Willow Time Trial

Yesterday the 2010 racing season opened in Michigan with the Willow Time Trial.  While I would have liked warmer weather, at least it was around 55°.  The forecast called for rain, but for some miracle reason it rained everywhere but the park.  The Willow time trial consists of 6 laps around the park road totaling 13.2 miles.  The roads are near dead flat and the only thing you have to deal with is the changing wind direction as you circle, and believe me its windy.  Since this was my first event as a Cat. 3 is was a little nervous.  I didn't want to embarrass myself and finish near the bottom of the list for my category. I was also very concerned about my allergies and asthma.  The tree pollen this spring has been very harsh to me.  However today my lungs ended up feeling great.  So how did it go?

Great, I placed 8th out of 15 in my category, 50/~200 Overall.  I also set a new personal record for myself averaging just over 25.5 MPH.  I surprised myself a bit, I was only predicting a time under 32 minutes and I finished in 31:03.  I would have liked to get those extra three seconds, but I will settle for waiting till next year.  My ability to time trail is greatly improving and I think I finally got my bike position dialed in to go fast.  By finishing 8th I earned Michigan challenge points for myself and for the team for the overall championship decided at the end of the year.  Overall I am feeling good about my fitness and excited to be finally racing for a team.  I can't wait for Kensington in a few weeks.

Full Results

This weekend the season begins!

So this weekend it finally all officially starts. Saturday I will heading to the Willow Time Trial and picking up my team uniform, then hopefully setting a blazing fast pace on the course.   The last few weeks leading up to this event though have been a lot of pain.  I did two more Waterford races and had decent performances.  Which was good considering the windy conditions and the awful allergy and asthma problems I have been having of late.  I also finally got my upgrade to Category 3 approved.  So far the spring has went well.  Now, I just need to get a lot more miles in before May 8th to be ready for Kensington.

Bronchitis

In February I had Bronchitis for the first time in my life.  At the time I didn't think much of it, but now it's April and I can still feel the effects of the damage it caused to my lungs.   What started as a common cold I ignored, worked through, trained through(I did take it really easy though), has turned into something much more serious then I intended.  See I also suffer from allergies and and asthma, which tends to complicate bronchitis.  So why am I writing about this in April now, because my lungs still haven't returned to 100%.  In fact they have gotten worse in the past two weeks.  With spring here in Michigan, my allergies and asthma have started to kick back in.  With ramping up my training my exposure to these allergens has increased.  Last year I was able to make it through almost the entire spring/summer with very light medication.  Taking that approach to start this season has cost me dearly, I should of just taken my asthma/allergy medication.    Now sitting in April I have lost 4 weeks of good training to my lungs being inflamed.  Hopefully my lungs start to heal, people would think I am a chain smoker by how much I cough of late.  Despite this though I am still in my best shape ever, with a little rest, meds and a greater focus on recovery I should come out of this to have an amazing season.   Oh, and a trip to the doctor for a check up and fill of prescriptions.