Monday, March 10, 2008

Candy - but from the wrong box of chocolates...

As Linda wisely put it, sprinting is like candy for the legs. You make them endure long bouts of suffering and general fatigue and reward the with a heavy hit of sprinting - which last but a few seconds and then you pay for it later. Personally I LOVE sprinting. Thankfully I was given the right amount of fast twitch muscle fiber and agility to propel myself forward quickly. And after Saturday's snafu - I was bound and determined to not botch the final sprint.

Now - onto which box of chocolates I had my hands in. We had our own field of just the ladies which was great, although we lacked the numbers. The weather was slightly chilly but DRY. The course was flat - perfect for a sprinter. The first lap saw some action - oddly enough thrown into the wind. Several attempts were made and then one stuck - and much to my surprise I was in it. But those chicas worked me over! I glanced down to see 27mph pulls - and after climbing a hill and trying to settle in - I popped like a gushy pimple from an adolescent teenagers face. It was gross - I felt disgusted, but was able to climb back on the chase pack.

Let the suffering begin. At one point the official told us the break was 4 1/2 minutes up the road. Um, yeah, we're not going to catch that one! But we tried like hell and it seemed no one in the remaining bunch had the early season form that the lead group did. Around and around we went - it was pretty boring after that. Until the final sprint - coming down between Avanti and TGH. Mindy did a stellar lead out, Annette on her wheel and me right behind. With 200m to go I hit the gas and gave myself a big dose of candy. Sure it felt good - but it would have felt so much better in the lead group.

Overall it was a HUGE improvement from last week and I'm happy with learning more and gaining more fitness. Maybe next week I'll get some more candy....

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