2 good weekends of racing

Race#1: Oakland Half Marathon

Last Sunday the 27th was originally supposed to be the Berkeley Hills TTT that I had been planning to race with Jon. Unfortunately they cancelled that race with 2 weeks to go, due to the low number of people who has signed up so far.

So instead, on a whim I signed up for the Oakland half marathon. I almost signed up for the FULL marathon, but luckily I was talked out of it. I got the idea in my head that it would be good to see how a full marathon felt, so I could get a real sense of what I was getting myself into. I changed my mind after I was reminded how long I would be out of commission after running a full marathon.

My previous long run was 11.5mi at a 8:30 (min/mile) pace, and my previous "best" long run was a 10 miler at right around 8:00 pace. So my goal for this race was to maintain my "best" pace for the full 13.1 miles. My goal time was 1:45. 

I finished in 1:38:18 for a 7:31 pace! That extra boost that you get from racing - having people cheering, having carrots to chase, knowing the clock is ticking, etc. - really made a huge difference! I decided at the last second not to keep pace during the run, to just base it on how I felt. Looking back, I think that was absolutely the right decision, because I probably would have held some back if I had been using a watch to pace myself.

Race#2: 3 Bears ITT

This is a really low key time trial hosted by the Grizzly Peak Cyclists. It consists of one lap of the 3 Bears loop out in Orinda. 18.7mi with 2 tough climbs. This is a race to do to gage your training progress. Jon, Jo Ann and I came out last month, and Amy joined us for this month. Unfortunately last month I broke a chain, so I didn't get an accurate time (I estimated around 58 mins). 

This month I pulled out all the stops with a new bike and racing wheels. No power meter this time. My racing strategy was to go just a little harder than I thought I could maintain for the course. On top of that, I tried to make it a point to accelerate as I approached the top of each climb, and I think that made a big difference.

We all made personal bests on the course. I did it in 54:21, which was much faster than my goal of 57 mins. 

Next weekend is the Calaveras 10 mile ITT. I'm curious to see how much of an advantage I can get on the TT bike...I've been feeling lately that maybe it wasn't worth it to get a full on TT bike. I guess we will see!