I was suppose to ride with Nick at the Novi Tree Farm today but, even though there wasn't a dark cloud in the sky, it poured on the way there. The rain seemed a little hit or miss. I am not hard core enough to ride when there is a good chance of rain.Saturday I tested myself on the trail by my house. I haven't timed myself in a while and I was a little concerned with what I would find. I haven't been training but more importantly, I've had trouble focusing and forcing myself to ride hard. I did three laps of the Murry Lake trail: 35:50@166 BPM, 35:49 @167 BPM, and a cool down lap at 39:31@ 159 BPM.
Compared to March, I had to ride harder to do an almost identical ET. But I was able to push myself, and it was a fast lap. I did a group ride on this trail in July and it took me about 42 minutes. If I consider the reroutes they recently added, 35:49 was my fastest time since 2006. I used a small 11/23 road cassette and never needed to drop out of the big chainring.
I completely understand how relative "fast" is, and this blog really has about as much to do with bicycling as the book Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance has to do with motorcycles, but I am comfortable with where I am at.
It would have been kind of cool to place in an Expert race though.
The first post from your blog I remember reading said, "Maybe my problem last season was just motivation. What if I am a little more careful this year to push myself when I need to and find clever new ways to fit cycling into my schedule? Is it possible to have your breakthrough season at 43?"
ReplyDeleteSo are you saying 44 now? :)
LOL, no, I am still 43 but I am so optimistic, consistent, and wonderfully irrational that I imagine in January I will probably suggest that my breakthrough season will be when I am 44.
ReplyDeleteI believe in you, plus, I don't think age is as much of a factor as the foundational things like consistency, training load, nutrition and sleep. Age isn't even real. Maybe when you take age into account and think about it, maybe you're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and just holding yourself back, so maybe you should do an experiment on you and your cycling friends where you honestly believe you're like 20 and you're racing in U-23 races or something, then see what happens!
ReplyDeleteThank you Emily, but if I imagine I am 20, I will skip riding altogether and go to the bar; there are a lot of Wednesday night specials near campus. I am seriously jealous of your focus (she sleeps in her car at races??...she has a coach???) and you have your entire cycling life ahead of you.
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