The rest week was a good time to reflect on the first part of the season. Looking back, it was easy to see where I went off track with my training. I had a good plan laid out and it was working well in April. I had a really good race at Cedar Hill and was getting much stronger. Where I messed up was when work caused me to miss a week of good training. I missed a few days, but was not completely resting. I sort of skipped my rest week the following week because I felt like I didn't do that much the week before. The stress from work and the lack of real rest caught up with me in all the races. I was tired at Anniston, Athens and St. Louis. I didn't always feel it it, but my numbers reflect it. I could not get my heart rate up to where it was going earlier in the month. It's easy to see these things now, but hard to pick it out when you are knee-deep in a training plan only a few weeks before the biggest part of your season. Now I have to pick up the pieces of my broken training plan and and stick with it this time!
Shannon and I had the opportunity to go to another continuing education class for work recently. It was another one that really changed my way of thinking. This one introduced some new concepts to me, but most importantly it built up my confidence. I realized that I was doing things correctly with my patients. I am training my athletes right and using good techniques to get them back on the field as quick as possible. The class was taught by a well known sports performance coach and rehab specialist named Darrell "D-Lock" Locket. The dude knows a ton about training and rehab. He's a strength and conditioning specialist, an athletic trainer and a licensed massage therapist. And a heck of a good teacher. We drove down to Memphis to attend his class and it was totally worth it. Even if I did have to work extra that week. I have been wanting to dabble into training people on the side and the class really helped guide me on how to get started. I want to progress my education level beyond my PTA degree that I use at work. I want to become certified as a USA Cycling coach, a USA Triathlon coach and get my CSCS, which is the certified strength and condition specialist designation that D-Lock has. I also learned a few good dynamic warm-up techniques, one of which targets tight hamstrings, which have always been problem of mine. I will employ it over the next few weeks and see how my hamstrings and riding performance improve.
Memorial Day weekend was a chance for us to go visit family. And a chance to race in Ft. Wayne again. The Fort4Fitness Twilight Crit. was a really fun race last year and I wanted to get back to it. We found a new driving route from Tennessee up to Indianapolis that was really nice. They have opened portions of the new I-69 which has virtually no traffic on it between Evansville, IN and Bloomington. It was a nice, relaxing drive and shaved a good 30 minutes off our drive time. We stayed the first night in Muncie at Shannon's cousin's house. We got to visit with them for a while and do a nice morning road ride on the country roads around Muncie before we went north to Ft. Wayne for the Saturday evening event.
Riding near Munice, IN with Shannon
Some rough pavement on these old backroads
My hamstrings have been bothering me lately, getting very tight and painful at times when I ride. This usually happens in my upper hamstrings right around the junction with the glutes. Shannon put some kinesiotape on both hamstrings to inhibit the muscle contraction and I went through D-Lock's hamstring warm-up sequence. The extra hamstring precautions helped out and I had no pain during the race. They got a little tight, but not enough to slow me down.
The rest week refreshed me and I had good legs. We had a good group of about 50 riders in the Pro/1/2/3 race for 60 minutes on a revised course for this year. I liked this course better. It was flat the whole way around, making for a very fast six corners in 1 km. I usually do pretty well on technical courses with that many turns. The start/finish is only 50 meters from turn 1, which is a 90-degree left. You get a good straightaway between turns 1 and 2, about 2 blocks long. The straight between turns 2 and 3 is just a block long, as is the distance from turn 3 to turn 4.Turn 4 is the only right turn on the course. There's a long straightaway out of turn 4 that leads to the final two corners which are a bit tighter than the first four. You have about 200 meters from turn 6 to the finish line, making it important to get out of the last turn in front.
