Well, today I had my first taste of an official cycling time trial. 25 miles of aero positioning, go as fast as you can riding!!
And what a thrill. Great fun, and what pain! I just about paced myself alright, and finished with not much left to spare. Not bad for my first effort. The woman serving the tea back at race HQ said I looked exhausted and that was 20 minutes after I finished!! She was not wrong. I did 25 miles in 59 mins 24 secs. I was delighted to get under the hour for a '25' at my first attempt. It was quite blustery out there on the course, and even though relatively flat there were a couple of hard sections just because of the wind. I got up to speed very well, and went off like a rocket, as I was a bit over-enthusiastic, speeding along at over 30 mph on the flat. But after 2 minutes I was aware that I was well over my aerobic threshold and would soon be in oxygen debt if I carried on at that level of effort, so I eased back slightly and settled in to a good rhythm, and slowly built it up on each of the 3 laps. I finished strongly and only then, when I was gasping for air did I realise how much energy I had expended.
Such a good feeling when I finished and then to get back to race HQ and find I had gone under the hour, I was really ecstatic. I shall definitely be doing some more TTs. Great fun. The new skinsuit I had on was excellent, very comfortable, and I got my nutrition right before the race. Porage and a banana 2 hours before start of race. 2 caffeine gels right before the off, and 600ml PSP22 energy drink. Just about right. No time to take liquid on the bike as only going hard for an hour and need to stay focused.
So I cycled home with a spring in my pedals. And then at 9am I met with a friend of mine for a ride down to Swanage and over Studland and on the Sandbanks ferry back home. About a 35 mile round trip. It was good fun, nice to spin along slowly, and work the lactic acid out of my legs. Though when I eventually got back home, I was tired, and still am now, and I have a feeling my legs will be quite sore in the morning.
4 comments:
Ladies who serve the tea are usually good judges of how the competitors are looking - perhaps you had just pushed too hard - the time taken to recover will be a good guide to how you did. Are you spreading yourself too thinly at the moment insted of focusing on one discipline at a time. Obviously you are going well on your bike and enjoying it - trying to improve on all three at once is probably too much. Hope you continue to enjoy your racing.
How's the sponsorship coming along - are you nearly there yet?
That's the idea of time trialling, you push as hard as you can. Everyone who did it looked exhausted. If you don't you haven't pushed enough. It's not called the 'race of truth' for nothing. You have to put yourself out there and push to your limits and beyond.
Improving in one discipline rubs off onto others, and as aerobic fitness improves and my anaerobic threshold increases, then swimming and running will benefit.
And as for recovery I had a good swim session today and my legs feel reasonably fresh, even if I am a little tired. But some good sleep will fix all that, ready for a mid length run tomorrow.
4 weeks until the next triathlon so I have plenty of time to train hard and focus on my weaker areas and still taper in time for the race.
Most of my sponsorship is now in, will send off the offline amount and will be able to see where I am.
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