to try to calm myself down. It was interesting just seeing the exhaustion of anticipation from just sitting there. We went off and I missed my clip, but was able to at least pedal to stay with the group before finding it again. Immediately through the first corners you could tell a lot of the women were tentative and not choosing good lines. It made me a little nervous.
Coming through the first lap of this course (which is roughly 4 miles), I felt good, even sitting towards the front of the group sometimes. However, I quickly would find my way towards the back and the effort of trying to make my way back up to the front seemed too risky so instead I tried to push my way up in the group from the inside. Sometimes I had more success at this than others. There were some corners where I felt scared and nervous and like my lines were bad. I felt the group around me was sketchy and then I felt I was getting sketchy as a result. I wanted to move up but I was just tentative.
I came through the second lap with positive self-talk saying "you made it this far, you can stay here!"
I stayed through the third lap, coming through a few of the corners I hated that really freaked me out. I psyched myself out saying "after this you only have to do it one more time"!! (In my head, of course.) But sure enough, towards the last few turns that really got to me, the pace surged and I was no longer able to reel them in after my tentative moves in the corners. I was 50 ft back, then 75...and the gap widened. I worked to catch some of the other stragglers who had suffered from the surge in the pace. I caught two and we worked together until we broke up at the end. I tried to finish strong, but it definitely was disappointing.
I know I should be fairly happy to have spent so much time sitting in the pack, having achieved 3/4 of my goal, and really only ending up finishing a minute behind where I would have liked to be. However, I can't help but be somewhat disappointed. I learned in this race that I need to work on not being as scared of some corners or riding through holes in the road. I also need to continue to work on moving up in the group and staying there.
Additionally, my blog name has changed - since lots of my posts anymore have lost their multisport focus, I want to stay true to the content. Still under construction, but PSA.
 |
| Last lap - lots of hurt: photo credit to Brent Murphy Photography |
[Race Report] KHMTT #1
Anyone following along in your guidebooks last year, may remember that I did a race series on Wednesdays called the KHMTT. It's a short time trial (meaning solo race for time) not too far from my house that kind of helps with maintaining that race-pace fitness level.
This year I couldn't commit to all the races so I signed up to do four and still benefit from it when I could. Last week, I had already missed two races because I had been on vacation for a while. Then, flooding caused them to shorten the course to mostly hills, so I had no idea what goals to go for. I went out to the reservoir on Wednesday just hoping to keep a decent pace and get the opportunity to get my heart rate high for fitness. I even took my road bike because I figured it might help for the hills.
Once I got going I realized a decent goal was to crack 20 min. Unfortunately, I think that realization was a bit too late to make enough of a dent in my pace to do so. I was happy later to see that I placed 6/12 which gave me a boost in my confidence about my fitness relative to the field, even though I'd taken 13 days off the bike. Looking forward to another KHMTT next week, hopefully with no more flooding!
This year I couldn't commit to all the races so I signed up to do four and still benefit from it when I could. Last week, I had already missed two races because I had been on vacation for a while. Then, flooding caused them to shorten the course to mostly hills, so I had no idea what goals to go for. I went out to the reservoir on Wednesday just hoping to keep a decent pace and get the opportunity to get my heart rate high for fitness. I even took my road bike because I figured it might help for the hills.
Once I got going I realized a decent goal was to crack 20 min. Unfortunately, I think that realization was a bit too late to make enough of a dent in my pace to do so. I was happy later to see that I placed 6/12 which gave me a boost in my confidence about my fitness relative to the field, even though I'd taken 13 days off the bike. Looking forward to another KHMTT next week, hopefully with no more flooding!
[Race Report] Louisville Criterium
I have a lot of catching up to do, so here comes a deluge of race reports!
I went on vacation pretty much immediately after Louisville so please forgive my lapse in memory (and delay) as I try to recall what this day was like.
First off, Louisville was nerve-wracking. I started the day without my di2 (electronic shifting) battery which means no shifting. None. Nada. Zilch. And I was in the biggest, hardest gear; 30 minutes away from home, with 75 minutes until my race start. Cool.
Eric (who if we ever doubted how cool he is, proved himself in this story), got in the car, rushed home, got my battery, and retrieved it in enough time for me to do two warm up laps. He was amazing. Prior to this, I tried to just keep a level head - worst case, I just wouldn't race. It wasn't the end of the world and freaking out would get me no where.
I started on the line with my teammate who said "we are going to start out fast and break up the pack." Welp, given that my teammate was a masters category 2 (aka, higher category/skill/strength that me), I knew that was not going to go well for me. I just told myself to try.
I was surprised when the gun went off and everyone took off hard, as planned, I didn't end up that dropped. I swept up some teammates, announcing my presence, and we began to work together. Soon enough we established into three packs: a lead group (my teammates who took off at the beginning), the middle pack/biggest pack/peloton (where I was), and some stragglers. I can imagine that being a very difficult experience early in the race season.
This race ended up being quite fun and a good redemption from my poor showing at DU. Our team was a large presence here and really good at talking to one another. I stuck with the pack until the last lap blew us all apart, but finished with people to work with. Another cool part of this race was that Paula Findlay, who has been training in Boulder for a year, showed up and raced our race and the threes race - dominating both. She is an Olympic triathlete I followed for years in college and I was seriously geeking out to realize she was there and in my race (lapping us, albeit).
My finish originally was something like 14/24 but I guess they revisited the standings and bumped me to 18. I'm not sure what is right/wrong and that low down in the rankings, I'm not going to worry about it. It's a bummer to not finish as well as you thought but my race experience and being in the field mattered to me the most. I learned in this race to get better at staying on other people's wheels to really benefit from the draft.
I went on vacation pretty much immediately after Louisville so please forgive my lapse in memory (and delay) as I try to recall what this day was like.
First off, Louisville was nerve-wracking. I started the day without my di2 (electronic shifting) battery which means no shifting. None. Nada. Zilch. And I was in the biggest, hardest gear; 30 minutes away from home, with 75 minutes until my race start. Cool.
Eric (who if we ever doubted how cool he is, proved himself in this story), got in the car, rushed home, got my battery, and retrieved it in enough time for me to do two warm up laps. He was amazing. Prior to this, I tried to just keep a level head - worst case, I just wouldn't race. It wasn't the end of the world and freaking out would get me no where.
I started on the line with my teammate who said "we are going to start out fast and break up the pack." Welp, given that my teammate was a masters category 2 (aka, higher category/skill/strength that me), I knew that was not going to go well for me. I just told myself to try.
I was surprised when the gun went off and everyone took off hard, as planned, I didn't end up that dropped. I swept up some teammates, announcing my presence, and we began to work together. Soon enough we established into three packs: a lead group (my teammates who took off at the beginning), the middle pack/biggest pack/peloton (where I was), and some stragglers. I can imagine that being a very difficult experience early in the race season.
This race ended up being quite fun and a good redemption from my poor showing at DU. Our team was a large presence here and really good at talking to one another. I stuck with the pack until the last lap blew us all apart, but finished with people to work with. Another cool part of this race was that Paula Findlay, who has been training in Boulder for a year, showed up and raced our race and the threes race - dominating both. She is an Olympic triathlete I followed for years in college and I was seriously geeking out to realize she was there and in my race (lapping us, albeit).
My finish originally was something like 14/24 but I guess they revisited the standings and bumped me to 18. I'm not sure what is right/wrong and that low down in the rankings, I'm not going to worry about it. It's a bummer to not finish as well as you thought but my race experience and being in the field mattered to me the most. I learned in this race to get better at staying on other people's wheels to really benefit from the draft.
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