Crit Race #2 Brick

A lovely junkyard adds to the view

This week's race was drastically different than last week's.

1. Double the field: Lisa and Marsha (NashvilleCyclist.com), Emily and Jennifer (Velo Bella), and Olga (Vanderkitten), Shannon (Vantaggio/Specialized), Beth (MedPlan), and me. We were still missing Alli (MedPlan), Valerie (NashvilleCyclist.com), and Lisa and Parri (OS), and Roxanne from last week wasn't there either. Potential: at least 13!
   
   
   Sitting in at the back...I'm getting better that this
   
   
   
   I'll sit in, but I'll lead, too
   
   
   
2. Aggressiveness: Everyone wanted to race. We all took turns at the front, Lisa had a lead for a couple laps and we caught her, everyone made moves, and it was fun.
   
   
   Coming around toward all the fans
   
   
   
3. A field sprint to the finish with the following results: Lisa, Olga, Beth, me, Shannon, Marsha. I wanted to win but took off with 1.5 laps to go. I should have waited half a lap, because I couldn't hang on for that long that close to the end--they were all nipping at my heels and breathing down my neck the entire time I was off.

Here are the stats:

• Multisport totals: 1:07:59, 16.25 miles, 1,051 cal, 160 HR
• Warm up: 23:30, 6.08 mi, 15.5 mph, 138 HR
• Race + cool down: 21:29, 7.89 mi, 176 HR (we averaged 22.3 mph according to the bike before the CD and 22.0 according to the Garmin after the CD); 4th place in a field sprint
  
  
  The field sprint finish
  
  
  
• Transition: 22 seconds (that's not really accurate; I had to deal with police officers on horseback and didn't hit the lap button at good times).
• Run: 22:38, 2.27 mi, 9:57 pace, 168 HR (this was an awful run, although my posture was significantly better than last week; my HR was way too high after the race and I couldn't get it down. I walked a bit during the first 10 minutes and finally found a groove around 13 minutes in. Then I wanted to get back to watch the end of the race after ours but was too late; I should have just finished my 30 minutes.)
  

Stats from last week:

• Multisport totals: 1:12:21; 16.4 miles, 1,167 cal, 162 HR
  
• Warm up: 19:44; 5.11 miles; 15.5 mph, 134 HR
• Race + cool down: 21:57, 7.77 miles, 21.2 mph (which means it was over 21.5 avg), 486 cal, 169 HR (197 max!); second place behind Marsha, who I couldn't catch up to in the allotted time--and she only had a few seconds on me...bummer!
  
• Transition: 00:47 (that was with Kelly trying to talk to me, but it also meant I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing)
• Run: 29:52 (out 15:05 to the pole just before Shelby Park, in 14:47!), 3.51 miles, 8:30 pace, 416 cal, 177 HR

Things to work on for the next run: Pick a pace that's faster than you're at. (We decided around 7:25.) Run at that pace for as long as you can, take a little break, and then do it again. That's how you're going to get faster. If you keep running at the same pace, you'll never get faster. If you're running 8:23s but need to be running 6:30s, finding a midpoint is a good starting point. Then you'll get that fast and can work on getting faster again. One problem with endurance athletes is that they get stuck in a rut and don't get faster. You have to go into every workout thinking that you have to work harder than the day before so that you improve.