[Race Report] KHMTT #5 - the final day and my birthday

Some of you may know this, but since I turned 20, I have sought to do a race on my birthday or my birthday weekend, every year. Last year, I raced near my birthday, but decided to just do a huge ride instead of an actual event. (Bolder Boulder was the week after and I think Wheels of Thunder was the week before so I was making sure I kept those in mind - I'm sure I did KHMTT around then too.) This year, KHMTT - the final day, was on my birthday.

I really wanted to break 27 min on the course, and I was feeling pretty hungry to do so. I talked to some of the best women in my category before the race (one of whom is a coach with Inspired Training) and they were talking about gaining the most time in the first leg out to the first turn around.

I hammered. Really really hard. Every time I felt my focus slip, I immediately threw myself back into it. It was probably the most aggressively I took every turn around and corner in the entire series (looking at Strava - it would indicate that that statement is true). In my head, I wanted to be in the 26 min range for my 26th birthday. Some of my mile splits were slow. Some were fast. As I came up the first hill, I wasn't too far off pace, with 6.98 miles in 20 min. I descended the large hill as tucked as I could, not letting myself coast and just letting my cadence pick up (PR'ed that too).

Coming up on the finish, I thought my lungs might fall out of my mouth and my legs might break off. I pushed very very hard. I can't believe my heart rate average for the whole race was 177 bpm. That's about on par with an all-out 10 min climb effort for me. Unfortunately, I didn't break 27 min or get a new personal record. It was however, my second best time, and I bet if I had power, it would have been some pretty impressive numbers. It was a windy day and I really left it all out there.

I'm glad I did it. I wish there were more KHMTTs but, until next year! Here is a great picture of me, Justin, and Travis (two category 2 racers from our development team Denver Fit Loft) from two weeks ago. It has been really fun (and painful).