F.I.T.T.

The bitter pill has gone down and now the sugar. Results of the Fiesta Island TT yesterday yield yet another PR on the bike, which is nice. I went 29:34/25.22 mph a couple of well earned ticks up the road from last September where I went 29:48/25.02. It was a surprise because I've only been training with that level of intensity for 2 weeks. Credit solid base and strength training. What is more surprising is that I rode "blind" for the last 20 minutes. That is, my P-tap blacked out after 9 minutes and had nothing to judge the effort but my gut. No power, no HR, no cadence. (It'd be nice to have power/HR data but I think I can interpolate from first 9 minutes @ ~275W avg) Funny thing is it was almost perfectly paced. First two laps were within seconds and last was the fastest by 5 seconds, luckily I had a watch. Even though there is something kind of cool about that, It think I probably left something on the course, as a result. Even though getting wattage feedback limit you, it can conversely force you to reach beyond current average wattage without over-reaching and blowing up. It also let's you know when your unknowingly letting up.

almost one full lap to interpolate avg watts~275.


looking "comfortable" relaxed and aero.

The day had a rough start with the time change robbing an extra hour of sleep. I was lagging and only warmed up for 35-40 minutes. I intended to get in 60 minutes with some time to stretch.

Warmups freak me out because during the first 10-15 minutes, 200 Watts(Z2) feels like race pace, and I'm like how the hell am I going to push 80 more watts for 30 minutes. (it makes me nervous everytime) Patience and experience are the only salvation. As soon as I start sweating it starts to get easier. It takes me a while to thaw out and could have used an additional 25 minutes, but had to boogey, pump and piss to get to the start house with 30 seconds to go. That was good and bad. Good because I was still pretty hot off the trainer and the sprint to the start house. It also kept the nerves from settling in. Conversely the race basically started from the bathroom and didn't have time to collect myself mentally and breathe.

It's always a learning experience. I threw on the 11-23 cassette for the first time in a race. I pulled the 808 off the wall and I went back and forth knowing that the 12-25 works from experience but wanted more gears in the power zone. I think in the end I ended up pushing a bigger gear and was happy with the choice. (It did make me a little nervous if the wind happened to be in my face on some of the rolling/false flats, having to shift to the 39 to avoid excess cross chain friction in the 53-21/23 config.)

I also was happy with my ability to stay relaxed throughout the whole effort. Normally I start shifting in the saddle and gears when I start hurting but I settled in and focused on my motivation and pedal stroke without letting my mind drift into the pain too much. Looking at most of the race photos, my face is relaxed and position stayed pretty aero.

It was a good day and know I can go lower. I'd like to see a time in the 28's if I have a go in April.

St. Patty's 10k is this Saturday. I'm going to have to focus on flexibility, recovery and eating especially "clean" this week.