Mind Games

It's been a very odd, topsy turvy week. It started last weekend with a 10 mile TT on the F11/10 course where I set my pb last year. Dale, Simon and I were all going for pbs and he Phoenix record. I had a bit of a shocker as I just never really got going. It was quite blowy and I just didn't cope well and my legs felt very tight.  Dale did a long 21 while Simon set a great pb of 21:56, while I was a long way off in 22:29. My fastest time of the year and my second best time, but I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. The good news was that we broke the team record convincingly and with neither Dale or I being near our best, it's nice to know that there's more to come. 

The rest of the week was a complete washout. I managed a VO2 max TrainerRoad session which is about as hard as it gets on a turbo and it left me feeling unusually wiped.  I could tell I was getting my usual overtraining symptoms and this was confirmed when I tried a turbosession on Thursday evening. It was meant to be. 1 hour 20 threshold session but I climbed off after 30 minutes, barely able to turn the pedals and feeling mentally and physically drained.  The next day I was back on the turbo and this time only managed 20 minutes before calling time. With the three of use going for the 50 team record on the Sunday at the Blazing Saddles event on the P885 course, it was not looking too good for me. 

I felt a bit better on Sunday despite the 4am start and in my mind I was not expecting very much having had such a poor week. The course has a massive gift hill at the start and as I rolled down it I just didn't feel very fast and the turn onto the A3 felt even slower. Mentally, I had already given up but the thought that I would be letting Dale and Simon down kept me rolling on so I decided to get to half way and see how things were. A bit of rain and squally wind came through which cooled me down a bit and was actually quite welcome. So I went through halfway in 59:25; my third fastest ever 25 but this included the gift hill. Hmmm... so still in with a shout of a sub 2 and by now I had warmed up and was feeling in much better place. I also had a few slower riders in front and began to reel them in. It was weird. I went from 'Sod this', 'Don't want to be here', 'I'm putting all my TT stuff on eBay when I get home' to 'Ooh, I'm doing all right.'  

At three-quarters distance I was still up on a two hour schedule and then I had the lovely realisation with 10 miles to go that I only had to do it in 26 minutes; something I can easily do on my road bike. My only problem was I got the finish position wrong, which meant I didn't really wind it up over the last couple of miles which would have got me another 20 seconds or so. 1:57:34! I couldn't really believe it as it ended up feeling so easy.  Most of the events I've done this year I have pushed very hard from the outset and suffered later on.  I did a negative split yesterday by over a minute and was still getting faster towards the end. I guess the low volume week with lots of rest allowed me to soak in the training stress which I had accumulated over the last two months; but  it was still one of those 'Where  did that come from?' moments. To be honest, while I thought I might have the ability to go under two hours I thought that I would only just scrape it, so to be two and half minutes under with still quite a lot left in the tank is a massive confidence boost. Dale also ended up beating the club individual record and with Simon, we took the Phoenix Team record too, which means that Dale, Simon and I now hold the 10, 25 and 50 team records, which is something I'm pretty proud to be a part of. 

Dunstable RC Open 10

So last Saturday I was on the super fast F11/10 course down on the A41 near Aston Clinton. It's an hour's drive but it seemed worth it to have a go at getting under 22 minutes, which was my main goal. I was hoping that something nearer 21:40 could be doable with favourable conditions. The course is fast as it is basically two long flat sections of the A41 with a long downhill in the middle that you don't have to go back up, so a dream of a course. As expected though, the weather conditions were not too favourable. It was trying to rain as I pulled into the school car park and the air temperature was well down at about 15 degrees. Worse than that, the wind was steadily picking up and with it being a north-easterly it would provide a head/crosswind for most of the long leg between the two turns. Bah...

Anyway, I still felt pretty good so after a warm up on the turbo and finding the start I was feeling confident that I should pb. The start is on the slip road that joins the A41 and it is a nice fast downwards ramp and as I headed along to the first turn I was bumping along at around 29-30 mph with a tail wind. very cool! The first turn was quite complicated and relatively slow but very well marshalled to send me back up the dual carriageway and straight into the wind. So again, it was just a process of hunkering down but after a mile or so along here I could feel myself red lining. Even the downhill didn't offer much respite. I had bn told that I would probably end up spinning out here but I was still mashing the cranks pretty hard even here. The end turn was a lot simpler although I had to slow up for traffic and then it was the final sprint, if tou can call it that to the finish, another mile or so away.

I tend not to look at my Garmin too much but as I was within 20 metres of the chequered board I couldn't resist a peek and saw 21:54! I was desperate to get under 22 and I knew I had a few seconds in hand as I always start the Garmin as the timekeeper counts down the last 5 seconds. I just squeaked it with 21:58. Really pleased to get under 22 but was hoping for a bit more. The thing with tting is, there's always next time.