Yup, that's me slogging it out on the trainer. I still had an hour and 15 minutes to go at this point and, despite appearances, I did make it! The trainer is a cruel beast, and it takes some extreme mental toughness to log over two hours on it. There is a side benefit to it though, as time on the trainer is probably in some respects a tougher workout. Generally, you are pedaling the whole time you are on it. There are no downhills, just uphills. So when you are done, you sure feel it!
Today's workout was an easy run at lunch that ended up even easier than planned. My intention was to do an easy 5 miler so I could save my legs for a big bike effort in the evening. The weather was windy, but mild with temperatures around +5C. In order to avoid the strong, gusty wind I thought I would try the trails. Turns out it was a bad idea. I should have known when I got to the bottom of the hill to get onto the trail and I had to circumnavigate a huge puddle. Then the climb up the hill was an exercise in trying to find patches that weren't icy. Once on the trail, the first part was more of the same, patches of packed ice and smatterings of gravel. As you can imagine I couldn't get any pace established at all as my efforts were expended on looking for the next piece of good ground. Eventually I found a little section on the ridge that wasn't too bad but in the end I managed a pedestrian effort of 8:20 / mile for 5.15 miles. It was probably for the best as the evening workout was a 2 hour and 30 minute ride at high intensity. I was riding to a Spinerval DVD - Tough Love and believe me it was tough. Lots of big gear work and simulated climbing exercises. My legs were singing after that. Bike computer says I covered over 45 miles and managed to average 18 MPH.
Tomorrow will be a recovery day for sure!
Have a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment