the good news is i got a wee bit faster - the bad news is by only ~10mins
although i do feel that course on that day was a helluva lot tougher than wisco.
wow what a tough day. just never showed up emotionally i suppose. definitely helped to bring my expectations more in line with my actual ability. i took it pretty hard out there in the last 10k busting out 7min k’s and seeing my hopes of a great and then good and then ok time slip away. i felt so friggin helpless!!! but i didnt get in to this for the shits and giggles. i have to see it as a learning / “character building” experience and keep on trucking. Job had it worse.
good job man - it was a hard day out there yesterday. I hit the same time as IMwisco - right on the dot (actually :45 seconds faster!). The wind on the 2nd half of the bike really killed a lot of people. Even though there is less climbing here then wisco it’s still a decievingly hard bike course - by my calculations alomst 1000m of climbing overall.
it’s hard to hang on when the race starts to come unglued but you did a good job to finish and i bet if you look at the overall your placings are very consistent. that’s the way to build for sure.
Dude- everyone who reads here regularly knows you’ve committed to trying to find your race potential. You worked hard to prepare for this race, and it sounds like you didn’t hit your goals. That happens. DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT. You prepared as best you knew how, but are not fully satisfied with the results- OK. Figure out what worked in your training and what didn’t work, but do not blame yourself as a inferior athlete with no potential to improve. If you believe that you can’t get better, certainly you will not.
The course was hard, conditions were unfavorable, potential race winners finished in 11:30+, all true. Take away the knowledge you’ve gained, and train smarter for the next one. Project the image of the athlete you want to be, see yourself as achieving the goals you’ve set, but DO NOT tear yourself down. You can get there, but only if you believe in yourself. Good effort today (yesterday?), and good luck in your training.
