Search my Blogs and my website

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Well, that went better than expected....

Remember this.....

   ....from a few weeks ago?

  Well, despite my concerns about over-training & ruining my health, things got back on track quite nicely. In fact my build up to the PB attempt in Wales went almost perfectly.
 Here's a brief overview....

E2/10 31st May

  Details here


B10/3R 11th June

  20:51, so my 'nice to go sub 21 on a local course' happened, although I hadn't expected it to be honest. Legs felt strong and fresh to start with but after a few miles felt rubbish again.  I didn't blow up but I felt like I completely ran out of steam with a couple of miles to go but it obviously didn't hold me back too much. Starting to think this is more a mental thing than a physical thing!
  I don't think I've ever done a bad ride on this course and I think it's a lot quicker than people give it credit for. Catch it with a brisk southwesterly and it's an absolute screamer! I'm starting to really like it!
  Not for the first time though, my top gear of 56 x 12 wasn't quite enough for some of the more downhill / downwind sections. Must address this ASAP.....

E2/25 14th June

  Very nervous about this one - I had an awful traumatizing ride on here last year and that experience made me approach it very gingerly!
  I persuaded myself not to be too ambitious and to just use it as a pacing experiment / form lifter for the 'big one' in Wales the following weekend. Besides, it was quite windy with a brisk tail / cross on the way out and the inevitable 12.5 mile grovel against it on the way back, so a PB wasn't likely anyway.
  I arrived at the start with a couple of minutes to go but the police arrived all of a sudden to tell the starter to hold everyone back for ten minutes as there had been a minor shunt between two cars a couple of miles up the course. I began to worry that, as organisers are quite rightly very extremely twitchy about rider safety these days, the event might be ended prematurely. In the end it wasn't but by the time riders began being pushed off again, I'd cooled down considerably. Ah well, at least I was getting a ride....

God, how I wish I could be skinnier....
  Away we go! Wow - legs felt really good. At last! Trouble was, yet again, the 56 x 12 wasn't enough in the tailwind and it must have lost me some time. I never expected to be out-performing my equipment this season*** - looks like I'm going to have to spend another shed load of money now! AAAAARRRGGGHHH.....
  A very conservative ride to the turn because I was shit-scared of overcooking it and suffering again.  I thought about ramping it up a bit for the ride home but bided my time. Then at about 35 minutes my legs just went. I didn't blow up or anything, it just felt like someone closed a tap and turned the fuel off. Bloody odd...
 Lack of calories? Too much short duration training? Perhaps those 20 minute intervals weren't enough for these longer distances?
  Unfortunately, it coincided with the windiest part of the return trip, uphill past the E2/10 finish towards where the A11 & A14 merge and I had one of those, "be quicker if I got off and bloody walked" sort of experiences.
  After about 5 minutes though, my body woke back up again and I felt really good so decided to absolutely smash the last 5 or 6 miles to the finish. My seeded minute man on a 5 number had been dangling tantalisingly about 4 or 5 hundred metres ahead of me for about half an hour and I slowly began reeling him in. Once on the 3 lane bit where the two roads meet, I was bloody flying again.
  I hadn't been paying too much attention to the computer but a quick look now and a bit of mental arithmetic hinted that a PB was in the bag... Plus I might get under 53 minutes! The rabbit for me was my minute man. Could I get him before the line? My mind went to that famous slave boat scene in Spartacus:
  "Ramming Speed! Banzai! Tally Ho!  AAAARRRGGGHHH....."
  I flew past a few hundred metres before the finish... But crossed the line on 53:07. Arse.
  Ah well, my own stupid bloody fault for being too much of a scardey-cat and under-pacing it.
 Still, it was a PB by 43 seconds. And my first 25 of 2014.

*** I bought a cheap Zipp 950 disc for about £150 but being a bit 'retro' it only had an old fashioned screw on type freewheel capability. All you can get for these are 7 speed blocks with a 12 sprocket, that's the best you can do. Didn't think it was going to be a problem at the time....

B10/3 19th June

  This was one of those evenings where you suspect the conditions are perfect and everyone will smash their PB's but in the end it was all a bit odd. It sort of presented itself as a brisk headwind but with lots of shelter going out and a screaming tailwind home back. But it wasn't, which was a shame.
  20:54 for me in the end but the fastest time of the evening wasn't even under 20 mins, so hardly float conditions really.  The 5th sub 21 minute ride for me on the trot. Bloody mental innit? Ok, three of them were on arguably the three fastest courses in the country but these last two in Norfolk feel well and truly 'genuine'.
  I won my first bit of prize money of the year too - £15 for second fastest Vet on standard!

How's that for close at the top?!
  Tell you what I was really aware of on this ride and that was my aerodynamic drag. Sounds stupid, but I'd never really noticed it before. Well, obviously I had but not in this way.  I can't really explain it but I was struck by the reality of how dense a fluid I was trying to push myself through. A strange insight although probably not such a strange time to have it I suppose.
 You could argue though that if you're spending most of your ride contemplating the viscosity of air & Reynolds numbers then you're obviously not trying hard enough!

R25/3L 22nd June

  I'd been telling everyone that my aim was to get under 53 minutes and it had been true... until the ride on the E2/25 the weekend before. Setting off for Wales, I'd got it into my head that I could do a long 51 based on that ride....
  More next time!
  

  

  

No comments:

Post a Comment