Willow!

Time trials and me don't always go as planned. This year having my own dedicated time trial bike has really paid off.   With Fisk being only two weeks prior, it didn't leave a lot of time to correct the issues that plagued me there.  Strange enough this year the weather at the start was in the low 40's, really fricking cold.   My recent training in Kentucky the past two weeks has spoiled me with warmer weather.  I really wasn't excited to race in the cold. I still toughed it out and put the skin suit on, you really shouldn't wear those under 55.   My goal for the race was to hit the 6, 2.2 mile laps as hard as possible.  So after a 35 minute warmup I was ready to roll off the start line. Due to the alphabet seeding I was once again the first Cat 3 to start.  This year I was hoping to not get past by anyone.  The race started bad for me, my pacing was horrible.  I had this issue at Fisk, by lap three I got it corrected.  However those seconds lost add up.

The only main complaint I had in the race was the cars trapped on the course due to poor timing by corner marshals.  I got impeded by a few cars, oh well...probably cost me 5-10 seconds.  Finally going into 5th lap someone past me.  I figured a Cat 1 would pass me at some point.  He would be the only to pass me, and he only got 10 seconds ahead of me in the next two laps. His passing me pushed me to go faster, further proving the point my pacing was bad if I could hang with the Cat 1.   I finished in 30:44, a new PR for me at Willow, hitting almost 26 MPH average. I though at the time when I finished my result would be poor, however it was enough for 4th in Cat 3 and 18th overall. I lost out on 3rd by 4 tenths of a second.  While I am happy about the result, I still wish I would have been on the podium, darn car traffic. I guess my time trial legs are back, now I just need to fix my pacing issues so I can be strong at the state tt.  Next up is Cone Azalia, this will be the real test but I feel ready.

Below is a little video that Marisa filmed and then I edited on my new iPad 3. 

Full Results

Fisk Knob

This past weekend I finally got my first race of 2012 out of the way.  Fisk Knob this year was scheduled for mid April, a change I defiantly like.  The weather was much warmer for the change, actually near the 70's.  Unfortunately the crazy Michigan spring has caused a whirlwind of allergy problems.  The past three weeks have been miserable for me, however the allergies finally feel like they are getting better this week.  For the most part of this off season I have dodged major sickness.  It also seams that the achillies tendon is starting to finally get better.   I was actually able to train for 14 hours one week, last year 8 was a struggle.  Breaking this barrier has allowed me to get in good shape for the start of the 2012 season.   So going into Fisk my goal was to repeat a podium like I had last year. Unfortunately with Fisk you only race in age groups, meaning that there is a chance I will race against higher category racers. 

Due to a business trip though I had to make sure I started the race earlier.  Luckily the promoter was able to move me to the 16th starter.  This is good and bad, typically the big dogs start later in the day.  That would mean I probably would have no carrots and have to just try and pace myself hard.  Everyone starts in 30 second intervals, so at least I would have 15 people ahead of me with up to 8 minutes time buffer.  

After getting in a 50 minute warmup I was ready to go.  I started hard and caught my 30 second man in the first 2 miles.  This would be a common trend, before I reached the halfway mark at 8-9 miles I had passed 10-11 of the 15 starters in front of me.   My allergies defiantly played a role though in the day, I could never get going at 100%.   I kept trying to fire the legs though knowing the last thing I wanted was to get passed and I really wanted to be the first person to cross the line.   So I kept going in the pain cave.  While most of the last 4 miles is uphill, I had a nice cross/ tailwind to help push me along.  Before the last corner I had picked off 14/15 starters in front of me.  With only 1.5 miles of uphill to go I just punched it, it hurt but I clocked in a 43:47.  Unfortunately I never caught that last person, so I was the second across the line. 

Since I had to be in Kentucky that night I left the race right away not knowing results till later.  However I ended up 5th in my 25-29 age group and 25th overall.  With the quality of competition greater then the previous year I was very happy with my results.  Time trials have been a struggle for me since I hurt my tendon, the race against the clock really exposes lack of fitness.   So for me I felt very good to be competitive even when my allergies were killing me.  All and all I have managed to take the bad of last year and make it into something good for this year.  I am very excited to see what else I can do this year.

Results