New course in Ft. Wayne
Riders lined up for the Pro/1/2/3 event
I started in the back, but was able to move to the front by the end of five laps. Only problem with that was that a break of five went off the front on lap 3. I then missed the attack from one rider who ended up bridging across making it six in the break. I felt great and took a few opportunities to try to get myself across the gap. I tried and failed twice. The gap was sitting at just 8 seconds so I had to keep trying. Bissell had a team there and they had missed the break. They were willing to work with me initially to close down the gap, but after a few laps they stopped helping. I did a big pull for two laps and made a slight dent in the gap, but I had to recover. The gap then began to grow as nobody wanted to chase. It grew to 30 seconds by halfway and at that point I knew it was gone. I was feeling so good, but just couldn't get across the gap, so now the focus changed to going for the field sprint. The race payout was top 20 and for the first time this year, I felt like I could get into the money.
I went for a prime 45 minutes into the race. It was the first time I have ever tried for a prime since moving into the Pro/1/2 group. I attacked going into turn 5 and led the group out of the final turn. I had a good sprint, but not good enough. One rider pipped me by a wheel to take the $40 prime.
It took me a few laps to recover and just as I started feeling good again, the break lapped us. Upland Brewing had a few guys in the break and they began to do a leadout as soon as the break got to us. It was a fast final few laps. We had 40 riders still left in the main group with 3 to go. I was too far back to contend for the sprint and could not move up as the pace was just too high. We were rolling 31+ mph the last 2 laps and all I could do was hold my position. I picked off one rider in the sprint and wound up 24th, outside the money spots. I was surprised to see that I was the at the end of the group. The pace blew the field to pieces those last few laps and only 25 of us remained in the lead group. It wasn't the result I had hoped for, but I was pleased because I felt good for the first time since Cedar Hill. Maybe a little rest was all I needed. Race average speed was 27.0 mph for 57 minutes. I hit 40.3 mph at one point, which I think is really fast for such a flat course. The best number of the race was my max heart rate, which was 189. That's the highest I have seen in a while and I know I need to see the upper-180s and into the low-190s if I want to be competitive at the end of these Pro/1/2 races.
Me sitting in the Pro/1/2/3 group in Ft. Wayne
Video: Start and final two laps of the Pro/1/2/3 race
After the race we went to Elkhart to visit Shannon's immediate family. We stayed with her Mom and Dad the next few days. They had come up to Ft. Wayne for the race, which was really cool. Rarely do I ever have family of any kind come to a race anymore. Shannon's Dad really seems to enjoy watching the races. I did some riding the day after the race and felt surprisingly good. I went after a few Strava segments, claiming the KOM on one. One thing we always seem to do on Memorial weekend is go shopping for clothes. It's about the only time I go shopping all year. I like to take advantage of the sales and get some good clothes for cheap. I didn't get a whole lot this year, but got enough to freshen up my wardrobe for work.
I've been a bike mechanic as of late, fixing five bikes in the last few weeks. All of them have been for missionaries of the church. Three were Clarksville missionaries, two were in Elkhart. I'm glad to report that the missionaries seem to be getting good quality bikes. I worked on three Trek bikes and two Specialized bikes for them. They just needed the usual wear-and-tear things like lubed chain, new shifter cables/housing and brake pads. One had been hit by a car recently and needed some major wheel attention. I had never trued up a wheel before, only tightened spokes. It was a good learning experience for me and I actually got his wheel rolling straight. Now I guess I'm good in all areas of bike maintenance!
After Indiana, we dog/house sat for Keith and Misty. That meant some good quality time with Lucy, Carmella, Oscar the Grouch and Vivian. Carmella was a pain in the butt all week, busting out of the kitchen when we were gone, pooping all over the house and stealing Oscar's food. She ate so much food one night that she could barely walk and breath for the next 8 hours. It was an interesting week to say the least. Lucy even figured out how to open the back door and let all the dogs back in when I put them outside. Vivian escaped when the door was open, but luckily did not go anywhere. It was a tough week, but I'm glad we could do it so Keith and Misty could go visit family.
Lucy chillin' like a villain
I did some rides into Kentucky while we were staying at Keith's house. I mostly avoided rain showers all week. That's not always a bad thing as nature tends to treat you with good views when the weather changes.
Purple flowers lining one of the roads near Kirkwood
Rainbow in the distance near Guthrie, KY
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