It has been a really, REALLY rainy week. For the past month or more, I have been able to get in between 100 and 120 miles before that week's race. That has been an awesome feeling both mentally and physically. Last week I was able to hold 34mph for 3 miles on my trainer, and this week I was able to hold 39.7 for 1 mile, so I am really seeing results which is great. The rain really limited me this week, and I didn't get any miles in except for the 20 I did on my trainer last night preparing for today's racing. (That's right, I still can't ride rollers. )
Anyway, so on top of my legs not being in the greatest shape today, we were also running super late! Between traffic, and directional errors, Mike and I did not arrive to the race until 12 noon when it starts! I pretty pleased the officiants to let me race and thankfully they let me!
So the first race was a 9 lap win and out.Which means on the 7th and 5th lap, the first person who crosses the line gets 1st and 2nd, then the final lap 1,2 and 3 across win 3rd, 4th and 5th places. I got a lttle confused and sprinted on the 8th lap and then got eaten up, but that was OK considering I did not get to warm up, at ALL. So I decided to use that as my warm up race and came finished bottom half of the pack. Good warm up, I am never going to be late to a race again. I think there were 13 of us racing today.
Second race was just a straight 9 laps. This was my best race. I never was further than 4 back, we worked together in rotating pace lines, and then 6 of us broke away on the 6th or 7th lap staying together the whole way to the end, where there was a sprint to the finish and I just missed a 5th place finish, but I was soooo thrilled. For my second race day at the track, and 5th track race EVER, I felt really confident about my ability physically and strategically.
Third race. This was a fun one, I am bummed that I did not have the legs for racing today or I probably could have raced this one much better. It was an unknown distance race, but the first and second person across the finish line at each lap received 2 and 1 points. I knew I didn;t have the legs, so my options were: sprinting every third lap (if there were that many!!) to try and get the points and risk being eaten by the pack, or not going for the points and hoping everyone would wear their legs out and I could take a top 5 finish. Well, none of that happened, and I was pretty glad when it was over.
Another thing working against us today was really thin air filled with pollen. Our lungs were burning and major congestion was happening, it was painful.
All in all, a successful day at the track!
1 comment:
sweet! track racing is a lot of fun. i miss it from time to time. still on the fence about selling my ground up.
sounds like you did awesome!
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