Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Not What I Had Hoped For!

I know it has been awhile since my last post, but I have been busy and have not had anything I really wanted to put down on the blog, so I guess I was alittle uninspired! But with my first Olympic race in less than 5 days, I felt I needed to find that inspiration and find it quickly!

What is more inspiring than being out in the sun and fresh air on your bike? So, today was the first day that I got my bike out on the road. Yes, I did say my race was Sunday. All 700 miles I have done have been trainer miles. Now before you form an opinion, let me say this. My race is the flattest bike of any race I will do, absolutely no hills! It has a net gain of 98 ft in elevation! Check out the map:


That is right starting elevation is 207 ft, Maximum elevation is 233ft.

So this off season was really more of an experiment. I knew the course was flat, and I also knew that I wanted to have a better run, because I always lose it on the run, so my objective was to maintain a steady, fast bike without killing myself and then have a strong run. To quote a triathlete that won the Tour de France 7 times, "you bike for show, run for dough". I also equate an hour trainer ride to be about a 90 minute road ride or so, so I understand that my mileage may be off some due to the trainer, but at least it is consistent. So, I am awkwardly optimistic about my ride on Sunday.

So you may be wondering, "How was the first ride, jford?" Well, it was not what I had hoped for. The bike handling was fine, no issues there, but you just can not account for wind and hills on the trainerr. So basically the speed I hoped for was not consistently there. Now I have to remember that I did do an all night surveillance last night, got a few hours of sleep, then mowed the yard before riding. I also only had surveillance snacks (beef jerky and Twizzlers to munch on all night and two scrambled eggs when I woke up), not making excuses, just saying I wasn't in race mode. So the main thing I am taking away from this is that I was comfortable on the bike and in aero position.

I am in taper mode this week and I am jumping in a lke tomorrow morning. I still feel really good about this weekend and I am seriously expecting a new PR on this course!  Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

  1. Nothing wrong with all trainer rides IMHO. I think trainer rides are worth about 20% more time than you put into it since you never get a chance to coast. Good luck this weekend!

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    Replies
    1. That is exactly my thinking since it is a flat course! Thanks for the good wishes!

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