I traveled down to a little stretch of highway outside of Medicine Park, OK, for the Oklahoma State Time Trial Championship today. Woke up with a BG of 173 and had some yogurt and blueberries before driving down to the race course. Was BG 143 when I arrived at the course and got checked in. Had a start time of 9:48, with riders going off at 1 minute increments. Started to warm up about 9:00 with a BG of 78. Drank a bottle of Gatorade quickly during warmup and was 122 part way through the set. After I was warm I took the bike off the trainer, switched over to my disc wheel, and finished suiting up with my sunglasses, helmet, etc. Last time to test was about 10 minutes before go-time and I was BG 128. I ate a Honey Stinger waffle (21g carbs) and headed to the line. I made no adjustments to my basal rates for this race.
Was fourth off the line in the cat 4s, so I knew I would have some carrots to chase. I was riding without my power meter so I was just going off of my perceived effort and my HR. The course was flattish with just a bit of climbing and descending—my kind of course where I could just put my head down and “hammer down”.
In other time trials this year (which were shorter) I ended up pushing my HR up very quickly and would just “redline” for the duration of the race. Today was different because of the increased length (38k total). I started out strong with a high cadence and tried to settle in and make sure that my HR didn’t increase too quickly. I found a “comfort” zone (comfort being a relative term because it still hurt!) with my HR at about 180, and I caught the guy in front of me within about 12 minutes, so I was feeling pretty good!
The road was pretty straight with minimal curves so I was able to tuck my head down, watch the road right in front of my front wheel, and just push the pedals as fast as I could. The turnaround point was on the side of a hill leading up to the local wind farm, so although the ascent was not that enjoyable, the view was cool! There had been a slight headwind on the way out, but I wasn’t sure it would be that significant to help me on the way back home. Fortunately I was wrong!
My first split was 30:33 for 11.67 mi and I only averaged 22.9 mph. My return was much more enjoyable and I was able to negative-split with a time of 24:56, averaging 28.1 mph. I had my total time as 55:29, but there was some sort of recording error for all of us cat 4s and the officials clocked me at 55:01—I’ll take it! Faster time over the same distance!
The effort I gave on the race course secured me another podium finish with a bronze medal! I’m very happy with today’s results.
Post race BG was 104. Definitely a great way to end a great race!
Now I will switch gears again as I prepare for the State Championship Road Race next Sunday!