Racing Against The Clock

Well, if you aren't having success racing against other people, might as well race against yourself.

Thursday I did a 25k Time Trial near Solon, IA. I had raced this course twice before and was happy to have beaten my two previous attempts with a time of 34:32 (about 27mph). So, I won, I bettered my time... Unfortunately, Josh Madsen also improved his times to come in just under 34 minutes, so I took second place. This now serves as motivation, since simply improving my own times is no longer good enough to win Iowa TT's. Sometimes I wonder if I am getting slower, or if they are getting faster... In this case 'they' are getting faster.

Friday did a 5k Run in Grandview Ia. Some cross country kids set a blistering pace, so I was 'dropped off the back' from the very first 1/4 mile. I thought maybe racing the TT the night before might be ruining my pace until I crossed the line at just over 19 minutes. This is the fastest time I have ever posted on a 5k course, so I was happy about that. Unfortunately, even though this time would have gotten me a 5th or 6th place overall finish in years past (I checked), this year it was only good enough for 12th.

Talking to Dominic Moraniec at the Illinois Crits last week, he suggested that running would hurt my cycling. Very true, a phenomenon that I am aware of. If you are an aspiring cyclist, keep in mind that 'something has got to give' and if you start running, that 'something' is your bike speed. Pure cyclists or pure runners definately have an advantage in their discipline, however the big picture (health, wealth and happiness) sometimes allows other ways of measuring success besides your position on a results page.

Why run then, you may ask? Well, I just prefer to go all out in racing situations from start to finish. So Time Trials, 5k's and especially Duathlons suit my mental and physical preferences. I like to log results & times, make training adjustments and see how much I can improve. You do gain some cardio fitness, so when cycling your heart won't need to beat as fast (makes for much more comfortable bike racing). Also, easy to maintain and drop weight with running.