Pain Pays

Saturday was the last of the indoor TTs at SBR. It was a rematch between me and Eric. Last time I chased him the whole time and closed the gap at the end and lost by 6 seconds. This race started out like the last race with him pulling a 100-200 foot gap. I was climbing faster than him, and he was descending faster than me.

I hit a few of the hills pretty hard and closed the gap. Then I attacked the downhills so I wouldn't lose much time and I was able to make a pass and open up a 100 foot gap on the next set of hills. I figured I was in a pretty good spot since the course finishes on a hill...but there's a short descent before that hill.

He closed the gap to under 30 feet on the descent and attacked at the base of the hill and closed within 10 feet. I gave it everything I had and we both stood and sprinted to the finish line and....

....we tied. Dead even....down to the hundredth of a second.

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For setting the fastest time on the hilly course at the team TT, I won a jug of Hammer Heed, a bottle of Hammer Gel, a flask, a gift certificate for SBR Coaching and a gift certificate for Race Day Events. Sometimes it pays to suffer.

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But it doesn't always pay...



For those who have been following my blog for more than a year, you may remember that I have a spring tradition of buying a new plant. For normal people, that would mean they now own several plants. I own one.


I would love to own more than one plant, but my track record clearly shows that I'm not ready for the responsibility.



I'm not sure how I cut myself potting a plant, but this proves that my problems with plants begin, and unfortunately do not end, with the potting process.

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As for my training plan, I just finished month 2 of my base training. I'm now starting base 3 (4 weeks). That means my volume continues to go higher. Tempo is the name of the game this season, so I'll continue my Tuesday tempo runs and my Wednesday tempo rides (some of these will be bricks). I'm now adding hills on Thursdays. Long ride and run on the weekend, as usual.

I actually repeat base 3 so I'll do two months of this program before moving into the build stage of my training. Then the volume comes down a tad and the intensity goes up again. This is when I'll really start to focus on my mid-summer half ironman (still debating between Door County and Racine) and do a lot more race specific training - more long bricks, more intensity....