Joseph Sheehan Memorial Road Race

This weekend I did my first road race in a few years at the Joseph Sheehan Memorial Road Race. I was a cat 4 when I stopped doing road events in 2010, so when I renewed my license last week that is where I remained. I did the cat 4 race and it went pretty well. We started with 50 or so riders and I ended up finishing 11th about 50 yards behind the winner since I didn't have the legs to stand up and sprint at the end. There was a crash behind me about 600 meters from the finish, so that was a little bit unnerving. I learned a lot that I hope can help me as I transition through the summer with an eye on cyclocross. Road races have a pace that is tough to match in training, so the high intensity riding alone should be beneficial. It also reminded me that I should probably start getting some higher intensity intervals involved in my workouts. Since I like to focus on cyclocross my riding throughout the year is basically aimed at being ready for that. As a result, I haven't done much of anything beyond tempo intervals up to now in order to try to build a solid base. Since May is basically here, I think it is safe to start getting more strength endurance activities worked in to my rides. Not only will that continue my progression in my attempt to be strong for cyclocross, but maybe it can help me find my legs at the end of these road races. I'm pretty terrible about planning a racing schedule far in advance, so I'm not entirely sure when my next race will be aside from my last 1/2 marathon on May 11. I'd still really like to run it below 1:40, but we'll see if that is possible with my limited amount of running. In the meantime, Michelle and I are headed to Vegas tomorrow with her parents to spend a few days. I'm not really a gambler so I don't spend much time in casinos, but for some reason I just love going there.

Kansas Half Marathon

I did my second half marathon this past weekend in Lawrence, KS. It was the Kansas Half Marathon. It went pretty well, but was not without its problems for me. I started out really well and through about 7 or 8 miles I was on pace to finish in well under 1:40. However, then the route took me up a pretty big hill right in the middle of the University of Kansas campus and it pretty much cracked me. The hill may not be that big, but it sure seemed like it. At about mile 11 I started getting a pretty bad cramp in my right side, which hasn't happened to me in years so I was pretty disappointed in that. From then on I was pretty much in a mode where I just wanted to finish without stopping, so my time suffered compared to earlier parts of the race. I finished with a time of 1:41:45, so despite the problems I had the improvement over my first half marathon pleased me. I'm also pretty sure that this race was slightly longer than a half marathon because my Garmin information I uploaded to Strava told me that I finished the half marathon distance in 1:41:07. I don't have another half marathon until my last one on May 11, so until then it is back to working on my bike fitness. I'd like to finish that last run in under 1:40, so I'll have to keep squeezing in runs between riding my bike. I have my first road race in years this weekend in Leavenworth, KS, so hopefully that goes well. I'll be doing the category 4 race since when I renew my license I'll be a cat 4, so hopefully I don't disappoint myself with whatever happens. I'd really like to think I have the potential to finish well with how much I feel like I've been training, but I don't really know what to expect.

Busy Weekend

I had my first 1/2 marathon this past Saturday, which was followed by the Bone Bender mountain bike race.  The 1/2 marathon went extremely well - so well that I was quite surprised.  I focused on keeping my TSB at a reasonable level going in to the race, so being fresh seemed to help a lot.  I started the run with the 1 hour, 45 minute pace runners, but they were going seemingly slow so I decided to press on at my own pace.  I found that I was extremely comfortable running at a pace of about 7:52/mi, so I decided I was content with that and stuck with it the whole way.  My finishing time was just over 1 hour, 43 minutes.  My second of the three is this Sunday in Lawrence, so I'll probably shoot for a target of 1 hour, 40 minutes and see how it goes.  Then I'll see how it goes and decide on a target pace for the third 1/2 marathon later.  I stumbled across this picture and noticed how bundled up I am compared to others in shorts and t-shirts.  In my defense it was in the mid-30s when the race started and only in the low 40s when it ended, so pretty cool.  This winter has taught me that I would rather be warmer than cold, so I guess I'm just prepared.

The Bone Bender MTB Odyssey had 3 and 6  hour categories.  Considering that I figured I would be pretty beat after the 1/2 marathon I signed up for the 3 hour race.  I was pretty surprised from the beginning with how good I felt, and it only got better throughout the race.  The start was pretty chaotic, with all racers starting in one massive group.  I have to think there was well over 100 people, so it was crazy.  I didn't know these things started like this, so I was somewhere near the middle of the pack.  This is not a great place to be since you are pretty much stuck behind a lot of people.  I don't know how it happened, but a guy about 5 riders to my left went over his bars literally about 3 seconds into the race.  Hopefully he was OK.  For the first few miles of the race I just had to take it easy and wait as patiently as possible to pass people.  I think a starting position closer to the front may have made it possible to finish a position or two higher in my category, but I wasn't going to win.  I just don't have the technical skills needed to be really fast on a mountain bike and some of these other guys can just shred through technical terrain that I feel like I have to tiptoe through.  I guess that is why I'm doing this - to get better technically so I can be stronger in CX.  In the end I was 6th in my group out of 15 and I was quite impressed with the event.  I've heard Chris Locke puts on top notch races, and now I know that is true.

Now I'm trying to again rest enough to be fresh this weekend, but also get in a good amount of training to continue to improve on the bike. 

Disappointing First Race

This will be a short post since I don't have too much to say, but I wanted to post a brief recap of my first MTB race yesterday at the Feel the Burn event in Warsaw, MO.  It started off just fine with me hanging with the front of the pack without too much difficulty aside from my lack of technical skills on loose rocks, roots, etc.  Then I was hopping a typical log barrier lying on the course and my chain came off.  I got off the bike and fixed that, and several seconds later I was playing catch-up.  Not a big deal since by the end of the first lap I was back with the front group.  However, early in the second lap my tubeless system failed on my rear wheel/tire and I was stuck on the sidelines for several minutes dealing with that and installing a tube.  That ended my competitive riding for the day.  I ended up finishing the lap and riding the third lap for some extra training, but that turned out to be a mistake.  I started cramping fairly severely and frankly just felt nauseated, so I'm pretty sure my nutrition and hydration leading up to the event was below par since I drank a ton during the race.  This weekend I've got my first half-marathon on Saturday and another MTB race on Sunday, so I'll likely post again after that.  I'll be sure to chug lots of fluids throughout the week!