Tricky

The DINO Spring Tune-Up was un-cancelled around 8:00 this morning, and I found out about it around 9:00. As general rule, it can't be guaranteed that I will even be awake 9:00 on a weekend morning when I have nothing scheduled. Seeing as I had cleared my schedule for the race, all that was on my agenda was getting my ride in sometime before 5:00 p.m. However, being the crazy responsible person that I am becoming, I awoke at 7:30 all on my own. I messed around, had breakfast, etc. and by the time Adam call me from work to let me know the the race was on, I was already halfway through a large pot of green tea and the movie "Twilight". I had been pretty pumped to race a couple of days ago, but at that moment, the thought of throwing my stuff in the car and trying to make the start didn't seem too appealing.

It's just as well, because I had a great workout this afternoon. It was a race simulation that consisted of clipping in from a full stop, sprinting for 10 pedal strokes, two minutes Zone 6, five minutes threshold, and ten minutes sweet spot all back-to-back. It was pretty hard, but I was proud of my numbers when it was all done. I was also supposed to ride for "a couple more hours" when I was done with the race simulation, so I gave myself a ten minute soft-pedal break and then tried to settle into upper Zone 2/ low Zone 3. I wanted to put in a better effort than "just riding along" pace, and I did. I only ended up with 2:20 ride time, but I was working hard enough that I didn't feel the need to try to tack on more distance at the end. I was about as worked over at I wanted to be with two very hard weeks ahead of me.

I was sunny and nice today, but the temperature was only in the low-to-mid 50's, so I developed "cyclocross cough" by the time it was over. That happens when I ride really hard efforts in cool/cold weather. I think I will be fine after some echinacea tea and good night's rest.