Swamp Classic

Doing this race was not the original plan.  Going to Gainesville, GA…  visiting my aunt and doing Southern Cross in Dahlonega was the original plan… but ice storms in the North Georgia mountains caused the race to be postponed until march…  So…  what to do?

I decided to head down to Gainesville, FL for the Swamp Classic and do the road race and time trial on Saturday.

The Road race was three 11.5 mile circuits.  With a few small hills (yes hills…  I said they were small…)

We (the Masters Bs) were grouped with the Cat 5s (lovely).  I started on the second row.  A couple of guys jumped from the gun and I went along…  we managed to do a lovely job of thrashing ourselves for 10 minutes or so only to look back to see the group 50 meters back…  time to shut it down.

At that point I decided to just sit in and wait.  Pretty boring for the next hour or two…  like a decently paced group ride…  By the end of the second lap I had that we were definitely going to stay together and that my best shot was to launch at the top of the final hill 400 meters or so from the finish.

Fast forward a lap and I was right where I wanted to be…  right on the yellow line mid pack at the top of the hill… so I hit it…  flying down the hill and picking up speed…  I passed the front of the group and got a gap….  And the finish line was coming into view and so was this small incline…  I'd noticed no small incline on the first two laps…  legs slow down…  downshift one gear…  the finish line will not come too me fast enough…  A rider passes me on the left …  I try and hold his wheel…  d@m#...  Another rider on the right…  the finish is slowly coming to me…  I feel another rider next to me pedal… pedal… pedal… pedal… he's next to me pedal… pedal… his wheel nudges in front of mine at the finish.

Fourth…  in the field sprint and 4^th in the Masters B.  My 180 BPM HR was the highest I have recorded since my late 20s

Time Trial:

Caught my 30 second man, 60 second man, 90 second man (behind whom my 2 minute man was drafting?)…  only my 2 minute man was riding a TT bike tho…  and I was all geeked out with TT Bike, aero Helmet, 2 minute guy decided to take off with 500 meters to go… I finished right behind him.

Didn't stick around to see the results posted and that was really a good thing.  Halfway home I realized that I never moved my chip from my road bike to the TT bike..  I kicked myself over and over again during the final hour driving home.  Checking the results the next morning vs my Garmin file showed that I'd have been third… 

Oh well..  another race next weekend

The race within

 
It's Monday morning…

 

Still a little tired Legs are sore.  Tough race on Saturday…

 

So… let's go back a bit.

 

Sunday ended a Six day block of training.

 

Tuesday was an easy 80 minutes of tempo riding…  and without a Spin class to tech was a nice gentle start.

 

Wednesday was challenging but doable:

 

On Thursday I still felt powerful and energetic after teaching spin at lunchtime

 

 

Friday morning I had a hard time getting started but did just fine

 

 

 

Saturday was "The Race Simulation"

 

I felt I had something to prove…  I can push myself when I have to..  I can put a hurting on myself when I'm out to put a hurting on the group but…  can I push myself that hard solo…  in training?

 

It was a race within my own head.

 

The Rx:

race sim solo ride

 

lots of jumps and bursts and short hard efforts

 

a few 5-10' efforts that are mock breakaway attempts....like the BSST intervals but a bit shorter.

 

add some easy spinning and rest just like in a race. This should be a WELCOME relief and awesome change to rest and recover that I don't allow you during all your other training, so make the most of it and recover, get HR down and get ready to GO AGAIN

 

The route was down the coast on A1A to St Augustine and back…  easy..  simple

The first 12 minutes were steady but neutral…  stop signs etc…  then a couple of accelerations.

 

About 30 minutes in did a series of longer attacks 2-3 minutes followed by 5 or 6 ~1-1.5 minute efforts.  I made a mistake in trying to add a 2-3 mile loop in Vilano Beach (1:07ish) ran into stop signs and a dead end.

 

Over the bridge in to St Augustine, turn around, back over the bridge into a 20mph headwind.

 

On the way back I had a ¾ 20mph headwind.  I did a few shorter efforts but I was getting tired.  Decided to just ramp up fast to faster tempo and finish with a sprint.  The "finish line" was the finish line for the local "Thursday night Worlds" ride and even has 200m to go marked off.  So, I jumped at the mark and dig for the line…  not the best or most powerful of sprints after flogging myself for 2.5 hours but it did empty the tank.  From 2:30 to the end I just soft pedaled.

 

Sunday:

 

 

70F and sunny…  rode in the afternoon with my wife.  Old Blue Steel mush have a dead battery in the speed/cadence sensor… Knee a bit tight… I had a flat 20 minutes in…  realized I had no tire iron…  changed the flat with an Allen wrench and my car key…  cut it short.

 

So…  Now it's Monday and I've done some mobility work to loosen my knee…  rolled out my quads a bit and I feel a bit better.