shovelhd

And the cables. Gotta have the white cables.

sarals 

I'm there!

AzTallRider

White saddle and tape wasn't good luck for me - guess I should have swapped out the cables too.

sarals 

I thought you would have known that.

sarals 

The time off was truly good for me, and I'm seeing the benefits now. Average speed doesn't mean a whole lot, and an increase in it for a given distance or set course isn't really all that telling. However, my average has come up, and it does say this - my consistency has improved. A lot of that has to do with my attitude, not my physical strength. I'm back to having fun!

sarals 

This is frustrating.

Esteban58

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

sarals 

I know.

It's like I've said at work...I get really tired of banging my head against the wall, because after a few times, it starts to hurt. And it accomplishes nothing.

Basically, I've gotten stronger, but so have the other riders. The season is moving along.

What did I do wrong? Let's see....

Yesterday I was little too exuberant on the openers. I probably burned some matches I needed today. I should NOT have ridden to the venue, the climb into the place is just too much, and it hits before I'm really warmed well enough to incorporate it. That was a mistake. I worked last night, didn't sleep well, AND we got a flight, so I was indeed tired. That sounds like an excuse - it might be. I wasn't assertive on the start, I should have jumped harder and should have positioned myself towards the front of the group. The problem was there were lots of different groups up there, and I didn't know where I needed to be. The race director started us 20 seconds after the 55+ men, and I hardly had a chance to get clipped in before the whistle blew. I hung back on the climb "trying to conserve" - dammit it all, that's when I needed to go for it, and get myself buried into the pack. Missed that! Then, when it started to become laughable, I just gave up. That sucks. It really does.

Tomorrow is a different day, and it will present a much harder race. It's longer, though, and that will give me some opportunities. I need to take them. I am going to drive to the venue and warm up on the trainer. I'll be careful about what and when I eat before the race, and by heavens, I will get a full nights sleep tonight.

Esteban58

Sounds like a good plan to me - especially the 'drive to the venue' part - that should also give you more time to prepare mentally.

Bonus points for not locking yourself out of your car

sarals 

Have you heard the story about me locking Ex out of his car??

Esteban58

of course.

I'm thinking that you otter have a better day tomorrow. (sorry, couldn't resist.)

revchuck 

Sara - You figured out the stuff that went wrong and are taking steps to see that they don't reoccur. You didn't get the results you wanted, but there were positive things that came out of the experience. Bet you a beer tomorrow goes better!

sarals 

Esteban, it had to be done!

Chuck, it can only get better. Thanks!

sarals 

I'm used to the fact that I'm not going to finish with the peloton in the W4 events, that's all there is to it. They're kids, and they're pretty strong and they recovery very quickly, and that's edge they have over me. That's okay, I will get better, and today I did have fun, in spite of being stupid with hydration.

Next race - Panoche Road Race, May 5th. Hopefully!

Then - Pasadena Senior Games - HOPEFULLY! That could be the level playing field I've been looking for. I hope I can do it!

AzTallRider

If job stuff cooperates, I may join you there.

sarals 

Oh, I hope so!

sarals 

A couple of shots by my friend Steve Anderson of me suffering in the SOC road race yesterday.

shovelhd

Sara, I just will not believe that you are incapable of finishing in a W4 field. I just can't. You are too fit, too tough, too brave not to. You are simply making too many rookie mistakes. The racecraft, you are learning fast. You are doing very well in that department. It's everything else that you have to work on. Riding to a race, if you don't care about it, fine, but to an A race? Never. I wouldn't even think about it. The start for my first A race for 2013 is 2 miles away, up a hill, but I'm driving there and warming up on the trainer. I have a very specific warmup routine for every race. I get yelled at if I don't do it. Same for warmdowns and recovery. Must be consistent. Every. Single. Race. I shouldn't even be doing the Cat5 clinics before Bethel, but I try and be smart with my power, and I warm up a little beforehand. That one is an exception that is planned for. I would never alter my routine on the fly. Consistency and focus.

Focus is where I think you go astray. You are so concentrated on what you are doing wrong that when you do something right it surprises you. When you go off the back and get into a groupetto you are focused on what everyone else is doing.

My advice to you for your next race is to go out there and race your race. Put the focus on YOU from the ride out to the warmups to the whistle. Fight to stay in the field. Focus on staying in the pocket. Forget about what is going on up front, your goal is to finish in the field. If you get dropped, race YOUR race. If the other women aren't doing their share just keep doing yours. If someone wants to attack you out of the group to race for 25th place, just let them. They're Cat4's, it must be important to them.

