Road race- 55 miles

Workout Summary: Bike 60 miles (2:40) 11 mile brick (1:29)

Did the CAT 3 banana belt series again, 55 miles this week. Attacked 4-5 times for fun and pulled group at one point about a mile to try to bridge 2 riders that broke. This probably cost me the power on the 200 meter uphill finish. We came onto a large 60 sec climb right after my pull and the entire peleton passed me on the hill. I was too tired to stand on my pedals so I just grinded my teeth and used everything I had to get back behind the final person in the group. Once back on the draft, I rested about 60 seconds then moved up along the shoulder back into the middle of the pack. Group started at 72 or so, then the front group dropped about 1/2 the riders on the 4th of 5 laps.
I was is pretty good postion, top 10 going into the final hill sprint, but left my gear in the 53 and lasted about 5-10 seconds on a 30 second final climb. The entire final group passed me except for 4-5 stragglers. Ended up 40th. Good thing is though, I hung in until the end and the first in our final group was only about 10 seconds ahead of me at the finish. 4 guys finished in front of our group, they broke away during the first few miles of the final lap, and we couldnt pull them in. Fun day, covered head to toe in mud from light rain and wet grimy pavement. 1 crash almost took me down in second lap but he just missed my rear wheel...lucky.

Then run a lap around the lake, 11 miles easy with Rob W and Ann. Felt much better this time around. Ran close to 8 min pace and HR last week going 8:30 pace was in zone 4, this week, in zone 2-3.
Biked around 2:20 for the 55, around 22.5 mph ave. Great total ascent for the 55 of 3100 ft, then another 620 ft for the run after.
Next week, race increases to 66 miles. Likely will only run 6 after.

These high intensity races I did in 2004 in my first season, they really build pre season strength to get ready for April and May long rides.

ANN! Yes...her second road race on a bike in her life, she is racing CAT 4. About 30 women in her race and she moved from the back of the field on the final uphill sprint to 5th overall. She learned another good lesson this week. Had she been in the top 5-8 girls going into that sprint, she may have finished 1 or 2nd.

Zone summary for entire brick: This is as close as it gets to great cardiac work developing VO@ max, lactate treshold, and base combined.
1 = 18%
2 = 22%
3 = 22%
4 = 26% (66 min at sub-threshold)
5a/b = 11% (28 minutes at or above threshold)

Diet:
Breakfast, 3 med. pancakes, 12 oz orange juice, coffee
Lunch after race: turkey reuben with sweet potatoe fries as well as some of Ann's fries. Copius soda water and 1 pint of beer. Recovery drink after run.
Dinner: 5 eggwhites with about 1 oz cheese, 2 wheat muffins with honey and jam. 16 oz skim. Yeah I know it's breakfast, but I needed solid protein and carbs in simple form. What other way.