billh

having been beaten in every match sprint at the state tourney last Sat, I feel compelled to write my annual . . . POST OF SHAME . . . and therefore expunge myself of my sins . . . and start my winter training with a clear conscience.

The sin of omission. O God of Track, I confess to not having trained enough for this race. In my defense, I had planned on doing a summer of 20K time trials, but the road was washed out by a flood and I only had 3 weeks of actual track racing under my belt, nevertheless, forgive me for my lack of training, Oh God of Track . . . and Chris Hoy, who sits at His right hand.

After posting the 4th fastest flying 200m, in a field of 12, I was paired with the 5th fastest guy in the quarters bracket of 8 so I knew it would be a close match. my opponent is a guy I know well from the weekly series, we have vastly opposite styles of racing . . . I like to get a jump and sprint hard from 200m out, he likes to ramp it up slow and steady for the kill. He took me 2 straight for the best of 3 in nearly identical races that came down to inches at the line, each time I got the jump off the high bank at turn 2 of our ~333m (1/5 mile) track here in St Louis, got a gap, held it through the final turn, but faded badly coming down the home stretch and he was able to nip me at the line. The second race, I believe, I actually got him, but the official gave him the W, no photo finish cam here at Mr Bumpy.

O God of Track, forgive me for unwise training . . . hey, but I actually trained specifically for the match sprint . . . for two weeks prior to the meet . . . typical interval was 1:30 with 0:30 at x watts, 0:30 at x+25W, final 0:30 at x+50W (or all out). But during the actual match, obviously I did not save enough juice for the home stretch, fading badly. In retrospect, I think I used to much energy on the actual jump and subsequent 10 seconds, nearly spent everything. Also, . . . more excuses . . . St Louis summer has been unusually cool, I was not acclimated to the more typical 90F temp and 90% humidity the day of the meet, felt totally sapped the entire morning . . . even hopped up on caffeine and beet juice!

What can I say . . . the results speak for themselves . . . I have no excuse, beaten fair and square . . . the one positive I take away, is that after only 3 weeks of sprint-specific training, I was able to equal my fastest flying 200m from 3 seasons ago.

. . . yet . . . I am off to flog myself on the weights for a winter of suffering . . . stewing in the juices of shame . . . rinsing my mouth of the bitter taste of disappointment . . . to rise once again from the ashes of defeat . . . come next May. !

Mikey58 

billh - Win, lose, or draw - at least you made the effort . Congrats - get 'em next year!

Mike

bikemig 

Great post; thanks for sharing.