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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment