If I wanted to do hill intervals, I'd have a lot of nice gradients to choose from in Daly City...from short, steep sections that only take a few seconds to power through to moderate, steady inclines that help you find a sweet spot climbing rhythm. Normally, 5 to 6 repeats of a hill or section is good enough for me.
When you tell me to do 15, that's when I'll start calling you...and maybe myself... crazy. But that's not the case at the Santa Cruz University Road Race, because this is one heck of a course for a road race...and a bike race in general...but it's inexplicably enjoyable. The course is literally a Hill Interval/Repeat festival, and it doesn't only demand well-established fitness, but also a focused mentality that will keep you from going insane before, during, and after the race.
If you've looked at this blog before, you might already know that I did this race last year in the Mens' B category, and was so traumatized that I downgraded to the Mens' C because I knew that the challenge of the B's with my state of fitness at that time would have possibly drained my motivation down to nothing. With that being said, my performance gave me an opportunity to reassess my training and address some of the gaps that I've been ignoring for over two seasons.
Well, after attempting to set a good foundation for my 2014 season, I finally got serious with making and strictly completing my training plan/hours. This was my first road race for this season ever since I've overhauled my training, so I didn't really know what to expect and was ready to be surprised.
The Start-
Like last year, we started fairly late off-schedule. The benefit from that was that I was able to get in a lengthy yet effective warm-up around the reverse way of the course. The warm-up lasted about 40 minutes and was kept in my endurance zone aside from a short tempo interval and a shorter threshold period. However, because of the late start we were only to do 14 laps instead of 15.
I started in the back but I was okay with it because I knew that nobody would really gun it out right away anyways. I wasn't feeling nervous or anything, just a little excited to start after waiting half an hour from the normal scheduled time. When we started everything was normal and people were actually joking around as if they were in a high school class that was about to start. Us young people would call it a "chill" pace, even when we got to the climb. I glanced at my heart rate and it was still low, unlike last year where it was already beating over 180bpm before the climb.
This "chill" pace was maintained for 2 laps in and after that I can't really tell you what the pace was like because I attacked.
Going Solo-
Maybe I was enjoying the conversations in the pack, similar to hearing people talk during lunch period at a high school. But this wasn't the lunch period, nor was it high school. This was a bike race, so in an attempt to remind people that it was, I went ahead and surged up a bit--it wasn't even a full-on super threshold effort. Thinking that the pack would respond, I looked back and saw that they were still maintaing their lunchtime pace, as if I was invisible.
Now this course's 1-mile climb has a fairly flat section, and I knew I could use momentum from that part to go up to the 13ish % kicker which turns right into a descent. So, I "big-ringed" the flat part and did exactly what I thought, and went hard on the descent just in case they were coming. At this point, I didn't see them until I got to the bottom of the climb again. Since this course is circuit-like, you can see across from the opposite side of the course. But I didn't look back yet, I used my momentum going into the bottom of the climb and big ringed until I saw a road sign, which was a trait I learned from my training routes which had road signs every 200 meters.
I finally looked back during the climb before the view to the feed zone, and saw that they were behind me and not too far back. I was partly excited and partly crazy so I just went and held the effort all the way up, and did this for about 4 laps--I'd big ring the flat part and there was also a part on the descent which could be sprinted for a boost downhill before the wind slowed you down.
After being alone for about 2 laps, the official yelled "10 laps to go" and it only hit me then that that almost seemed impossible, considering my performance from last year. That was a mistake though, because it wasn't 2013, and I shouldn't have been thinking about the past at that time. I got into focus, into the now and asked myself if I should try to hold it off as long as I could. I didn't know how long I could stay off the front solo, so I went on to find out myself.
Photo taken by Yao Saeturn
What was possibly going through my head?
I had felt good because I organized that week's training into a block of hard-easy days. So maybe I tapered just a little for a race that was of C-Priority...hehe. Normally I don't look back when I attack off the front, but I was so confused and surprised (there's that word again) that I was holding a gap on a course that I got dropped on and finished almost last a year ago. Well, there I went thinking about the past again! But I couldn't help it because I was already noticing what a difference it had been!
So looking back, I couldn't see them...even on the base of the climb where you could see the other side of the course! All of the spectators and course marshals were saying "Good job, keep going, why are you so fast," but nobody ever told me my gap, so I just kept on going *almost* as hard as I could. I kept the intensity down a notch from "all-out" due to me doubting myself. During the beginning of my break I looked down at my Garmin and remembered it hitting the 1:00:00 mark, meaning I'd need about another hour of the intensity I was going...yikes!
The cramps came just when I hit the 1hour mark, and I actually stopped significantly to make it go away. 3 laps later from the 1 hour point, (about 1hour and 24 minutes in) my teammate Yao who was spectating told me I had a 2-minute gap and that fueled me pretty good, so I tried to maintain my comfortable yet hard pace, but at that point my legs wanted to give up. They did me a favor and kept on going, but only enough to finish the race.
Caught!
I wasn't sure if anyone in the pack was actually trying to catch me, because in the end the others were saying that some people didn't know. Also a possibility was that some people knew they would catch me anyway. But after 8 and a half laps of going solo (and also looking really cool in front of all the spectators) I was caught on the bottom of the climb when the lap cards was about to turn to 3 from 4. At first, I was able to hang on to the group of 3 for half a lap, including the whole climb. I got dropped from that group when we started to climb again, and half a lap later another chase group caught up with me and I couldn't hang on. At that point, I only had 1 lap to go, and took it fairly cautiously before my legs would eat themselves.
In the end, I finished 12th out of 25th, but I didn't care too much about the result--which was MUCH better than my placing last year anyways. I was more happy at the fact that I did something I didn't know I could, and I was happy that I found out that I could do it! Sometimes, you have to take risks like that, so that in the next race, you'll know what's possible and what isn't possible.
My teammates Christian and Eric fought hard as well! And Ray and Eric Fong fought hard in the D's race. And my peers from SFSU Triathlon and Cycling club came to support too. Thanks a bunch!
Stay tuned for my Criterium report, I participated in the Mens' B and the Elite 4 as well! Spoiler Alert: I was off the front at one point in each of the races :)
--DB
Summary:
- 14 Laps @ 2.7 miles each lap with 350' elevation gain
- 2 hour race
- 1mile climb, 2-3% on bottom, 5-6% average, 13% kicker then the long descent.
- Attacked on 2nd lap
- Surprised that I stayed away for 8.5 laps, caught with 3 laps to go
- Finished 12th/25
“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”
― Michael Jordan
“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”
― Michael Jordan
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