Hours Training to Date

So how many hours training does it take to race?  Above is my chart so far for this year.   So far I have been on my bike for 139.25 hours and have spent 4.25 hours doing other training activities.  To make matters worse I am probably not getting enough hours.  Guess I have to make due with what time I have with a career and all.

West Branch Recap

The entire week leading up to West Branch I was really excited.  However everything that could have gone wrong Friday did.  In the morning packing I badly pinched a nerve in my back, killing my mobility and leaving me in tons of pain.  I had already paid and signed up to race, so I figured I would give it a shot anyways.   Then driving up to the race I got my first speeding ticket ever.  I wasn’t really driving faster than anyone else.  I just was that unlucky one in the pack.  At least I had a nice place to stay on Houghton Lake nearby.

 

Anyhow putting Friday behind me I tried to be optimistic about Saturday.    On schedule was a 65 mile road race with one crazy finishing hill.  It was a three lap circuit around the surrounding of West Branch.   The morning started out in the 60’s with some scattered rain showers.  For the first 20 miles of the race I felt fairly good.  Spoke to soon maybe, because at mile 21 my back finally gave out on me.  I toughed out another 23 miles, but decided to call it a day and focus on the criterium tomorrow.   I absolutely hate giving up in a race, but I race for fun…and it’s no fun when your back is killing you.

Sunday was a completely different day, I woke up and the sun was blazing.   On tap was a 40 minute criterium near downtown West Branch.  The circuit was about 1 mile long and the roads were in good shape for some very fast racing.   It was much warmer, so my back was feeling better.    Maybe to warm as it was pushing into the mid 80’s at race start, warmest day of the year to date.   Warming up I felt really good.  The race started blazing fast.  My heart rate was idling near 185 bpm.   About 10 minutes in my stomach turned into a giant knot, the heat was really getting to me.  I hung on though.   For most the race I was hanging near the back with two of my team mates.  Everything went wrong though at about minute 26 when one of my team mates started to suffer heat stroke.  As I was about to pass him he kind of bonked to the extreme.  I picked an awful line to try and pass him on the inside and when he bonked I lost my line and had to brake hard.  By the time I got back up to speed the pack was a good clip ahead into a head wind.   I pushed myself really hard and got back on the back, but at the first acceleration I wasn’t recovered yet and got dropped again.    I could have just ridden the last ten minutes out, but at this point I was really disappointed.  Not every weekend pans out like you plan, so I decided to pack it up and enjoy the weather.   

Memorial Day weekend is Das Tour of Frankenmuth.  

Road Race Full Results 

Criterium Full Results 

Bloomer Velodrome MBRA Talent Pool Time Trial

Saturday I decided to finally give the Bloomer Velodrome a try.  Sunday there was going to be a 3k time trial, so in order to race I needed to complete the track 101 course.  The Velodrome is a whole different beast.  Its a 200m oval with corners that have 44° of banking with straights at 14°.  To make matters worse you have to use a track specific bike.  Which is a fixed gear bike,  I hadn't used one of those since I was very...very young.  The first few laps on the bike felt really weird.  All braking is done with your legs, mostly since the bike has no brakes!  Riding on the banking is also very different, if you don't carry enough speed you simply slide down the track.  Cornering can also be a bit complicated because you have to be careful not to hit your peddle on the track on the banking.  Anyways after some coaching and many...many laps I finally got a hang of it all.  In fact I really like being on the track.  I might have to make an effort to get to the track a couple times a month to train. 

 

 So now that I had completed the course I could race Sunday.  A 3k time trial doesn't sound like to much, but how do you gauge it.  I best compared it to the 400 meter, which I did in middle school track and field.  Its just a little to long of a distance to go full throttle the entire time, so you have to find the medium between the red line and what I would do in a normal 20k time trial.  3k is only 15 laps in the velodrome, so I wasn't to worried.  Anyhow for my first time on very tired legs I completed 3k in 4:22.  About 17 seconds a lap.  That was good enough to put me 5th out of 7...low turnout.  However I was only 6 seconds out of 2nd, so if I was rested I could have probably done a lot better.  Anyhow it was fun and I can't wait to hit the track again.  Next weekend is West Branch.  


Full Results

Tour of Kensington Valley / Cone Azalia Spring Classic Recap

First I will start with the Tour of Kensington Valley.  I was really excited about this race since it was my home turf.  I do practically all my training in the area.   However the weather just wasn’t cooperating with my plans for the day.   At race start is was about 45° with scattered showers, occasional hail and winds gusting up to 45mph.  So much for a typical spring day in Michigan, the weather was gorgeous leading up till the weekend to.  At race start I decided to take a chance and leave my aero wheels on, the gusts hadn’t gotten too bad yet.  The early part of the race was ok, I sat patiently in the back taking it easy.  I also was staying in the back due to the fact the wind would work me side to side a lot.  On the 4^th lap though the winds really picked up, heading along the lake the pack got blasted by some massive 40mph+ crosswind gusts.  It really just blasted the pack apart.  My bike was a handful and I could barely keep it upright, by the time I was out of the wind the damage was done.  I was a good distance off the back in a pack of guys that had simply given up.  Since conditions were far from safe I decided to rest for my race the next day and abandon after 36/65 miles.  I hate giving up, but ultimately was the right call for the day. 

ToKV Full Results

 

Sunday was a new day, the rain and storms were gone and the sun was back.  All good right?  Well the weather was still in the 40° range with winds up to 25mph with a super cold wind chill.  Cone Azalia is a race that’s best described as a beast of its own.  My race was scheduled for 50 miles, or 5 laps of 10 miles.   The kicker is that about 4 miles per lap are on some very rough dirt/gravel roads.  About 3 miles of the asphalt are just as rough.   It’s really a giant survival suffer fest, only the strong hearted will make it till the end.   At the start of the race I knew I didn’t have much, I was coming down with a cold from freezing the previous day.  I also missed dinner putting decals on the team trailer.  Oh, and I stayed up to 1am just to watch the Redwings lose.  Off the start line I realized I had zero fast twitch muscle response, so any acceleration was going to be very hard on me.   To make matters worse the race started off in a flurry, my teammate gunned it into the first dirt section near 30mph.  People were flatting all over. I was doing my best to just hang on.  The vibration of my bike was painful, enough to put my right foot asleep.  However I got myself through it, on the next dirt section I wasn’t as lucky.  There was a hard stop and then the field gunned it.  I couldn’t get to speed quickly enough and got dropped.  So I spent the next two miles in the dreaded pain cave.  Hanging just off the back trying to will myself back onto the back of the pack and into the draft.  Oh, was in a bad crosswind that didn’t help much either.  Somehow I did it, so the next lap I took it easy recovering.  

By the end of the second lap I went to the front to pace set some, even attacked off the front some.  I was feeling a lot better.  To my surprise, after the second lap our lead pack was down to 13 people.   The third lap didn’t go so well for me though. I cramped up at the end of the lap and then got dropped on an acceleration.  I spent the last 2 laps riding solo, for my efforts I hung on to a very hard 13^th place.  My lower back and right tricep went out on the 4^th lap.  It felt awful, but I didn’t want to DNF for the second straight day so I just decided to HTFU(google it).   Sunday night and Monday I felt awful.  To make matters worse I got a cold.  Still though I am proud of toughing it out and getting 13^th at maybe the toughest race in Michigan.  Next weekend I am going to try my hand at racing in the velodrome.  It should be fun and a good break from racing on the roads, plus the weather forecast looks good.  

CA Full Results 

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.