RACING AT THE DRIVEWAY, SECOND DAY

     Plan A was to get in at least half a dozen races before heading off to Nationals in Colorado Springs.  Unfortunately, stuff happens and I missed the next two weeks of racing, both with excellent weather.  Last night was hot, hot, hot.  But that's getting ahead of myself.
     My first foray left me disappointed.  Some days you just don't have it, and that was one of them.  I was lapped three times, a combination of me going slow and them being faster than average.  But I wasn't being a slackard these last three weeks and definitely felt stronger as I warmed up.  This would be the same course, just in the other direction.
     Warming up for big races has always been a problem for me.  In the Senior Games I warm up for the 5k time trial but truthfully the 5k is my real warm up for the 10k time trial and road race.  But I think I've finally found a work-out that will bring my heart rate approaching race rate.  It is my cadence ladder drills.
     I still don't have a routine for the Driveway so it took a bit for me to get all squared away and ready to warm up on the course.  Ninety-eight or so degrees, humid.  I filled my water bottle and meandered out and around.  After a few laps I did my ladders and saw the heart rate move up to 143.  Regular readers know my max HR is 159 (this year), so once I hit 143 three times I backed off and just did normal cadence and a few big gear minutes.  Warm up took three water bottles, then I went to the car to get my Nuun for the race.
     This is not a competitive race for me.  My goal is to hang on for a lap and then only get lapped once (on the long course).  After that, it is me and my mentor.  I go as hard as I can, but it isn't like I'm in a peloton, like I would be if I were with guys my own age.
     It is always a surprise that someone is behind me at the start of the race.  Anyhow, I started well, took the first couple turns just fine, hanging with the guys.  We came to the cork-screw downhill and I had it lined up just right, so I thought.  Really, I didn't think there was room on the right, but I flinched a little as someone came by me.  That caused a minor correction but I then shifted down and hung on.  That lasted thirty seconds, maybe forty-five.  But as they made the turn back to the start area I lost them.  It wasn't like they disappeared into the sunset, but they gradually pulled away.  A look at my stats shows I was once again at 95% of max HR running about 23 mph.  My goal for the first lap was 4:45 and I came in at 4:20 with a second lap of 4:44 then 4:48.  So the stats reflected how I was feeling, pretty good.
     I wasn't feeling the heat as much as anticipated.  I only hit the water bottle a couple of times, although much larger swigs than usual.  We were about eighteen minutes into the race before I was lapped, and while I had slowed a bit, was still going well.  With only twelve minutes or less left, I was pretty sure I could hold them off.  I had only slowed twelve seconds per lap, holding my cadence, but the power had dropped.  For what was to be my last lap, I backed off a bit on the back side, thinking they would be on me close to the finish and I didn't want to get in the way.  As it turned out, they were a good minute back, affording me the freedom to take the last chicane as I wanted and, since I'd let my HR drop into the 130's, hit the last two hundred meters with an out-of-saddle sprint.  True, my power numbers weren't up to when I do drills, but it was fun to even be able to do it.  Garmin shows my HR for this sprint at 158.
     It took awhile and multiple bottles of water to get to feeling human again, but the satisfaction of a good output helped.  One little picky thing: the official results have me as two laps down, although my time is right.  I think that is because in the cool-down I was shunted off with the others so the next race could begin.  Not a problem.  Check back next week, as I try not to get lapped four times on the short, speed loop.