RACE: Kissena Twilight Track Series 7/28

Alright, raced yesterday. As such, lets us take a romp down old memory lane....

It seemed like it was only a week ago, that fateful day...that happened to be yesterday. The distant past.

...Anyhow. Yes, racing. Went in with Karl. The track schedule was as such: 12 lap win and out, 6 lap snowball, (stupid) chariot, and if possible, the A feature, a 12 lap (which ended up only being 10 lap) devil's scratch.

Karl and I decided on some good old fashioned tactics again, for the first race we decided that i would try to jump off the front (as is my way), and try to win the first sprint. after that, who knows. in order to be sneaky, I aimed for the second lap instead of straight from the gun. Well, it ended up working, but slightly. Siraaj made a good effort and almost caught me, but didn't. so there's that. Then Karl won the second place sprint. Talk about domination. here's data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42257155

Second race was the snowball, Karl and i decided that he would go for the early points, and I would try to win the big points at the end. I don't think we could have worked it better. Karl made sure to point out one useful piece of advice to me: don't end up in the back. Well, suffice it to say, by the end of the neutral lap i was all the way in the back. I thusly spent the next few laps trying to get to the front while karl swept the points. In a bit of perfect timing, right as he sat up, I made it to the front and jumped, staying ahead for the last 3 laps. boo-yah. Again it was 1st for me and 2nd for karl. more data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42257150

Then there were the chariots. Alan decided on doing two heats to determine the final chariot group. Karl and I were in the same heat, along with siraaj. Unfortunately, he pulled out of his pedal, which happened to be fortunate for me because i'm sure i wouldn't have advanced if he were in it. Both Karl and I advanced to the final, which Karl won, and I got fourth. No data, I didn't even bother to record it.

This put Karl and me into the A feature, with Karl one point ahead of me. I decided on the same strategy the last time I did a devil's scratch A feature, which was set tempo until people stopped getting pulled. Karl wasn't feeling it, I think, so he got pulled. Anyhow, in the end, Alan sat on the wheels of Dan Lim and I until the end and jumped. Alan won, Dan got second, I sat up, got fifth. whatevs. A series of datum points:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42257148

There you go boys and girls.

2010.35: 7/26-8/1 Build 2.3

Sunday: no riding. boo.

Saturday: no riding.

Friday: rode for a bit today. I woke up late, and just plain old wasn't really feeling it. By the end of the ride, I was also having trouble breathing. Exercise induced asthma or something, i think. I think my sinuses were just dried out or something. data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42451637

Time: 02:04:00

Distance: 36.51 mi

Speed: 17.7/37.2 mph

Cadence: 91/159 rpm

HR: 154/187 bpm

Thursday: took it easy today. No riding.

Wednesday: Planned on racing at the track, which i did. Look to the race report for that data. Look here for my pre-race ride of warming up. Went to the lighthouse and back. I felt good on the out, kind of bad on the back. I think it was a lack of foodstuffs. Fortunately, I had time to eat and get ready before the track. Have some data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42257165

Time: 01:10:22

Distance: 21.06mi

Speed: 18.0/32.4mph

Cadence: 92/130rpm

HR: 153/185bpm

Tuesday: Did some spin intervals. 5x1min. I tried to do a pyramid type deal, where i maintained at least 140 rpm, 150, 160, 150 and back to 140. 140 rpm felt easy, 150 harder, 160 i'd say was rather difficult to maintain. but i still completed it, so props to me.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42131396

Int1:

Cad: 142/145

HR: 147/158

Int2:

Cad: 151/155

HR: 154/166

Int3:

Cad: 161/166

HR: 161/179

Int4:

Cad: 151/155

HR: 155/170

Int5:

Cad: 143/148

HR: 154/164

Monday: nada again. work tore me up.

2010.34 - 7/19-7/25 Build 2.2

Sunday: Did a quick ride before work. nothing interesting.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42131405

Time: 00:37:37

Distance: 11.89mi

Speed: 19.0 / 33.7mph

cadence: 97/116 rpm

HR: 176/194 bpm (hm...)

Saturday: nada.

Friday: no riding again. tisk tisk. I don't blame myself though (how could I?). I was supposed to do either a long endurance ride or sprints. I know, that's two opposite ends of the spectrum, but whatever. But yes, it was raining. that's what I was getting to with this whole thing.

Thursday: work, and then partying. no riding.

