September 08, 2017

Going the best that I ever have and then wanting more.....

Three races over the past couple of weeks to catch up on... 

27/8 VTTA 25 Champs 52.51 

Camped over the night before in the pop up palace, and had a lovely relaxing evening walking around the chalk pits and a quiet nights sleep ready for my 7.15 start the following morning. HQ was a Newmarket Leisure Centre, with good amounts of parking, and plenty of changing and shower facilities – an ideal hub for any TT.

It was a lovely day with a nominal cross wind which made the outleg down to four wentways roundabout a reasonably quick one. I held my power a little better than last times PB and the only difference between that day and this morning was the lack of traffic on the quiet E2/25 course. I attacked the turn best I could and the return, into a slight cross headwind helped keep a more balanced effort.  The return from this was a lifetime second best effort of 52.51 proving that July’s effort was no fluke and only 17 seconds adrift of my PB.  A great result !

2/9 VTTA Yorks 10 (V718) - 20.05 PB

Giddy from the previous weekends efforts I headed up to Hull knowing that I was in good form, in reality the best of my life, and I was also treated to some good forecast weather conditions, so the starts had aligned for what I hoped would be a club record smashing day.  Everything was checked and double checked, and I gave myself plenty of time to warm up from the HQ to the start. The wind direction which is so important on this course looked to be either a southerly of a south easterly which was a good as I could have hoped for.

The recent increase to 305W for my V02 intervals paid dividend as I held a strong effort all the way to the turn. Although down on my very best effort time wise, I could see higher than usual power figures couple with a decent heart rate return which meant that I was indeed going well.  On the return, it was a case of sticking it in the 56x11 and holding form and cadence the best I could.  My power return dipped as the cadence topped out, but I was able to mentally break the course down into remaing segments and mentally tough out the completion of my race.  I had dreamed of a 19, and was oh, so close to achieving that with a new PB of 20.05 which obliterated the old club vets record of 20.37.   I held it for 15 minutes then it fell again with a 19.51 – surely achievable with another winters training under my belt !

3/9 LRRA 30 - 1.09.20

The day after the V, I was back in county action at the LRRA 30 held on the often visited this year Sleaford course.  I would be up against rivals from the county and people that were also invested in the county’s short distance best all rounder competition.  I needed to finish to complete the series and also kind of hoped to knock a wedge off my 30 PB which had been at 1.16.11 for the past three years. 
My effort on the day was a good one and I was pleasantly surprised with the output of my legs. My power was only slightly down on my previous 25 on the Sleaford course overall and my time of 1.09.20 was good enough for 8th and put me in my usual place in the county rankings of around 7th.  Again, a good winters traing may see me a little better next year – we shall have to wait and see.

Course E2/25
Temp 54
Wind 6 NNW
Cadence 82
NP 294W
Pos 22

HR 172

Course V718
Temp 66
Wind 11 SE
Cadence 85
NP 314W
Pos 30
HR 177

Course LRRA 30
Temp 55
Wind 8 SE
Cadence 79
NP 280W
Pos 8
HR 171

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