It all unfolded on the second lap as we came into the cross-tailwind on the way back to the finishing stretch road. As soon as we rounded the corner, people at the front punched it. I was sitting around mid-pack and was doing everything I could to hang on. People started to come around me as I wasn't able to hold the wheel in front. Then a gap opened, and still I was pushing as hard as I could for another 20secs when the last few people came around me and caught back on. I just couldn't get back. The pace was high and I went into time trial mode hoping they would ease up just the slightest so I could latch back on. No dice. 2 other people joined me off the back and we rode a couple laps together then I pulled out.
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| It felt like I must have had a parachute on. Something was dragging me backwards. |
When I got home I looked at other people's power numbers, because if I got dropped it must have been a pretty solid effort. I saw it was around 450w for 2mins. Now if you don't train much, that is incredibly high. But considering my threshold is around 360w, that is a small anaerobic jump that should have been easy for me to make. Which is why pretty much everyone else is the 40 rider field was able to do it.
So I did some reviewing of my training to see how could I have gone so wrong. Surely this must be linked to my terrible showing at the Mother's day Crit OCUP. Basically I hadn't done any work SEATED and hard enough anaerobic to train this. If you don't use it you lose it I guess. I had a killer weight program during the winter and I must have kissed all of that goodbye by neglecting this section in my training. I turned too much into a numbers guy, and figured that as long as my watts were high, then I was fine. This meant finishing a lot of shorter intervals standing. That is no help to me when I need to go 50+km/h and be aero.
Continuing with the numbers, I love to use the watts/kg chart. I find it is actually very accurate. So I looked at what I could hold for about 3mins and it put me in cat4 range. Well no shit I am getting dropped when national team Ed Veal, or Ryan Roth show up. How can a cat 4 expect to hold onto guys like that? I figure based on my weight I need to add AT LEAST 100watts to my anaerobic ability for that duration. And that NEEDS to be seated.
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| incase you haven't seen the chart. See how you fare! If you are world class in something, contact me first so I can sign you on and I will start an agency business. I won't charge too much commission ;) |
I have worked with my coach to revamp my training to take care of this major issue. All the races I have done fairly well in, have been ones that haven't required me to hit that 1-3min power zone. Bloomfield, Niagara Classic, any time trials. The threshold is decent (it can always go higher), but once I fix this short-term power burst, then I will be able to look in the mirror and call myself a Racer. I think some good results should follow that as it will help me to be able to make breaks/splits, bridge gaps, and put in a better kick at the end.
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| Dream of glory! This caliber of glory is well-beyond my ability, but shoot for the stars they say. Also Chris Froome did it, so I must be able to do something good. I have to live up to the "Chris" name! |
Moral of the story is to find your weaknesses and don't let them bring you down. See how much you are able to do without it, and then use your imagination to forecast what would be possible if you can make it a strength. Those visions will help push you through the long, hard road to greatness.
