Vision Quest, Week 3

Now it's time to get to work. After about 40 minutes of warming up, it was time to ride. Once everyone had their Computrainers set up and recalibrated, we had a countdown to 40 minutes of hurt.

I think I started a little slow, because at about minute 20 I was feeling a little too good. It wasn't easy, but it didn't feel as bad as it should. I was holding about 220W, which is 10W ahead of where I was mid-December during the Indoor TT.

I decided to pick it up and at that point was sitting in 4th place of 16. Some new guy named Patrick (I think) took off like a bat out of hell right out of the gates, so no one was catching him, but 2nd and 3rd place weren't far ahead at all.

At that point I decided 240W-25W was a good goal and went to work. By minute 33 I had caught everyone but Patrick who still had nearly .5 mi on me and gaining.

Once minute 40 rolled around I had averaged 231W (Patrick was at 249W I believe) and was in 2nd place. I certainly can't complain with going from 210W for 30 minutes to 231W for 40 min in only 6 weeks, but it's still pretty depressing compared to mid- to late-summer last year when I would hold 270W-280W for my full 7 mile commute to work and it didn't seem as hard.

This just gives me something to shoot for. I told Nisha tonight: I want to be at 250W for 40 minute power by the end of the Taste of VQ, and 270W for 40 min by the time my first XTERRA rolls around. From there the goal is 300W 30 minute power by XTERRA Nationals. In the mean time while the wattage is rising, I still have about 10 lbs to peal off. If I can accomplish all of these goals I had better have my best season yet!

Here's to a bunch of hard work right around the corner....