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2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual) - Cycle


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Hempstead, Texas
United States
82F / 28C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 03m 53s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Women Cat 4
Age Group Rank = 4/15
Pre-race routine:

A friend called a couple weeks ago to see if I'd be interested in taking the place of someone who had to back out of their team for a TTT. I said I was definitely interested, and a week later, realized that there was an ITT the day before the TTT. I was interested, but concerned since I have a 70.3 scheduled for three weeks after the ITT/TTT weekend (and a sprint one weekend after), I consulted BT and was convinced that the ITT was a good idea, so I pulled the trigger and registered.

The night before the race, I installed my Wheelbuilder Disk Cover -- and once again, whoever said that thing was easy to install was a fucking liar! I also removed the extra junk (dual rear bottle holder, saddle bag, bento box) that I wouldn't need.

Got up at 4:30, packed the car up and was on the road by 5:15. Ate half a bagel with peanut butter on the drive and a banana about 45 minutes before my start time. I drank most of a bottle of water in the morning and tossed one on my bike just in case.
Event warmup:

Set up the trainer next to my car to get a decent warm-up in before the start of the race -- 10' easy spinning, 5' moderate spinning, 5x30" pick-ups to threshold on 30" recovery, 5' easy spinning

Tossed the trainer in the car and headed over to the start a few minutes before my scheduled start time.
Bike
  • 1h 03m 53s
  • 40 kms
  • 37.57 km/hr
Comments:

They were starting racers 30 seconds apart -- when the racer in front of you started, you'd move up and a guy would hold your bike up so you could start clipped in (worked out great for me, but the guy dropped two different racers throughout the day....wtf?). When I first started, I heard a humming noise and thought, "Oh, god, I hope this disk cover isn't rubbing and is going to stay on!"

My plan was to start out a little conservatively as I didn't really know what power I could hold for 60+ minutes. Threshold is estimated at 193W, but I've always thought that was too high, so I figured I'd start in the Sweet Spot zone and build from there.

Once I got going, I settled into a power that felt comfortably hard; it was slightly higher than I was originally planning, but I was feeling good, so I went with it. I quickly passed the girl in front of me (like within a mile), and then passed the girl in front of her (maybe a mile later). About five miles into the race, the girl behind me passed me....and promptly slowed down. I wasn't sure if I was just getting the draft benefit or what, but my power was 10+ W lower than what I'd been holding so I decided to pass her. A few miles later, she passed me again....slowed down again, and then I passed her. Just before the turn-around, she passed me and stayed up on me for a good chunk of the way back.

Admittedly, my bike handling skills are not the greatest. I don't practice u-turns often, so it was pretty slow and kind of sloppy. It probably would have been better for me if I'd dropped it into the small chainring, but I decided against it. If I went back and did it over again, I'd try it and see how it went (will probably do so tomorrow for the TTT).

After the u-turn, I hit the lap button so I could keep track of my power on the return leg. Average power on the way out was 181W, so I wanted to stay over 180W for 9ish miles, and then bump up for the last 3.5 miles. It was starting to get easier to fall off my power targets....it wasn't that my body couldn't do it, but if I stopped paying attention at all, I'd fall off to an easier power. So I refocused myself and forced myself to hold that target.

With five miles left to go (and a renewed desire to hold my power target), I caught the one girl who had passed me and blew by her. She said "good job" and I said, "thanks, less than five miles to go, let's do it!" They had a sign set up at the 35k mark and that was my sign to throw it into a harder gear and give it all I had left. I can't wait to see the pictures from this section of the race....I had quite the grimace going on :)

I crossed the finish line feeling pretty spent. I was starting to get cold on the return leg, which is strange given that it was 82F (feels like 90+ with the humidity). When that happens, I'm usually a little dehydrated. I drank the entire bottle of water on the ride, which I really hadn't expected to do. Regardless of whether I was slightly dehydrated, it wasn't enough to impact performance and I wouldn't add another bottle or anything if I were to do it again.

I didn't hit the lap button until a while after I crossed the finish line, so my power numbers are a bit fuzzy. The 9.41 miles after the u-turn averaged 181W; the full 40k averaged 181W with 20" at 136W for the u-turn. I think the last 5k was high-180's. I suspect I probably had a couple more watts in me, but I don't think the 193W estimated FTP is quite within my grasp.
What would you do differently?:

The humming noise from the start of the race?? Turns out my rear brake was dragging just a little bit -- almost certainly not enough to actually impact my speed (definitely did not impact my power as that's independent of speed), but I should get that serviced as it's had the tendency to do that since St. George.

Also, I should probably commit to working on bike handling skills, like u-turns.

Altogether, I'm pretty happy with this. I was 48 seconds off first place in Women's Cat 4 -- not too shabby for a (non-tapered) triathlete against a bunch of single sporters :)
Post race
Warm down:

Continued riding past the finish line at like 20W until I could breathe again....turned around and headed back toward the finish line and saw the girl I played leap frog with. I stopped and congratulated her -- told her she was a hell of a rider and thanked her for being my motivation.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

My training is not geared toward 40k TT's at the moment -- working toward a 70.3 in a couple weeks, so holding threshold power for an hour is not something I've been focusing on. Also, I went into this race un-tapered (this is one of my heaviest weeks in the build) and knew I needed to run later in the day (though I don't think I even thought of that while racing).

Event comments:

NWCC put on this race and I was quite unimpressed. Everything was unorganized. When I got there, there were no port-a-potties or anything, and when I asked, the volunteer told me I should go back to the McDonalds in town as the port-a-potties had not yet arrived.

After the race, it took THREE (yes, three) hours to post results....and not even all the results. I don't know if I'm just spoiled with chip-timed events (especially WTC events where results are practically live), but this was ridiculous. In fact, at 2.5 hours after I'd finished, they posted the Cat 4 results, but they were actually just the starting order with no times or anything. By that point, I'd already committed so much time that I figured I should wait till the actual results got posted....which took another 30 minutes. At that point, they'd posted the Juniors' results, Masters Women's results, and Women Cat 3 / 4 results....no one else.

Oh, and the 60+ Men were one of the first 40k groups to start (probably the first), and they didn't have a volunteer or cones or anything at the turn-around, so they blew right past there and eventually realized they'd gone too far. The organizer then had them race a second time at like 11am (when it was hot and they'd probably already blown their legs out). WTF? Again with being unorganized....

Really not impressed with NWCC. I would not do another one of their races....except the fact that I'm already registered for tomorrow's TTT, but I've already let my teammates know that I won't be sticking around for three hours to see results -- I've got a mid-length run to do after and don't need to be out there for so long.




Last updated: 2014-06-05 12:00 AM
Biking
01:03:53 | 40 kms | 37.57 km/hr
Age Group: 4/15
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: Out and back, kind of "L" shaped, with a u-turn at the turn-around point
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 91
Turns: Below average Cornering:
Gear changes: Good Hills:
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? No
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? No
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5] 2

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2014-06-07 6:24 PM

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Veteran
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Houston, Texas
Subject: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)


2014-06-07 7:34 PM
in reply to: #5008784

Subject: ...
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2014-06-07 7:57 PM
in reply to: #5008784

Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)
2014-06-07 7:58 PM
in reply to: #5008784

Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)
Great work. Sounds like a well executed pacing plan.
2014-06-07 11:49 PM
in reply to: #5008784

Pro
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Husker Nation
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)
Good job! Kill em at the TTT
2014-06-08 6:46 AM
in reply to: #5008784

Pro
4482
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NJ
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)
Great job Nicole! Hope today's team trial also goes well.


2014-06-08 7:59 AM
in reply to: kcarroll

Veteran
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South Windsor, CT
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)
Terrific job, Nicole.
You are a beast on the bike.

Are you sure that FTP is not accurate? In a one hour TT, I doubt there should be significant sections where you are going easy enough to fall off the pace considerably. Hurting for an hour is very tough-I, personally cannot do it well. But I'll bet with a bit more practice and focus, you CAN do it very well.

You are even faster than you think.
Great race!
2014-06-08 3:43 PM
in reply to: dtoce

Veteran
1677
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Houston, Texas
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)

Originally posted by dtoce Terrific job, Nicole. You are a beast on the bike. Are you sure that FTP is not accurate? In a one hour TT, I doubt there should be significant sections where you are going easy enough to fall off the pace considerably. Hurting for an hour is very tough-I, personally cannot do it well. But I'll bet with a bit more practice and focus, you CAN do it very well. You are even faster than you think. Great race!

Thanks!

My estimated FTP might be pretty close to my actual FTP -- I suspect my actual FTP is somewhere in the 185 to 195 range.  I think holding FTP for an hour requires one to physically train to do it (which, admittedly, I haven't been doing), but more importantly, requires one to be mentally prepared to really put themselves in the pain cave.  I think the mental aspect is so important for something like this....and I think really knowing and believing that you can do it for an hour without blowing up is essential.  I had that doubt in the back of my mind, so I wasn't ready to commit to it.  

Maybe my FTP is accurate....one day, I'll test it.  Maybe I'll blow up....maybe I'll find that I'm a little stronger than I thought.  What I do know, though, is that it's gonna hurt!!

2014-06-09 1:50 PM
in reply to: 0

Elite
7783
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PEI, Canada
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)

Well done!

I think that's the first time I've been called a fuking liar in a RR.  

 



Edited by axteraa 2014-06-09 1:51 PM
2014-06-11 11:25 AM
in reply to: #5008784

Master
10208
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Northern IL
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)

Great job Nicole!

2014-06-12 7:29 AM
in reply to: brigby1

Expert
1260
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Norton Shores, MI
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)

Well done Nicole!



2014-06-16 8:17 AM
in reply to: rymac

Veteran
2842
200050010010010025
Austin, Texas
Subject: RE: 2014 Texas State Time Trial (Individual)

Quite a bit better than "not too shabby," as you say!  Well raced!

Matt

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