Team Belladium Skills Practice

I had to swim again today, slightly longer than last week and thankfully slightly faster! I went to MFY again (because I can get in early), which means the 1,500m was really 1,640yds. I think, however, that most races are measured in meters, so it's good for me to get in this pool at least once a week.

• 350 warm up
• 1500 straight (9:47.98, 9:56.63, 9:53.31; 29:37.92 total
• 350 cool down

Times from previous long swims:

• 2-28-10: 10:43.88 [pretty sure I added 50 here], 9:51.10, 9:41.12; 31:16.10 total

Then it was off to run, 55 minutes. It was really nice outside so I started out there, but I just could not last. My legs are so tired and would not cooperate. I did the 55 minutes, 25 outside and 30 inside on the elliptical.

The day's ride was with Team Belladium and probably one of the best rides ever. We left from Todd's studio and rode over to MetroCenter, where very few cars are and there is around 2 miles of flat, stop-sign–less road to practice on. And practice we did! First, Todd, Lisa, Parri, Lisa, Jennifer, Valerie, and I talked a little about cornering during crits. Then we talked about attacking at the right time and hit the road to practice. It was all about being in the chase group, catching the leaders, and then taking off at the right time (about 6-10 bike lengths back). We practiced that quite a bit and got a good little burn in the legs! Especially the first attack—Lisa C was to attack and I led, but we hadn't really warmed up and were facing a head wind. Thankfully Todd gave us a little pull for the next round and we could recover!

After that, we did a few sprints. Just to get used to getting a good jump and making our bikes move a lot and using our upper bodies. We each got 4 or 5 tries, with Todd coaching us and helping us along and showing us how the sprints should look.

The third thing was a little crit. We found a parking lot, met up with the rest of the group (Lee, Cali, Anna, Jonell, Shelly, Kathy, and Ed), talked a little more about cornering, basic crit skills, and clipping in, and then had a 10-lap crit race around the unswept parking lot. I struggled, feeling my quads the entire time, and ended up behind Ed, Lisa, Parri, Cali, and Jennifer. I couldn't catch them but didn't let anyone behind me catch me, so that's one little victory I guess.

Finally, we rode back to the studio and Todd, Lisa, Valerie, Anna, Kathy, Shelly, Cali, Jennifer, and I headed to DaVinci's across the street for a relaxing pizza dinner. It was definitely an exhausting day. Here are some stats from the ride.

• Warm up: 19:41, 4.2 miles
• Attacking: 32:25, 8.85 miles
  
• Sprinting: 7:25, 1.58 miles (+ 4:54, 1.50 miles to ride back to the group)
  
• Racing: 8:31, 2.92 miles
• Cool down: 20:49, 4.12 miles
  
• Total moving time: 1:33:45, 22.72 miles, 14.5 mph avg (32.8 max), 1,272 calories, 113 HR (180 max)

Someone did a pretty good write-up about Todd's studio, too, which you can find here.