3/5 -- CTR & ZeroZeroTwo vs. Wind

Saturday... another day of 15+ mph winds. Come on, really?

I ran about 9 miles easy in the morning, 4 of which were with Brian to help him through his trail marathon, which he did well in. Wasn't sure of pace, but it wasn't too quick, and I ran the other 5 by myself around aerobic pace. So more miles than planned, but not too taxing. The little ache I had on my plantar/base of left big toe from the beginning of Friday's run was gone, so the preventative measure I took last night (golf ball + homemade strasburg sock) appeared to work.

Early afternoon I met Bart and Dirk at Sibley for a long ride to and through Poolesville. Dirk had just done a 4 mile tempo so was a little tired, so he sat in as Bart and I exchanged pulls... good idea. Bart is POWERFUL. I pulled at 210-240w, averaging between 23-25 mph on my pulls... but when Bart led, my power didn't drop enough (only down to maybe 180 behind him, but really around 210w average). Damn, this was going to hurt. No real recovery on this ride for me and a 15-mph headwind through hills. But I remained pretty strong, surprisingly... I wouldn't have been able to keep this power/pacing going last year, especially with a headwind. About 49 miles in, we had been averaging close to 22 mph even with the brutal hills of poolesville, and I kept a good wattage, around 230w. Hit mile 49.5 and I noticed Dirk was hurting a bit, so I waved Bart on and rode it in with Dirk. The last 10-12k segment on MacArthur was a good one, as I pulled it in, staying around 205-210w, even after feeling tired/weak from sticking with Bart + headwind. For the entire ride, 67 miles, 220 watts.

Overall, a tough but really solid ride for me. I can tell Todd's training has made me stronger and smarter as a cyclist. I was in control for this ride and could find the strength I needed to finish the ride strong. Of course, work remains to be done on controlling my effort up hills. Dirk noted and I agree, Andy of 2010 would not have been able to get the job done in the same conditions. Really motivating to keep the training intensity high as it has been, and not rest on my laurels. It's good to see the work paying off. Also fun to do it with ZeroZeroTwo (TT bike). It's been a while.

But for real, wind, come on. Give me a break.