Texas State Time Trial Championships 2016

What a weekend! June 18^th & 19^th was the Texas State Individual & Team Time Trial Championships in Hempstead, TX. A 40k (or 24.8 mile) all-out effort of hell. Thankfully, Hempstead is only about 25 minutes from where I grew up and where my parents still live, so no hotel costs for this weekend! Not so thankfully, it is unbelievably hot and humid, but more on that later…

               Leading up to this race I had little expectations on my finishing time and place, not because I didn’t care about the race (I always care about my races), but because my bigger focus was on Buffalo Springs 70.3 the following weekend and just biking is not typically my thing. Biking has always been my weakest discipline and my biggest source of doubt. But, you don’t improve your weaknesses until you work on them, and work on it I did. I have put a huge amount of physical and mental effort into improving my bike legs this year. This weekend showed me just how much my hard work has been paying off. My result didn’t excite me because of my placement, it excited me because I was able to banish the thought that my bike was not good enough. It made me realize that I can be a strong cyclist, both on and off the triathlon field. And that alone makes me want to work harder.

               The last reason I didn’t have huge expectations on this race was because I did not do a real rest or taper leading up to the weekend. I was running on tired legs and eager to get to my taper week for Lubbock. This weekend was a high-power workout weekend! Regardless, I knew I wanted to push my limits and I was not going to suppress my competitive nature.

SATURDAY-THE INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL

               Let me first say that I couldn’t have done this without my angels: Jeffrey (my main man), Ashley (my loyal teammate and fellow TT rockstar), and Nathan (my coach). Jeffrey is not only my loving boyfriend, but also my bike mechanic who makes sure I have everything setup perfectly! Once my bike was all setup and ready to rock, I started my TT warmup, where Ashley was ready to supply me with a steady stream of confidence and ice cold towels. After warming up, Ashley and I headed over to the start line only to find we would be delayed for a wide load truck on the narrow road. In the meantime, Ashley forcefully told me, “Don’t you dare get out of aero. If you even want to think about it, just remember my voice in your head telling you NO!” And yes, that stuck with me the whole race. Being committed to aero on a TT is a key component of the race itself. I was loaded down with ice socks and took my espresso gel, trying to stay calm before I rolled off the start ramp. Because I signed up last and the podium girls from last year were not racing, I was able to start last-a plus in this because it is motivation to catch as many people in your category as possible!

               I knew the power number I needed to hit, and I knew to watch my heart rate. I had no time goals starting out, except to beat my 40k PR (1:05:00). I had a decently bad start off the ramp, but after that was smooth sailing! I cruised around my goal power number relatively smooth and steady, but I was thankful for the turnaround so I could finally get a drink of water (my water bottle was too far out of reach in the back to get to it while in aero)! I got to the turnaround at about 31 minutes and some change, and I knew I wanted to try to come back faster. With halfway knocked out, I was feeling confident that I would be able to finish strong. I knew I had passed a few people in my category, but I was still able to continue passing more. Even so, I was not sure where I would stand in the end. I continued to push strong, and began to build up my speed the last 5k, I knew better than to cross the line with any extra gas in the tank! The last 1k was hard, but it made it all the more worth it when I came across the line with a 1:01! A little over 24mph average overall. I couldn’t remember if I passed my whole category, but I felt awesome about my race and confident that I placed well. My last little effort did indeed push me past the second place female and I came away with my first Texas State Championship jersey. This was definitely my biggest cycling accomplishment to date!

SUNDAY-THE TEAM TIME TRIAL

               Thanks to my cycling buddies in Houston, I was able to join a team time trial this year with the Haute Wheels ladies (our Fresh team was unable to put together a women’s team for this event). I was racing up a category with these ladies, intimidating, but I was ready to give them my all.

               We had never raced together and never practice time trialing together, which could have gone terribly wrong when you’re racing at over 24mph and about a foot or less behind the wheel in front of you. Fortunately, we worked very well together! We wanted to win, and we pushed each other to accomplish just that. We finished 1^st in our category and clocked under an hour for our time. I ended up having nearly the exact same average power for the team as I did for the individual…and then I got to run 6 miles in the heat!

               Surprisingly, my run off such a high effort bike race, in the heat, felt really great. Which made me feel very confident about my upcoming half. I may have just been on cloud nine and excited about such a great weekend, but I at least knew that my body could handle high power on the bike and still be able to run a steady pace.

Ice boobs to keep cool!

               Overall, this was an amazing race/workout weekend! I got to see many of my fellow Fresh Team racers on the podium and out on the course. I am definitely looking forward to next years’ time trial now that I know how to race it!