Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Riding in the rain

Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?' - Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner
I rode the rollers in the garage for 15 minutes and then hit the trace. It had been raining and there was a light mist in the air. I got soaked almost immediately.

The workout called for a 10 minute warm up followed by ten minutes of hard (at LT) followed by 2 minutes easy recovery - time 5. I did not do so well with this workout. I am not sure of my cycling LT level. I had to do several short LT sessions of 2 or 3 minutes with the last one being 10 minutes. These were fast no doubt but not sustainable. Maybe it was the rain or maybe it was the heavy legs from all of the hill work this weekend. I only rode outside for 30 minutes. I would like to try this workout again in the near future. I know that I can do better.

At lunch I did 30 minutes of easy spinning followed by chest strength training. I had intended to add an extra swim session at the end of the day but I thought better of it - it was not scheduled and I was very tired and still had a ballroom dancing class later in the evening.

I have an hour of easy spinning in the morning and I am going to try to do most of this on the rollers - it is mentally as well as physically demanding but I believe it will enhance my bike handling skills.

At lunch I have the following:
Run TT - KEY WORKOUT - Assess Fitness - 55 minutes
After 10 minute warm up, you are going to run for 30 minutes as hard as you can for the entire 30 minutes. After starting the run, hit your 'Lap' button so you record the average HR over the last 20 minutes. This can be run on a track or on a measured course. 15 min CD

In January I ran (I added 5 minutes to the cool down for an even 1 hour) 7.7 miles in an hour with 4.5 of those miles being during the time trial. I took my heart rate average for each 'set' - for the second part of the time trial I averaged 174 beats per minute. You can read about that LT TT here. 4.5 miles in 30 minutes is a 6:40 minute / mile pace. 4.6 miles will be a 6:31 minute / mile pace. This will be tough.

I have another swimming class after work tomorrow.

2 comments:

Missy said...

Damn, this is looking like Ironman training or some shiz like that;) Way to stick it out - even when I was in the thick of things, I wouldn't go out in the rain on a bike. Be careful of all the jacka$$e$ out there!

TRI-james said...

I'm extremely lucky (well, you make your own luck) but I live on a rails-to-trials. 41 miles with very few intersections.