Adventures of the Northwest

Phew! I think I've found my track lane again!

PHEW!!!!

Thursday night's track training felt so good. I felt like me again. I felt like I was out of my slump. I'm not sure if it was due to me giving myself a 'pep talk' during lunch and trying to lift my spirits, the nutritional change I've been making with complex carbs (rice noodle mac n cheese - hmmm YUMMY!), more electrolytes and water and/or just changing my attitude. But it rocked! I did way better than I did on Sunday. Maybe it was seeing the circus freak tents for Cirque du Soleil. Who knows... but something's changed for the better. I'm happier and that is all that counts.

I got a lot of encouragement and support last night which also helped. I did some warm-up laps which felt good. Izette, my coach, saw my seat position as I was going around. She suggested we change my seat height to give me more pedal power. So we switched that up and I took some more laps. Felt ok... not overextended or anything. So we went with that.

We did a 20 lap warm-up with lots of new people so we took it easy. The first 10 laps were about 16-18 mph, next 5 were around 20 and next 5 were around 23. It felt good. There were a few minor issues with yo-yo-ing and people not able to stay on wheels or jumping off the turns incorrectly. But we dealt with them. Then we did 15 more laps increasing again to 23-25. It felt good and I didn't feel I was struggling too much.

We then did some pursuits. This is where I had to do some real digging. Izette, Jose and Chris were all supportive. Izette kept yelling at me to dig, dig, dig especially at the end of the 10 laps. I had to really dig as I was 'grunting' and trying to come up with last minute jet fuel, strength and energy to stay on a wheel. It was a bit difficult. We took a rest while another group took off. We then did it again. This time our effort topped maybe 24 mph not as hard as the other one and we had a couple more people with us - 5 total. But the effort didn't seem as taxing to me. So I'm learning what is pushing me and what is helping me. I had to dig a bit towards the last couple laps but not as bad as before.

Some people did another pursuit while Hyun and I went into the warm-up circle area. We rode around and talked about what I could do to better suit my training needs, my physical needs and my bike fit. I'm finding - like last year - the initial get up and get going is harder for me than if I'm already going out and about. Izette came up with an idea of how I can handle that by trying to get to the track early before races. I can then do some half-full efforts and then let my body totally recover. Repeating that several times to get my body up and ready before the pacelines and such. We practiced this quite a few times while everyone else was packing up to leave for the evening. She showed me what to do and it seemed to feel good. I wasn't feeling overly tired or anything so that was good. We also saw that I was recovering faster each time which is good.

Overall.... everything was great Thursday night. Without the support of several I wouldn't have been able to do it as well. I missed Jill and Jane though. Not sure where Jill was - perhaps recovering from Tuesday night's workout. Jane is having some lung/respiratory issues but she expects to be ground support for Saturday's class and possibly do a light workout Sunday. :)

Track season may be a great one this year! :)

posted by Seattlebiker @ 11:24 AM