Wednesday: Did some bouldering in the afternoon with dave from cheese. what a workout! geeze. after that, I came home and did some 2x15 minute intervals.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41561475

Tuesday: I was aiming to do some kind of training today, but since i'm planning on racing and/or rock climbing tomorrow, i figured i would do something on the easier side. this means: spinups. i'll have to compare to my previous spin data, but i definitely felt slower. only did 4 one minute intervals. here's the numbers:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41233691

Time: 00:25:01

int1:

Cad: 162/180

HR: 169/183

int2:

Cad: 159/166

HR: 160/179

int3:

Cad: 150/165

HR: 158/176

int4:

Cad: 159/163

HR: 163/182

Monday: Rest day after yesterday's omnium. turns out I won it. I wish I had dominated more. It would have made the win feel more legit. oh well, i'm not complaining.

Race: Kissena July Omnium

Outline for later:

hot

so hot.

sprinting? not so much

3rd in 500m qualifier

last in finals

mystery race? 5lap scratch

win

A feature:

not so much

i think that's about it.

Okay, here we go: It was hot out. stupid hot. even the breeze was hot. that's what I get for wanting to alternate between sitting and then racing inside a giant asphalt bowl. between the heat and my stupid finger, i knew my performance would suffer. as for the finger, it didn't hurt, just the way the bandage is wrapped around it, i can't bend my middle finger enough to actually grip the bar. as such, I can only hold the bars with 4 fingers on my left hand. this makes sprinting hard. I think i only sprinted out of saddle once. and it was scary.

speaking of sprinting, the first event was a flying 500m scratch qualifier. too bad i'd have to sprint for this. I had debated putting on a stiffer gear for this faster race, but in the end stuck with my usual 88ish" gear. there was a stiff headwind on the back stretch all day today. it made life between turns two and three hell. the first 500 m i took the first spot on the rail, led until the bell and then stayed up at the front to the line, where i got third. I probably could have gone to 2nd if i wanted to put in some more effort, but again, heat. so screw that.

even though only the top two qualified for the 500m finals, i was able to get the wildcard slot and got to do it again. which actually sucked less than the alternative, which was a triple sprint. which is basically doing a 500m scratch three times in a row. now that, my friends just screams fun.

so yes, 500m finals. heat and death, mostly. rolled in either DFL or penultimate suckmeister. i guess they didn't feel the need to record numbers that far back at the time, but eventually upon trying to clear up the results, i just took last.

after this was a mystery race. as much as i was hoping the mystery race would be an unknown distance (you know, to up the mystery that much more), it ended up being just a 5 lap scratch. i started in the back, and sat there until around halfway through. i made it to the front around 1 to go, and held it barely until the end. i almost didn't, but fortunately, i looked back in turn 3/4 just in time to see another rider trying to come around, and i just put down some extra power.

the final race was the A feature, a 10 mile scratch. do note that it's 10 mile, not 10 lap. 10 miles is actually 40 laps. again heat and suckage meant that i tried to sit in as long as i could, but i was consistently dangling off the back. add to that all the riders right in front of me who would sit up, and i was doing a good amount of sprinting just to stay in contact. eventually, around 23 to go i gave it up and sat up.

now for some data. i tried to use the autolap feature of my garmin for once. i forgot on the first race, so the data for both 500m are together. here we go:

500's:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40942062

mystery:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40942061

A feature:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40942059

2010.33: 7/12-7/18 BUILD 2.1

Sunday: raced in the Kissena july track omnium. see above race report.

Saturday: rode to work finally. it went pretty well. that's all the riding I did. track race tomorrow, gotta be fresh.

Friday: no riding again...this might mean i'm gonna suck at the race on sunday. whoops. also, I stopped at Roadworx, official bike shop of anyone cool. Picked up a powertap. mm-hmm. now i just need me a rim. also, on a side note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(road/rail)

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothoid

...don't even bother asking what those have to do with anything.

Thursday: no riding. still don't want to gush blood out my finger. so much for building.

Wednesday: racing was cancelled. also my finger is all cut up and bloody. no riding.

Tuesday: rest day. Instead I decided to change it up and cut the heck out of my finger at work. whoops. hopefully this doesn't ruin my schedule already.

Monday: As you might note, I'm giving training a try again. I'm hoping for a mini-peak for state championships. My week is supposed to start on tuesdays now, so today was kind of a nothing day. which ended up being what i did...nothing.

