My daughter had an early game today, so there was no time to get in the gym this morning. Additionally, tomorrow is Lisa's birthday, so my daughter came up from San Diego and we spent all spent the day together grabbing lunch, going shopping and then having dinner. I took just a little break from the diet and had a beer today since we ate at Karl Strauss near South Coast Plaza. Otherwise, I didn't eat too bad. I know that the 26 mile race yesterday wasn't as much as what I was used to burning over the weekend calorie-wise, so I tried to watch my intake. The beers yesterday didn't help.
As for the race yesterday, I looked at my Garmin stats and I was definitely not working a lot in the beginning and for a while. I know I could have probably contributed to a better pace initially, but admittedly my confidence level was not there. I didn't trust in the training and did not know how long I could sustain staying at the front. One thing that I could remember from the information I read from a previous racer who blogged about it was that trying to get into the peloton after coming from the outside was difficult. My thoughts were that I would get up near the front from the back, get a little worked, and then not be able to get up front subsequently getting hung out to dry. Todd and Gary, however, proved that this was a better strategy since the turn up the hill was I think what made or broke the race.
Maybe the cars that caused us to have to line up single file before the turn won't be there next year, but in case it is, I'll have to remember to be up to counter any attacks on the hill. Doing so after more than half of the peloton were ahead of me really did me in. It was nice to be able to make my way toward the front, but too little too late.
On the way back, I also wished I could have pushed harder here and there when the group I was riding with was slowing down. If we worked more efficiently, we could have improved our time significantly. Next year, I'll have to read this blog again and remember these factors. I hope if I'm as trained up or more next year, I'll try harder to work for a podium spot for sure.
What was surprising was how easy it was to break away from those guys I was riding with toward the end. It only got close to the finish because i was not sure how hard I was suppose to go up through the course in the parking lot. Next year, I won't even look back.
The water bottle I brought was barely used, so that added some nominal weight for the race that I don't know if I need to do next year. I drank once and it was on the way out only because I could, but being in a tight group made it uncomfortable to do where I never did it again the rest of the race. I never felt parched, didn't cramp, and can't say I can attribute anything to the absence of fluids. The pre-ride Cytomax was probably enough. One thing that factors in here though was how cold we were where we didnt sweat as much. If the weather is the same next year, consider not bringing a bottle or even less water.
Looking forward to 2012 already.
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