Well it's been a while since I updated, was supposed to after last weeks testing week, but ended up not doing my tests. It was a bad week for training last week, but I've picked it up again this week and don't feel like I've missed a beat. I got a 31 minute run in monday on a hilly course with a 7:22 mile avg and felt strong (a little sore the next morning from the running layoff). Then yesterday, I competed in a local cycling clubs weekly summer TT. I've never done just a ITT on the bike (although every bike leg of a tri is just a lower intensity version of one I suppose), so thought it would be fun. It would also be good to give me an idea of where I'm at heading into my first sprint tri this weekend.
The race was held by one of the Cincinnati area cycling clubs and is a summer series held every tuesday starting last tuesday (the 6th) until september or so. It's a 10.2 mile course in a small city southwest of Cincy. The aerial view of the course resembles a horseshoe, so it was basically one gradual turn throughout, not too technical which is good for me since I don't have much experience being technical in an aero ride. The basic layout of the course is long, but gradual rollers for the first 7.5 miles, followed by a flat a little less than 2.5 miles and a deceptive and painful uphill .3 mile finish.
I arrived early to meet a friend who told me about the TT. He was running late, so I took off on my own for a warmup. I rode the course backwards, registered when I got to the start, and cruised around a bit as people started showing up. I wasn't sure what to expect from myself so I predicted I'd finish right around 30 minutes, putting me as one of the slower riders. I started 11th out of 37 competitors.
As I started, I slipped a little clipping in (probably should have been held, like was offered), so got away slowly. I wanted to push my pace on the first couple rollers to get my legs burning a little and to get my initial avg up. Plus I figure it's easier to maintain speed than it is to accelerate. After about 2.5 miles, I felt pretty good and was moving on the people in front of me. My goal was to pass more than I was going to be passed. I held off the first person to pass me until about the 6 mile mark where I had already passed 4 or 5 people. I got to the flat and had a pretty significant burn in my legs, but was suprised how easily I was able to convince myself to up the intensity at that point. As I saw the finish hill, I upped my cadence to prepare to downshift without hopefully losing much momentum. Putting an uphill at the finish like that is just mean, the burn was incredible, but you can see the finish so you have to keep pushing to the max. I grunted and groaned as I cranked my way across the finish line. Ends up I passed 8 riders and was passed by 2, I was already very pleased.
I rode it out then waited to see my friend finish (he was seeded third fastest in the race). He finished strong, so it looked like he had a good race as well. I could feel my legs tightening again, so I jogged about 1/2 mile while waiting for the times to be announced. Ends up, I underestimated myself...finished in 27:43 (22.1mph avg) and beat a good deal of people starting after me. Not sure of my actual place since I'm waiting for results to be posted. It was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to do a couple more before the end of the season, maybe monthly or so. If I break 27min I'd be pretty excited. My friend, of course made me look slow with his 25mph+ avg, but that's ok. I'll just say it was the equipment (he rides a P2C w/aero wheels compared to my LeMond roadie with clip-ons), haha.
So anyways, my first tri is this weekend...it's a sprint and I'll get to see what kind of speed I've gained from last year. My focus is going to be on transition times mostly since I have a tri-suit for the first time and a wetsuit too. Race report to come
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