TRIals & TRIbulations: First Race Week

It's race week and I'm ready. I've been itching to get out there and see what I've got; see how good my training has been going and see what I can do. I took the TT bike out on Sunday for a brick workout as part of race prep. Before the ride, it fell down by the garage and scraped the clear coat on the top tube. Crap, haven't even ridden 100 miles on it and already scratched it up. The ride didn't seem to be going that great, but I still gave it what I had. I did the local tt road, C.D. Smith in 4:10 which is fast; I think. I didn't look at the distance, but I think the road is supposed to be like 2.25 to 2.5 miles long, which would mean I was hauling. Let's hope I can do that next Sunday. I didn't realize I averaged 21.2 mph for the 40 mile ride until I looked at the computer the next morning. Dang, this bike is fast! Didn't even fell good about it, yet still managed to ride fast. I'll take that. The run didn't go quite as well, so be it.

Monday I struggled through another swim workout and then headed to the gym to prove something to myself. I was going to try to lift a lot. A lot more than I ever had. I started squatting 245 back in February as part of my strength training. From there I moved up to 265 for a while and then 275. Last week I tried 295 and then 3 sets of 20 reps of 315 last Wednesday. Success. So why not push it, right? I started out with a warm-up set of 20 reps of 315. Then I put on 355 and did 15 reps of that. I asked a guy I've met at the gym this past semester to come watch me while I tried this next one because I had no idea how it was going to feel. I put on 405 and got out 6 reps before I dropped it. I was pretty happy with that. I then backed off and did another 20 reps of 315 and called it a day. You could say I've been feeling it in my legs and back today, haha.

Today, I threw the Cannondale Slice back in the trainer and did some adjustments to it. I wasn't quite happy with the fit I was riding on Sunday. I also mounted my Profile Design aero bottle and made it race ready. I started out doing some easy spin work to loosen up, then tested out the new aero position. Then I started practicing putting my shoes on and off while on the bike with them clipped in. Not quite as smooth as I was hoping it would be. The real test came when I took the bike out on the road. It's fast. Easily hit 36 mph while I was cruising around the neighborhood making sure I was comfortable on it and practicing taking my shoes on and off. I probably looked really weird wearing a Giro Advantage 2 helmet, 2" inseam swim speedo, and no shirt. Oh well, practice how you race.

Even better news is that my Niner finally came. I now have all my parts for my new mountain bike.....almost. Sram is still falling behind and failing to send out all my items. Who knows what's going on over there? Anyway, off to the bikeshop to put together what I have and hope that somehow I can scrounge together a complete bike to race on this weekend. Either way, I'm ready to let it rip and give it all I got. Hope it's not a complete swamp over there after these storms.