Time to Focus

Just settling in to watch Stage 6 of Le Tour. How in the world do those guys go so fast and then take their hands off the handlebars to mess around with stuff in their back pockets? Inquiring minds want to know... Also, what would it take to have a tour with all women? Hardly seems fair that the boys get to suffer thru and there's no opportunity for the girls...Maybe the Tour Du Canada?? How cool would that be?

Did my last easy spin around the lake tonight before the race on Sunday - EZ 6 miles, cadence +95, no mashing just spinning. They've put up signs announcing the race to local traffic, and they've taped the mile markers on the road. One nice thing is that they started the run course a little further back than last year so the spray painted numbers on the road that I'm used to pacing myself on are about 10 yards beyond the new taped numbers...so I'm thinking it may feel like each mile is short. :) I can try and convince myself of this anyway...

I drove over to the stretch of sketchy road on the bike course to see if they've patched it yet and they haven't so we'll be riding an alternate route, which initially made me really mad but now I'm looking forward to it just being a different challenge. It's about 7 miles shorter and the hills are way less steep and long so it'll actually suit me and Amelia much better - and hopefully all the big ring work I've been doing will pay off. I won't have a good way to compare my results since the course is shorter...but I can still compare splits so it'll be fine.

I'm almost in the zone I need to be in to race. I'm thinking about getting up early tomorrow and going for a walk, maybe some visualization about how things will go. Here's what I'm thinking so far, but I need to focus things a little more:

1.) I want to do some easy swimming and a little bit of tempo/sprinting to get warmed up before the swim. My plan is to do 3 or 4 porpoise dives at the start but not go out as fast as I did in my last sprint. I will remember what we learned in practice on Thursday and find a good pace quickly.

2.) I'm not too worried about my transitions and trying to save a ton of time but tomorrow I will spend some time thinking about how I can be most efficient. I know it's free time but I want to keep my focus on the work for this one.

3.) Cadence, cadence, cadence. I want to keep my rate over 85, preferably at 90+ for as much of the ride as possible. I will focus on not not "mashing" and working to be consistent so as to give my legs as much of a chance to run fast as possible. I'd also like to see an average speed over 16 mph.

4.) T2 will be quick. I will focus on myself and not worry if there are a lot of bikes already racked. It's my race and I've learned from a lot of races that I will not be last.

5.) Like in my sprint, I don't want to leave anything in the tank during the run so I'm going to push. HARD. I'll keep my HR under 85% (< 162) for the first 3 miles but it's all out for the last two. Short, quick strides are the key.

I need to spend some time thinking about my nutrition. I certainly need to take on calories but the question is what and when. Will fine tune tomorrow.

OK, off to bed. More tomorrow. Hope you all are well!!