Redemption … well, sorta.

I failed to mention that last week I attended the free women’s-only indoor TT at Cycle U. I was feeling pretty good, so I was excited to go. At Jess’ advice, I brought my actual TT bike. When I got there, there were a few familiar faces—Rhae Shaw (Cycle U,) Jenny Potter (IJM.org,) and my teammate Jess who was finishing her race (which she of course, won.)

I got all set up and noticed that the majority of the other women were on their road bikes. Oh well, I needed the practice in my aero bars. We were all (6 of us) going to race a rolling 10k course. I quickly fell to last place yet I was working super hard. It was pretty disheartening since my heart rate was skyrocketing. When it was all over, I was last and was about a minute and a half slower than the winner. Ugh. Rhae tried to console me by telling me that I get less power being in the aero tuck, but it kind of went in one ear and out the other. However, I did make this mental note, BRING ROAD BIKE NEXT TIME.

So, yesterday was my first session with my teammates at Seattle Multisport. Yesterday was also a time trial so that the coach could get a look at our current fitness. Great. Another time trial for me to miserably trudge in last place. However, I did bring my road bike so I did notice right away that I was pumping out a lot more power. This time, the course is only 5 miles and is completely flat. Yay! I am so much better when things are flat!

We get started and I just go, go, go. My chest hurts, my heart rate is through the roof, my stomach is cramping and I am sweating buckets. All the TT racers are teammates this time —Eileen, Lori and new member Tara. I take the lead from the beginning. After last week, I refused to be last. I was going to do all I could to not repeat that performance. It stayed pretty consistent—me in first, Tara in second, Eileen in third and Lori in fourth. I won! Actually, I won by about 30 seconds, which is quite a bit over a short time trial. I felt so much better about myself and it may have been just what I needed. Actually, Tim, the coach, said that I was just a handful of seconds from cracking his women’s top-10! Go me! Totally the validation I needed.

Hopefully, Tim will email the performance file soon so I can post more details. Hopefully 2010 will be a good year!