It's been busy w/ work, Jack and also training. Since the Garrett Lemire Ojai race, in which I've since found out I was 9th place among the Cat 5's, I've tried to get some additional mileage in. I had a criterium last Sunday (more on that below), and I have 2 road races on the schedule. The Devil's Punchbowl road race and the CA State Champs road race in Bakersfield are just around the corner. I've never done a full road race, so I'm curious about how this will go.
I have been trying to alter my training to get some additional miles in my legs, rather than just sprint-based workouts. It has been a challenge to do this, but last Saturday I put in 50 miles/5k feet of climbing. I tried to keep the HR < 145 and avoid sprinting or redlining anywhere, but it was a bit of an experiment to do this the day before a race. My legs were definitely a bit fatigued, but I decided to focus on hydration and carb intake for Saturday and Sunday to see if I could muster some good legs on Sunday. To do this I targeted 600g of carbs in the 24h after my Saturday ride (not easy to do - a bagel = 50g for example). I got pretty close by my measurements.
In the end I guess it worked, as the legs were feeling great at the Torrance Crit. I got warmed up quickly, stayed at the front w/out wasting much effort, had a really good shot at a top-5 finish before yet another dude crashed right in front of me on the last lap. I'm still happy w/ 8th - my first top 10!
But really the best part of the race was that the family came along. Because this race was at 5pm instead of the usual 7am, Jean and Jack came along to see the race. I can't describe how great this was. First, it was just great to have them there. But secondly, it was so nice to include them in this nutty obsession rather than feeling like I'm abandoning them to race. I think we all had fun!
With family priorities taking, well, priority, it turns out I'm not able to race the state champs on May 10th. We have a number of family events in Philly, and it's really important for me to be there when Jean's family meets Jack for the 1st time. I am disappointed w/ not being able to do this race, but it's so much more important to be with Jack and our family. It's hard to fit it all in sometimes, but I am lucky to have a family that understands my lycra and carbon fiber obsession and goes along w/ my plans for the most part. Being with family the weekend of May 10th is something that I'm really looking forward to.
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