Sunday, January 30, 2011

Another Double Day

The weather was pleasant Saturday. Temperatures soaring to a balmy 56F. I was looking forward to, the currently 3 week old habit of, riding around the lake with Eric. Given the temperature, I was expecting trail conditions to be quite different compared to the last two "freezing my testicles off" rides and I was not disappointed. The soft ground made for some slick, mucky and wet sections. We had to really focus and pick our lines as the wheels slid side-to-side through mud puddles on downhills, corners and lake shore.

Our speed was slower than past rides but was enjoyable and the effort noticable. I don't know what it is about mud but the more chunks of mud that fly up and hit my back, into my glasses and spatter my jacket the more fun I have. As another bonus from the weather, Eric felt he could do the longer distance today so we were able to include the tennis courts leg and add a few more K's to the ride. Then, to top it off, the last hill seemed easier than last week. I don't know if I chose a better gear, if I was steadier on the effort, or my fitness has hit the sweet spot for that hill but it was slightly exhilarating going up and thinking, "Wow, this is good today!".

While the ride was good, it did not accomplish the training goals for the day of being in the LT zone for 20 steady minutes. So after lunch I hit the trainer and put in official training as well. Today called for the longest time @ LT yet, 20 minutes sustained 83-90% max HR. It was a more difficult that I expected. I was only able to hold a 53-23 gear for the workout part of the session and it was a good thing I was permitted to keep my cadence with a 10 rpm range since I had difficulty holding a steady rhythm. I was most stable @ ~87 rpm, keeping the HR @~87% max but I popped over 90% a few times and under 83% once or twice while the cadence variance was way way larger than normal. I'm thinking the ride earlier in the day might have had someting to do with that.

On the plus side, the longer lake ride and the longer LT workout meant I was over 30K today and probably staved off further weight gain as I start to put my eating habits back on track.

Kona Ride

Distance: 22.6 km

Speed:  16.6 kmh

Cadence:  81 rpm

AVG HR:  139 bpm

Weight:  207.6 lbs

Orbea training

Distance: 13.75 km

Speed:  21.7 kmh

Cadence:  87 rpm

AVG HR:  159bpm

Weight:  207.6 lbs

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lucky YOU! I am in Beirut and will very shortly start a meet and eat fest that will last for ~6 days....but I do have a squash match with the President of American University of Beirut Tuesday AM.

DNA The Splice of Life said...

Sure I'm lucky, but having a squash match with the pres of AU Beirut is nothing to sneeze at either. Tho' I am concerned for your health following you 6 day eat fest :). Go easy on the hummus and Tabbouleh eh.