Ryan Bickerstaff

Yesterday I rode the Spectrum Ride - a large fast group ride that brings out some of the faster riders in the area.  I felt really good and contested most of the sprints and small hill climbs - it made for a really good workout and with the mixture of acclerations and tempo efforts felt a lot like the bike in an ITU race.  My peak power levels were 674 watts (30s) and 569 watts (60s).  41 minutes was spent above 400 watts and 239 watts was the overall average for the group ride portion (1:50:00), which includes time spent coasting.  My max heart rate was 194 bpm, which may actually be a record for me on the bike!  Unfortunately, the bike ride really hurt my shoulder, and it wasn’t feeling so great the rest of the day.

Knowinig that I may not be able to swim or race another triathlon for a while, I really wanted some affirmation of where I’m at running-wise, since I was a little fatigued during the run in my past two triathlons.  I had looked for a 5k run near here but was unsuccesful.  Luckily, when I went for a bike ride on Friday with a friend, she mentioned a 5k in Menlo Park, which is is basically next door.  So, despite some tired legs from the 50 mile bike ride yesterday, I raced at the Oak Knoll Otter Run 5k, which benefits the local school.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I think my training indicates I could run around 15:00 rested, but was hoping to at least run around 16:15.

The race went much better than expected!  I still don’t feel like I have a lot of speed or “kick” in my legs, but I definitely have some strength.  I don’t believe this race was on a certified course, but all the mile markers seemed pretty accurate.  It was just the last tenth of a mile that I think was a little long.  I went 15:40, which is just 2 seconds off my official 5k pr from 9.5 years ago.  Given that the 2 loop course was probably just a tad long and that on the second lap I was running around all of the fun runners, I’ll take it as a “virtual pr” :).  My splits were 4:51, 4:59, 5:03, :47.

Next up for me is a 4 week base training phase after having done more quality work the past few months.  I might not be able to swim for awhile, so I’ll try to make some gradual increases in my bike (shoulder permitting) and run volume.

Filed under: Race Recap, Training