Adventures of the Northwest

First night of 2006 racing - TOTALLY ROCKS!!!

After having an AWESOME workout on Saturday with Jane and our coach I felt really good. I felt much more prepared and confident and worked up for our first race. As Wednesday rolled around and we got closer to race time I felt more and more anxious and nervous about how well I would do. It helped to talk to Jane, relax, spin a bit before actually warming up.

During the warm-up my heart rate was immediately in zone 4 and 5. I had a hard time calming down and getting a good workout.... performance anxiety? perhaps.... so we will see how next week goes now that the first race is behind us.

We got our bibs and those are the numbers for the rest of the year. Awesome! Jane and I have numbers next to each other. Two chickas ready to kick ass and everyone knows it! :)

Per my coach, tonight's plan (and race results) is:

Jane and Molly, you guys did great last night! And, I don't want you to blow up first week into racing. So, pat yourselves on your backs, go for a nice easy! mostly zone 1 45 min spin to help the legs recover - nothing more. I'll get you a plan for Sat am track workout.

We are not allowed, per the above, to do our regular Thursday night workout. We're going to stop by the track, to watch, after the workout. :)

Jane and I are very proud of how well we did this first race - way better than any race last year -by far!!! :) We felt good.. sure there were times we both felt 'weak' but we pulled it off and pulled ourselves, and each other, through. :) It was spectacular. First race I ended 4 out of 5 (8 lap scratch didn't matter); second race - we won't talk about.... lap behind by the 7th lap... my legs were toast! Gone! Dead! (8 lap snowball) I was hoping to get the first lap and let them go the other 7 but one of the women stole it from me coming out of turn 4!!! UGH! I was ready to call it a night but figured if nothing else the 4 x 4 would give me a good speed workout. My coach, the other women and my friend Kelly (he stopped to watch the races) all felt I should do the 3rd race regardless! They kept telling me but this is your race.... oy.... my legs felt like I had NO race to give! Boy was I surprised and excited to see the results of the 3rd race as shitty as my legs were feeling. They honestly were quite sore and took me about 5 minutes to calm them down. I honestly felt I had no OOOMPH in them any more. They felt totally depleted.

First sprint - not bad.... think I was 4th or 5th (based on points it must have been 5th).....During that race I hit 29.6 mph which is a new all time high speed for me. YES! Awesome!!! Second sprint - 4th.... 3rd sprint I think 4th. Man it was all a blur... Then between the 2nd and 3rd I was able to pull Jane for awhile trying to buy her time to get energy to sprint for the 3rd one.... I was asking to make sure she was on me after we stayed low on the black line and everyone else was up on the embankment. At some point coming out of turn 3 with one more lap to go I was about to communicate to her when she felt rested and ready to sprint her ass off. However, out of the corner of my eye I saw everyone else pacing behind her. So I kept quiet... coming out of turn 2 I pulled off and we all scattered. But for that sprint.... it worked she came in 1st and I was 3rd. Then before the final sprint I was following one of the women for quite sometime. I mean REALLY following her by reading her body language. I was inches from her wheel and moved instantly when she did. It felt really good...I felt like I was one with her. I felt like a snake's body that just moved when the head moved. Kelly even (later) asked me if I touched her wheel in turn 4. I said no but I was DAMN close! It was amazing how trusting I was, how much I rode her wheel, how well I could read her body. After a couple of laps, coming into turn 1 then I had decisions to make. This woman and I were high and I was deciding if I wanted to go ahead of her and jump out of turn 2 and have her on me and/or jump immediately. All of a sudden I saw two were attacking at the bottom. When I saw them jump - I jumped on them but couldn't keep on their wheel .Regardless... I came in 3rd on that one.

Overall it was a good night. I have that issue where by the 3rd race I'm kicking ass or helping kick ass. Wish it could be all night long. :) I got 5 points -way better than any races last year so that is improvement right there. Woody, Dave and Martin all gave us tips. They told me due to my racing 'routine' of the 3rd race being my race I need a harder warm-up. Interesting. :)Anyway... lots of details....but it was good. Wasn't that bad. Turn out was a bit disappointing. SaturdayJane and I will be out on the track from 8 am untilthe class at 10.... It will be a good workout and should get us prepped like this week.

Also, after the ride someone very 'important' at the track walked up to us and talked to us. It was symbolically very important to Jane and I what this all meant. It was very warm, sincere and eye opening. To be acknowledged, to be appreciated, to be respected and to be accepted as one of ours.... and open to helping and supporting. We were thanked for all our hard work we do with the track - the classes, our enthusiasm and so forth. It felt REALLY good!!!! I was soooooo wired.... I could not sleep until like 12 am. It felt sooooooo good to be out there last night and to have so many highs from so many accomplishments! Hopefully this will continue through the year..... we did better than any other race last year - we know it - and it feels good. There's a lot of room for growth, speed, strength and so on....but it will be fun! :)

posted by Seattlebiker @ 1:44 PM