Balser!!!

I can’t tell you how many times I thought of you as I was rocking the bike course at IM CDA last Sunday!  When I got on the bike the first 5 miles I instantly noticed how much better I could breathe.  Wow!  And I looked down and saw how fast I was riding and then realized how easy it felt.  I knew it was going to be a good day!  The hills came and went and I just kept waiting for them to start taking a toll on my legs…it just never happened.  My legs were finally doing what they were supposed to be doing on the bike and all I had to worry about was staying on course and keeping my nutrition in check!  It was incredible.  I can’t thank you enough!  When I dismounted my bike heading into T2 I could see 4 others in front of me wobbling slowly off their bikes, I just slid off, felt great instantly and zipped right past them and into one of my fastest T2s to date.  It was such a treat after a long hard spring of training indoors!

In the end I rode 10 minutes faster than IM Wisconsin – 5:36. To prove it wasn’t’ just an easier course…I checked how I fared against others.  At Wisconsin I had the 13^th best Amateur bike, at CDA it was the 7^th best Amateur bike!   Overall I PR’d by 7 minutes at 10:57!  All things considered, I’m pretty happy with the end result.

The best part of all of this is that based on how my legs felt, I think I could have actually rode the course harder.  I even lost a bit of time on the bike as I had to stop on 3 hills to fix the chain (ugh). I also know I’m only going to keep getting stronger and faster with this new position.

The only minor issue was that I had was some shoulder tightness during the 2^nd loop, but I thought maybe that was just from being tense and/or not riding outside before the race.  Never felt any of that stuff on my long trainer rides.

Hope you’re doing well and you get a chance to enjoy the nice weekend!

Cheers!

April