Friday, February 18, 2011

Toto?! Where are you Toto?!

Finally got on the road Thursday. The weather has been fantastic all week but this was the first time I was able to get out on the road. Thursday's workout call for a 45 minute endurance ride @ 72-81% max HR so I warmed up 20 minutes until I got to the base of the first real hill and hit start. I popped over 81% a few times but not by much and usually near the top of a hill. Things settled down once I got onto the flats with one exception. The wind. It was breezy when I started but it really picked up while I was out. Flags went horizontal. I was buffeted occassionally but the trees and hills mostly sheltered me until I got to the flats. I came around this one corner and was hit by a wall 'o' wind so strong I almost stopped dead. It roared around me so loudly I could not hear the crazy laugh that burped from my mouth. My spped dropped to almost nothing and I had to shift to the easiest gear just to keep upright. Crazy funny experience. As I rode and changed direction, getting pushed all over the road, I was reminded of my ride on the outer banks last fall. That was easy compared to this. I kept wishing I was in an echelon to see how that worked. Fun times though.

On a performance note. I rode the 40K loop rather than the 30K loop yesterday because I wanted to check out a how elements of the workout would sync up with the different features of the loop. But more importantly, I wanted to finish the workout before I climbed Fraternity Church hill. The last "big" hill before I get home. I really wanted to open it up and see if I could detect any improvements from the training.

WOW! Did I ever! I climbed the thing standing up, in 53-15 and never got over 92%. I felt like I was flying over this thing, all the while wondering why I thought this was a difficult hill. I had a look back at other rides were I felt I did well (personal bests etc.) and did some comparisons. At my peak fitness last summer I rode a 50K loop and and did the hill in 3:15. I did it yesterday in 3 flat! Well, maybe I was more fatigued due to the the extra 10K. So I compared my best time on the 20K loop from late October. That was 4:31. I check it against my personal best time on the 30K loop from August, 3:40. I checked it against the personal best time on the exact same route of 40K, 3:59. Any way I looked at it, this was great time up this hill. Freaking Awesome!

This was a great end to a really tough training week. Looking forward to my first active recovery week, starting Saturday.

Distance: 42.02 km
Speed: 27.21 kmh
Cadence: 87 rpm
AVG HR: 153 bpm
Weight: 202.8 lbs

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