I believe that if you swing your focus towards what you know you can do, your results will follow.

P.S. You look great on the Ten.

sarals 

Shovel, I'm off to gym for a workout - I'll answer you when I get back - but, I want to say - THANK YOU!!

You know, the fella who took these pictures yelled at me as I went by "Sara, RACE YOUR RACE"...I guess a lot of people see that.

Cleave

Hi sarals, what shovelhd said. I can empathize with some of your race tactics because I've done and I sometimes still do things like rolling off the front when I shouldn't when I get in a funk and I don't realize it.

Focus on finishing with the pack. Stay on wheels like your life depends on it. Don't go off the front before a hill. At most, draft going downhill and let your momentum move you towards the front but don't pedal. I know this sounds like negative racing but you have to take small steps to build your self-confidence and build your race fitness and tactics. For this stage of your racing career, you need to try to do things that will get you to the end of the race. Putting others in the pain cave will come later.

sarals 

Shovel, another thing I do - I make excuses - "I can't because", and I like to play the "age" card. That is valid TO A POINT. Basically, what I do (and Valygrl has hit on this) is squander my resources and miss opportunities by NOT being aggressive enough - still! I'm scratching around trying to decide what works, and what doesn't, and I'm not believing in myself. My girlfriend, a strong, gifted rider who is right on the verge on winning races, told me this morning that "You're fast as s**t on the flats, you descend like a mad woman, and you can sprint. You should use those strengths to work for you, and then you won't worry so much about the hills". In other words, what you said - use your head, Sara. I told Ex this morning that racing is a very fluid, very dynamic enterprise, and I have to be equipped to do it properly, and I'm pretty much a blank slate right now. I look at at what your team just did, and how well you worked together, keeping your respective jobs in focus, and adjusting from race to race and WITHIN the race. Me, I get wound up, worry about the small stuff, and loose the big picture. Positives? Oh, there's lots of them. I finish - that's big. Most of the time I have fun. I'm certainly fit, now! Sometimes I do things right, and sometimes I anticipate things correctly. I need to multiply all that, and get a grasp of the whole event - from the night before, to breakfast, to the drive to the race, to the warmup, to the start. One day, soon, I will.

sarals 

Cleave, I guess I let out more here than I think I do! You, along with Shovel, are inside my head - you've just described some of things I do wrong. I wish I'd read your post before I added mine - insert that here, will you?

AzTallRider

IMHO, what would help you the most during this phase is finding more frequent opportunities to race and hone your skills. Easier said than done, I know. One way to get is something you took a stab at, and that is the Hellyer track. The perfect scenario would be a weekly training crit. I'm guessing the comments at Hellyer that turned you off might just bounce off now.

There is a definite evolution we all go through as we get started... physically and mentally. Once you've gone through some of it, what is behind you is clear as day. But when it was still ahead of you, it was completely fogged in. We see this all the time in the 33 race reports. Read a Cat 5 report and it is filled with things like "the guy ahead of me let a gap form, and we both ended up off the back", or "I was working, but nobody else was, so the break got away". Stuff like that. All about the other guys. You don't see that in reports from more experienced racers, because all that stuff is anticipated, seen, and handled. If it isn't, then it is yet another lesson absorbed. If I went back and read stuff I posted a couple of years ago, I'm sure I'd feel totally foolish. Except that everyone has been there, and so nobody holds rookie mistakes against anyone, so long as they are doing their best to learn from them. You clearly are, Sara, and so everyone is helping you along the learning curve.

I'll echo what the others are saying. Focus. Focus on that one task of staying attached. Don't do anything, no matter how trivial, that will hamper your efforts to do that. Don't give in to urges to pull, to attack, to ride to the venue... don't do anything but accomplish that goal of finishing in the lead pack. When you do that, I guarantee it will open your eyes, and it will be far easier for you to do the next time, and the time after that. It's a tremendous, motivation feeling, and learning to do it is a major milestone in development; physically AND mentally.

You can only do it by racing, so race every single time you possibly can...

sarals 

And Look Long - right?

I really wish I hadn't sold that track bike, I was thinking about that just moments ago. It was impulsive and silly of me to do that. I would take advantage of Hellyer if I still has it.

MBRT does a "mock race" at the CCCX course on Tuesday evenings. I haven't done one of those yet. I should.

I'm entering two races next month, both are on the only weekends I have off, and both are road races. I will work as hard as I can to stay in that main field - I'll make that my goal. I promise (you, everyone else, and me).

AzTallRider

Yes!

Yes, you should - assuming you get permission.. If you don't, and you do, then don't blame me for the aftermath.