Wake up body it's time to go!!!

I looked back at my training log today and the last two times I rode my road bike were Oct 13 and Oct 20. I've done cross races nearly every Sunday since then, but haven't really put much effort into it. Cross this year has been mostly for fun and even though I've pushed it in a few races, I've been fairly mellow. In the last five weeks since that Oct 20th bike ride, I've been on a couch-potato, Oreo Double Stuff free-for-all.

Today became my official giddyup and go! I hit CycleU for a performance test not having any clue how I'd do. A mere minute into the first 5-mi time trial my body hated me. My heart rate soared into the 200s, which is normal, but about 10 beats higher than usual. I couldn't get comfortable on the bike being in an aero position (hello! not used to that) and kept fidgeting all over the place. At about the 2 minute mark my legs were toast. F***. I had a long time left. At the end of the first TT I seriously couldn't get off the bike and thought I was going to puke. Sweet.

Keep in mind, I'm not even close to being a mediocre time trialist. Hills are my thing but I need to embrace this time trial thing and really get it figured out. I left CycleU convinced I had posted horrendously crappy times. I got home and pulled out my old test results and couldn't believe it. Yes, my times suck, but for me they were PRs. My first TT time of 15:33 was about 20 seconds faster than my test in February. I faded nearly a minute on the second one but still beat February. Somewhere during those five weeks of Oreo binging I uncovered an extra 5-10 watts. Unbelievable!

I guess at my worst I'm better than I was at my peak last season. That's encouraging news! Next week I'll be getting back on the road bike and putting in some easy miles before I get my new training plan. I need to get back in the saddle since I kick off the CycleU indoor TT workouts soon. Every night before I go to bed I tell myself ten times: "I love time trialing. I really do."