And then the rain comes

Another raceday today. This time it was on a track of a cycling club. They had a very nice course (of approx.. 2 km) next to the football fields with a few curves which you could take in a very high pace…except for the last curve before the finish.

My goals for the race were simple: attack, try to close gaps, be aggressive. And so I did. Basically I was very very active (as was later also mentioned on the website of the specific cycling federation). I could really feel that more focus on VO2max / anaerobic levels is starting to work. I recover quite quickly from a surge and my surges become stronger, harder. I also improved my best 10 seconds of PPO of last 3 months so in a sense my ‘’snap’’ to attack is improving as well without actually focusing on this effort. Very interested to see whether this could also be shown with the FRC (Functional Reserve Capacity) metric in WKO4+.

 

Unfortunately it was a very fast course so every attack (alone or with a group) ended up back in the peloton. This meant the peloton was going into the last lap. I already had in mind to really give it one last all-out attack to make sure to be first at the last curve before the finish so there wouldn’t be a lot of people able to pass me anymore (short sprint after the last curve). I had the legs to do it, but…..

Well, going in to the last lap heaven opened up. Since I am not taking any risks I took a shortcut to the finish line to give it a day. Some would declare me stupid, but to me cycling is my hobby and I have a normal job. Also my race material is not the least expensive and I feel no need to take risks. If I don’t fall someone else might fall. And yes, this can also happen when it’s dry, but if a bunch of riders do 'everything ' to pass the last corner first -also knowing that the road is soaking wet-, it is not my cup of tea.

 

With –given no rain- 3 races left I feel I can make a few more steps to put the icing on my ‘late season peak’. 2 races are crits (60km) and one will be a ‘classic’ of 114kms.
See below (Race 7) the overall stats:

Race 1: 1.12h, VI 1.05, NP 297, AP 283, IF 0.928, AR 22%, Anaerobic 11%, Neuro 9%
Race 2: 1.03h, VI 1.12, NP 273, AP 243, IF 0.854, AR 51%, Anaerobic 7%,   Neuro 19%
Race 3: 1.27h, VI 1.14, NP 292, AP 255, IF 0.911, AR 44%, Anaerobic 10%, Neuro 17%
Race 4: 1.28h, VI 1.13, NP 296, AP 262, IF 0.926, AR 37%, Anaerobic 11%, Neuro 14%
Race 5: 1.17h, VI 1.13, NP 290, AP 256, IF 0.983, AR 46%, Anaerobic 8%,   Neuro 24%
Race 6: 1.11h, VI 1.12, NP 296, AP 266, IF 1.004, AR 31%, Anaerobic 14%, Neuro 18%
Race 7: 1.09h, VI 1.12, NP 296, AP 263, IF 0.97   ,AR 32%, Anaerobic 12%, Neuro 15%

IF is lower, because I adjusted my FTP upward based on a recent 35 minute training ride in which I averaged 315 watt without digging too deep. This week a serious effort if the weather is OK.