It’s suddenly almost the end of February and, if all goes to plan, just a mere eight days until my first road race of the season. Eeeeekkk!
It’ll be the first of many races to come as I’ve spent a lot of time this year hunting down all the W/3/4 cat races I can find. So; it looks like I’ll be racing once a week from March to September, with a cheeky training camp in Majorca in April to give me a push in the right direction (and a tan!)
The races I’m looking forward to the most are APR’s as there’s a better chance of surviving with the handicapped start, rather than being up against much stronger and faster 3rd cat men and women.
With just eight days to go the nerves are getting to me. I’m about a month behind where I’d like to be fitness wise. Partly due to a few colds and some down time around them, partly due to concentrating on getting my back/hip fixed, and partly to putting fitness aside for a while to concentrate on learning road skills. It is also very early in the season for me – I don’t usually see improvements in my fitness and speed until the warmer weather arrives. Excuses, excuses…
Last year I dabbled in road racing but didn’t do it consistently enough to make any progress…in fact I got a real kicking at the last race I did, being up against cat 1 women, and coming in 30mins behind the winning lady (I was still 6th lady so I’m taking the positives from the experience!). So, for 2012, I’ve decided it should be all about consistency and the only way I’m going to make any progress is to race as much as I can.
This year I’ve been practising chain gangs and working on my weakness – moving from the back of the slow line to the back of the fast line. As well as trying to improve the position of my wheel when I’m on the fast line at the front, moving to the slower line. I’m getting there but practise makes perfect! All it takes is a momentary lapse of concentration and I can lose the wheel in front of me – in a race, it can mean the difference between hanging with the bunch and getting dropped. This happened last week to 3 of us… we let the group get slightly too far ahead when we were talking and we couldn’t chase them down against the massive headwind. Game over.
My goal is to finish a race in the pack. I secretly have much higher hopes but I’m realistic as road racing improvement takes time. Last year my performance stalled at around 20mph which just wasn’t fast enough to keep up so I’m hoping that all I’ve learnt so far will improve that.
I’m about five kgs lighter than I was last year (it was six kgs but I’ve fallen off the wagon and back on my chocolate addiction again, gggrrr!), so I’m hoping that will help. I’ve bought some bling new carbon soled race shoes, just because I wanted them. Some people have race socks, I’ve gone for race shoes instead 
I’ve learnt more about my nutrition and the amount of rest I need. I’m trying to be very strict with myself and make every session count. If I’m tired, or my hrv and hr levels aren’t normal, then its light training or a rest day. This is hard because I don’t just exercise to get fitter – I love everything I do and to have to skip a session because I’ve not 100% recovered is a right pita. But I want to do well at racing and some sacrifices have to be made. I’ll let you know how long I manage to keep it up for, but I’ve already driven into work a few times to ensure I can rest properly (I usually cycle to work, and whilst its not far, its still not resting properly).
I’ve shaken up my weights in the gym to be more dynamic which I’m hoping will pay off. I’ve sweated out my own body weight in salt on the turbo to Sufferfest dvds when I’ve been feeling good, and I’ve been working on my cadence. Its now up around 90 even on a hilly ride and now I’m comfortable spinning on the flat over 100 too.
I think the most important thing I’ve got is my drive and determination. I expect to get a real kicking on a lot of races but I know it takes time to be a good road racer and I’m willing to give it everything I’ve got and time to get there.
Let the race season commence!