Race: Kissena Twilight Track Series 7/7

Alright, here we go. where to start? Karl and I raced the 4's. Alan wasn't there this week. Turns out he upgraded to cat3 now. Props to him. The race schedule was a 7 lap point-a-lap, 3 lap scratch, 9 lap points. Karl and I were interested in working on some team tactics, and quite frankly, I think we did well. We planned early, adapted as the race went on, and took home some good points.

Race the first: the original plan was for me to jump early and stay off the front for 4 laps to get enough points to win. the we found out that the final sprint counted for 3,2,1 points. I still gave it a go, thinking instead of getting some points early, sitting back in, getting some points late. I don't really remember the details anymore, but Karl won the race, I got second.

Race the second: 3 lap scratch, I was still not feeling like winning, maybe it was the heat. who knows. regardless, on the last lap, mike mahesh tried to go early, whatshisname caught up, I sprinted from the back of the pack and was able to pass mike, but whatshisname won. So again, second place.

Race the third: the goal was for karl to win this one. I'm happy to say he did. I was just supposed to lead out for each of the points sprints. The first sprint I led kind of early, but by the last sprint, i think we got it figured out. good job karl.

This ended the omnium, with karl in first and me in third. this brought us to the A feature, a devil's scratch. Basically, it starts as devil takes the hindmost, then switches to a scratch. with 8 people in the race, we did 10 laps. lap 10 was neutral start, 9 was neutral, 8,7,6,5 were regular miss'n'out. then the rest was a scratch. I have given up on pretending i can play the devil. I'll leave that skill to joe brennan. he is a tactical mastermind. My strategy was much simpler: go fast, stay on the front. it seemed to work, i didn't get pulled. Karl was the last to get pulled, i believe. then during the scratch I got suckered into putting my nose into the wind the whole time, except when tadeusz or gary would make a little attack. eventually, on the final lap the sprint was on for them and i rolled in for 3rd place.

all in all, good job east end. hooray team tactics. hooray karl. and most importantly, this race report is pretty freaking dull and not very detailed. i'll try to get these things done sooner.

EDIT: oh yeah, the important stuff, race data.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39615471

split breakdown:

1- point-a-lap

2- scratch

3- points

4- A feature: devil's scratch

2010.32: 7/5-7/11

Sunday: did the ol' early morning group ride. waking up that early sucks. I just want to put that out there. The ride itself was fun, went to northport. very likely my favoritest of rides. The pace was slow up until the end, but quite frankly I didn't mind. This works in well with my whole resting thing i've been trying lately. Actually, while i'm on the topic, I think I'm going to jump back into a build 2 sequence in order to try to prep for track states. I think I should have time for that and possibly (more like definitely!) dominate. Alright, back to it, I also got to make fun of Jeff's new aero bars. All in a day's work, I say. Also also, hello Jeff, if you managed to find the blog! Here, ever expanding readership (I think if Jeff starts reading, my readership numbers will double...to two people!), have some ride data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40124714

Time: 01:54:42

Distance: 30.90mi
Speed: 16.2/36.1mph

HR: 142/185bpm

Cadence: 85/133rpm

Saturday: rest day. the end.

Friday: eventually got out on the road today. felt like crud. I think I went out way too hard along river road, and after that, my legs just were dead.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39830220

Time: 01:20:16

Distance: 24.37mi

Speed: 18.2/40.4mph

Cadence: 90/122rpm
HR: 154/181bpm

Thursday: rode in the morning with soap and danny. seemed like danny wasn't feeling it today. I felt bad. Maybe he just needs a rest day. Also, Adam passed us in his work truck on the way back. Needless to say, I grabbed onto the side for a little to get a rest.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39742510

Time: 00:36:03

Distance: 9.44mi

Speed: 15.7/29.3mph
Cadence: 80/115rpm

HR: N/A

Wednesday: Track day. Did an easy ride early with danny. I felt like had it been any longer of a ride, I would have died from the heat. Danny was riding well, though. here's some data. see separate race report for the track racing.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39570442

Time: 01:18:54

Distance: 22.65 mi

Speed: 17.2 / 34.4mph

Cadence: 91/117 rpm

HR: 152/181 bpm

Tuesday: No riding again. trying to rest some more. Also, that whole work thing.

Monday: No riding. i'd been aiming for some good old fashioned resting again. I don't know, lately I've been feeling sluggish. I don't know what that's all about.