I had a bike TT on the dockets for Tuesday morning. I had a lunch engagement at work and the gym does have lap swim right after work – this would be the only workout of the day. I will double up the swim tomorrow.
Cycling TT’s are tough! The first TT that I did was last July. There were 6 of us and we started 30 seconds apart. I finished in third place – 4 seconds behind Lance and even further behind Keith. My time was 32:10 (22.1 MPH). In February I tested myself again (same bike – same rocket helmet – same wheels) and managed a 32:00 (22.22 MPH). For the upcoming season I purchased some used HED 3 wheels used off of eBay. I did another TT and only got in the mid-32’s – I was pretty disappointed – after all I had ‘new’ super fast race wheels and I was slower.
So I donned the rocket helmet, the unitard and the race wheels again. I was not feeling strong about this ride – I did not want to be disappointed but my legs still had last weekend’s race in them and hard running intervals from Monday. I rode the course at an easy pace to warm up and then I toed the start line. I took a deep breath and clipped in. I watched my heart rate monitor – I can go out too hard sometimes. I kept it nice and steady and allowed it to build slowly. I clocked a respectable time at the turn around and started to really hit it on the return. With two miles left I let everything fly. My heart rate neared my cycling max. I was pedaling hard but I did not want to see the time on the watch. I just kept the pace up and hit stop as I crossed the line. I checked my watch and I knew that I had a PERSONAL BEST. Not sure of my very best time for the course I was not sure if I had simply killed the TT or that I had destroyed it. Upon further review – yes – my prior PB was destroyed and called names by 1:34 seconds. Total time of the TT was 30:26 (23.36 MPH). In addition, my average heart rate was a bit lower for the ride 162 compared to the February ride at 166. I know I have more speed.
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