Yesterday kicked of my racing season with my first road race held in Winter Haven, FL. It was a mixed combined field with the Pro 1/2 and Cat 3. My goals were to stay with the peleton, find my legs, see what areas of opportunities I had to work on, and get back in the mindset of racing. This race was a success is that all 3 goals were met.
Here's how it all went down. 5 laps x 15 miles. The field had about 80-90 racers with about 40% being the Pros. I stayed in the middle back of the peleton most of the race with my best position around middle of the pack. I took a bottle in the 1st and 2nd feed so that I would get caught up in the maheim and slowed momentum trying to scramble for a bottle in the last 2 feeds. About 3-4 miles into the final lap, there was a pretty bike crash that happened right next to me that probably took down about 10-15 guys. I wasn't caught up in it, but was slowed down. The field pushed hard ahead as I worked to bridge the gap and making contact pulling the field behind. Apparently, Desiree told me that there was alot of damaged bike bling. Back to the race. With about 4 miles togo, you could tell that guys were getting that itch and that there was increased tension to fight for position. However the finishing straight from the last turn was a long 3-4km. With 1km to go, my legs were feeling the burn and lactate accumulation and I didin't have position to gain any real position, so I sat up to not get caught up in the field sprint and a potential crash and finished about 5 seconds back.
We finished with 65 miles in 2.5 hours with an average speed just under 26mph. My avg HR was 172bpm, which is a little high however, I didn't feel that my conditioning was a factor effecting my performance. I know that I need to work on muscular endurace and threshold tolerance. Also, I need to feel a little more confidence in the pack and holding my position not allowing guys to get around me.
A special thanks to my support crew: Anh Vu and Darcey, and of course Desiree. They were out there cheering me on, and providing me with watter bottles in the feed zone. That support makes all the difference in the world.
Race season- it's on like Donkey Kong, i'm going to rock out with my....rock out!
Here's how it all went down. 5 laps x 15 miles. The field had about 80-90 racers with about 40% being the Pros. I stayed in the middle back of the peleton most of the race with my best position around middle of the pack. I took a bottle in the 1st and 2nd feed so that I would get caught up in the maheim and slowed momentum trying to scramble for a bottle in the last 2 feeds. About 3-4 miles into the final lap, there was a pretty bike crash that happened right next to me that probably took down about 10-15 guys. I wasn't caught up in it, but was slowed down. The field pushed hard ahead as I worked to bridge the gap and making contact pulling the field behind. Apparently, Desiree told me that there was alot of damaged bike bling. Back to the race. With about 4 miles togo, you could tell that guys were getting that itch and that there was increased tension to fight for position. However the finishing straight from the last turn was a long 3-4km. With 1km to go, my legs were feeling the burn and lactate accumulation and I didin't have position to gain any real position, so I sat up to not get caught up in the field sprint and a potential crash and finished about 5 seconds back.
We finished with 65 miles in 2.5 hours with an average speed just under 26mph. My avg HR was 172bpm, which is a little high however, I didn't feel that my conditioning was a factor effecting my performance. I know that I need to work on muscular endurace and threshold tolerance. Also, I need to feel a little more confidence in the pack and holding my position not allowing guys to get around me.
A special thanks to my support crew: Anh Vu and Darcey, and of course Desiree. They were out there cheering me on, and providing me with watter bottles in the feed zone. That support makes all the difference in the world.
Race season- it's on like Donkey Kong, i'm going to rock out with my....rock out!
More pics here: http://sports.webshots.com/album/576971032ZTCgFk
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