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LESNAK WINS NY STATE TT CHAMPIONSHIPS, WINS UNIONVALE ROAD RACE, WINS PHILLY TT!
7/19/2009
Ben Lesnak, coming off a planned rest after peaking for the NJ State TT Championships, WON the Cat-4 event at the Philly TT. He took the 6th fastest time of the day… Great job, Ben!
After our planned break, it was back to the drawing board... We had planned to peak for the New York State Championships, but Ben also wanted to try his hand at road racing... A month out we had the epic New England Unionvale Road Race, so I revamped the plan to ensure we could perhaps do well at Unionvale while also planning to peak for August's TT Championships...
Ben’s had so much success on the time trial bike, winning virtually every event he’s entered, why not try something else and get a little break? Might be good for the head, too… In training, we did plenty of Vo2 Max work on the climbs, and he responded very well to it… During his Foundation work, Ben did a hellish amount of high-aerobic training, and then when he started his Build weeks, he responded VERY well to threshold work, suprathreshold work… I am certain his aerobic foundation helped him handle a very heavy LT workload, and the same thing happened when we started turning it up this summer… He has such a strong base, he was able to withstand this Vo2 Max workload and improve week by week… It was amazing to see the progression in the files…
But when you put in the work and put in the time, good things will happen when you train correctly! Ben was able to sit in for most of the race, power up the 90-second to 2-minute climbs throughout. He reported even feeling “good” on the final lap. Near the end, he was stuck in the little ring and a move took off on one of the hills… Ben had to haul over the climb, bomb the descent and latch back on – all in the small ring.
Going into the final climb, Ben stayed up front, then just plowed up as if he were training his Vo2 Max climbs. He tried to hold 360-370w all the way up, and when he got to the easier sections, he saw he was alone. He was able to take it easy 200m to the line and enjoy the victory!!! Way to put it together, Ben!!! In the same race, David Carr of Team Setanta was fighting hard in the peloton, grinding up the final climb with several others… He didn’t have much for the final sprint but still gritted his teeth to the end, good enough for 6th… Great job, gentlemen…
Then, we continued through the training blocks, trying to hold things together for August's State TT Championships. He reported that the race went miserably, but he did enough to win the Cat-4s by over a minute… He didn’t have a great day effort-wise. There was a tailwind going out, endless rollers and a headwind coming back. On a bad day, a return leg like this can really shatter some riders.
But Ben fought on, focusing on staying aero throughout. The win, although a flattish performance, comes at the end of a LONG year. Ben was winning time trials in April, winning time trials in May, winning time trials in June, won a TT and Unionvale in July, and has finished by winning the NY State Championship! If anyone deserves a rest, it's this guy!
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