Early Season Racing & Training
Early Season Results!
The Bump (Winter) W4/5 (combined field with W 3) - 4th out of 14 racers- Goals: race for fitness, get a feel for racing with a team
- Takeaways: all goals achieved! practiced teammate trust and communication
Cherry Pie Crit W4/5 - 2nd out of 10 racers
- Pre-race chat with captain: effectively got a course overview and single-rider strategy for the crit
- Goals: execute on technical parts, watch for breakaways, race for fitness
- Takeaways: WORK ON YOUR SPRINT!
Madera Stage Race W4/5 (combined field with W 35+ 1/2/3 - total 16 riders) - 1st in GC (7 finished, 8 started)
- Individual Results:
- Crit: 1st in W4/5, 1st or 2nd overall? (unsure and it wasn't recorded but we were pretty much neck and neck)
- TT: 1st in W4/5, 3rd between W4/5 and W35+ 1/2/3
- RR: 2nd in W4/5 (3rd officially because another rider who didn't do the first two stages time trialed the course on fresh legs took 1st....) 3rd between W4/5 and W35+ 1/2/3 in contention for GC
- Goals:
- LEARN learn learn from the 1/2s racing in their own category
- Execute a satisfactory sprint finish in the crit (wow to the focus it requires but also it's an incredible "zen" place to be!)
- Takeaways:
- Be nice to people :)
- Staying positive and having fun makes everything worthwhile!
About my fitness...
Fields are small in the early season. It's nice to know I can stack up well against others in the early season but it's still a long year ahead and many other riders are not at peak fitness yet, just like me.
At Madera, I learned that (at least in the 4 field), my sprint and kicks are formidable and that I have the potential for decent time trialing. Two things I can work on are: (1) staying out of the saddle and drawing out more power towards the end of the sprint and (2) my aerobar position endurance. My strength work really helped with my back, but I accidentally overdid my foam rolling after Madera and caused a muscle spasm or something. Forced rest days.. what can you do? I can only guess that the stress on my back/hip started from the Madera TT and continued when I did strength work two days later that included deadlifts + a sweet spot base workout shortly after.
At Madera and The Bump, I also learned that I don't excel at road racing.... and it'll be something that is a constant work in progress. One thing that should help over time is improvements in FTP and W/kg. On the one hand, FTP improvement is unexplored territory for me. I've always just hoped riding more = better FTP, but now I'm on TrainerRoad and hoping that I'll eventually reach higher peaks :). On the other hand, I'm working consistently at monitoring what I eat so that I can lose weight slowly so as not to hinder performance week to week. It's frustrating at times because the process is so slow but I know it'll be worth it. In the interim, I'm building better habits and improving my relationship with food by "eating to live" rather than "living to eat." I'm not restrictive about anything but I do intermittently fast about 18 hours twice per week. (Most recently, I fasted for 21 hours and felt really good!) Numerically, my calories are enough to maintain my active lifestyle and daily living. I have about 5lbs to lose before I'm back at my pre-holiday weight (sigh, the holidays!).
Finally, racing is tiring! It can very quickly drain me mentally and energetically. My heart rate rarely reaches Zone 5 (>184bpm) but at the Madera Crit, I learned that, caffeinated, and adrenaline-hyped, I can reach 196bpm.... It's not healthy to do that too often but it's amazing to know that I'm capable of it. Even though these past few weeks have really been about fitness, I was close to turning myself inside out at Madera because I got swept up in the moment and wanted to win when the minute drew closer. Going forward, I really need to be careful and thoughtful about how often I race and which races I target. The March calendar is full but thankfully it's more interspersed after that through July.
Some other things that I've learned about racing...
To my surprise, I've really been enjoying criterium racing. The races are short and sweet and really play to the stuff I enjoy (sprinting and punchy races) even if it's technically not what I'm training for (IRONMAN Canada lololol). I love how "smart" you have to be to get good positioning and how quickly you have to think and react to what's going on around you. What I need to be a good crit racer is better bike handling and more confidence and a killer sprint.
W 4/5 racing is both a blessing and a curse. Nobody wants to work in the front and everyone wants to conserve energy and not work together. I'm really intimidated by 1/2/3 racing and want to enjoy the sheltered life of a category 4 racer... but I also very badly want to play with the big kids. For now, let it be known that it's enough for me to just be building my fitness week to week. It's funtimes and zoomy (most of the time)!
Some things that I love about racing so far...
Racing with a team has totally enhanced the way I feel about bike riding. It has helped direct my energy and focus at health and performance. I feel more devoted to my health (eating better, being mindful about foods that will be good for my recovery and adaptation, etc.). And I try to be more aware about my body and hone in on how to break through pain when I'm feeling it. When you have a team to keep you accountable, that's the natural flow of things. They all inspire me to train smart and ride strong. :)
Racing with other women from other teams and unattached has been a blast, too! We are competitive, but in a healthy way, and I feel like the ones I tend to meet and talk to all look out for each other. That's important. I think when we're on our bikes and in a race course, we have to show how fierce we are on an individual level -- it's how we grow as cyclists, physically. But once the race ends, we need to recognize that badassery in others, too: the amazing fitness and hard work people put into performing well that forces you to step outside of your comfort zone -- it's how we grow as humans, mentally.
All in all, the best way for me to keep my head in the game is to
stay humble,
keep learning,
have fun,
& share joy with others.
Funtimes ahead!
*maybe
IRONMAN Canada on July 28th, 2019!
Comments
Post a Comment