Archive for the 'Training' Category
Rain forces me Indoors
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Off we go again Déjà Vu on the warm up. I changed the memory capture to 5 seconds to get a good idea of the session. The iPod was set with Cat Stevens to keep the heart rate and legs ticking over for the warm up. I was feeling good, had the Polar on the “cadence – Power – HR” screen so I could build it up slowly in the first 10 mins.
this was about the first time I flicked over to the time elapsed screen, I had been chugging away on the electrolytes so as not to hit the wall too early.
Legs are starting to feel it a bit, not to worry as the HR id looking great, from memory it was around the 144 mark. This was my first mistake, I’ll explain a bit later.
Cat Stevens has done his set on the iPod and has left the stage, Time to roll in Peter Murray to see me to the end of the hour. Legs and Lungs are all starting to ask for and pace to be eased off. It’s at this point that I think to myself why is the HR looking so good but the legs hurt so much, At this stage the HR was around 148, not high or in a zone that should make the legs burn.
I decide to keep things moving forward… so to speak as I’m sitting on a trainer, going nowhere!… I would put in a few efforts of 3 mins at a gear down every min, At this stage I’m spinning away on 53-18, which means a bit of pain it heading my way, just what the session ordered.
Effort one begins… ok it feels good, we can do this. (positive thinking or some form of sports psychology is noe in play to get the mind over the task in hane)
Nother gear down the cluster we go. Nice, looking and feeling good, HR just under 160.
Click got the Chorus Campag. Still feeling this is ok, sure the legs are screaming but they need the work out.. right!
I flick back and attempt to spin an 90 cadence, the body manages to do 85 and the HR is dropping slowly, not a good sign for fitness. I chalk it down to a slighty harder than usual first 30mins. 2 mins of spin before the next effort.
Effort 2 goes well but hurts a bit more, this is expected as one would hope. 3 efforts is all the I have planned at this stage.
Off we go on the final effort and I hit the wall near the end of it, not good enough so I put myself onto a 4th effort.
Effort 4 takes place, at this stage I’m having an outer body experience as the legs have detached from the body as far as the mind is concerned. I got through it and spent the remaining 10 mins spinning away to get the hour done.
Battery in the iPod finally runs dry… just when I needed it most. Now all I have is the Hum of the excellent pedestal fan and the annoying whine of the wind trainer to contend with for the final few minutes as I head for the 1 hour mark.
Rest Day Blurb.
The rest day has gone to plan, wake up, get dressed (kind of required by current society) head into work, hop off the train and walk the 108 steps to the office lift doors. The more I ride the more the walk hurts.
The general days tasks of meeting, dealing with a few minor Project or human based issues, a large amount of the day taken up by research of SCCM 2007 (Microsoft’s new SMS, no different except for a few more bells and whistles).
I felt flat all day and found myself eating lunch about an hour before planned and skipped the afternoon caffeine hit of a Soy Latte. The afternoon was tough to get through, I’ll need to re-address the lack of coffee tomorrow.
The weather is closing in again, after years of El Nino, which in turn has presented great training weather although the heat can get a touch over the top for a few weeks in the year. It looks like La Nino has taken hold of us, not a bad thing due to a small drought we are currently in but the rain is not making morning training easy.
Picture with thanks from www.bom.gov.au
It’s simple… I just don’t train in the wet. Take too long to get the bike clean and looking good, plus with the water restrictions it’s off to the bike shop… or “Temple of Worship” to get the bike “tuned” (aka: cleaned). I believe in supporting the economy, it’s simple… The bike shop provides a service and I pay for these services. Hence the economy is strong as I keep returning to look at the nice new articles of any cyclist’s desire, the next latest frame.
In some sick way it heading to the bike shop prompts me to continue training and justifies the dollars I have just spent. I’m now in a position that when I walk into the garage I’m in the confusing… yet awesome spot where I need to work out which bike to ride. The rules are simple it looks like rain, the Matt goes out! If it looks clear for the day Heath goes out.
The Boys from left to right: Gareth, Heath and Matt.
The only 2 negative is swapping the Polar 720i across and remembering to change the bike setting from B1 to B2 and the saddle bag. Fear not as I have this down to a fine art and with one more visit to the “Temple of Worship” the saddle bag issue will be resolved. The Polar on the other case is a costly item and will remain as a multiple bike tool.
The Body Talks
Eye’s opened, legs stiff and clear skies. This morning the body was telling the mind to get back into bed. The usual getting back in the saddle pains where coming through by now. Neck, shoulders, lower back and most if not all the muscles in the legs were not willing to get on the bike.
Low tide at Shorncliffe
I chose a light option of 2 hours high cadence to work off the lactic build up form yesterdays ride. Rolling hills but nothing too long to hurt too much and the distinct instructions not to case down any cyclist up ahead. It’s good to believe in one’s ability to control the mind, it’s a pity I can’t stick to a plan when training, as soon as I saw a wheel up ahead it turned into a the lead out man bringing back the break away so my sprinter could take the stage win. The ride was great until just after 7am and the wind picked up so the 2 hours turned to a 1:45 hour ride. I’m looking forwards to tomorrows rest day as the body needs that day off.
Sunny Days
Due to intense peer pressure s of yesterdays post… The Hawk or running on his primary code name of “El Princiedente” was front and centre for this morning’s roll. Our planned third training member, well acclaimed Tri-Hard (tri-athlete) code named Scoobie did not from when the SUV pulled up. Due to a 4 hour wind trainer session put together by coach “Prof. Hubert Farnsworth”. I’ll leave you to research the name, be aware there is an in-depth post in the pipeline around “What makes a Coach”.
After role call we hit the road on the now famous Airport/Nudgee beach ride, a flat ride with nowhere to hide from the wind, trust me there is always some form of wind on this ride. Now being midsummer and after the recent rains the humidity factor kicks in and today’s predicted temperature was to hit the 32C (90F) mark.
El Princiedente shadow heading home from Nudgee
El Princiedente and I rolled along at a good pace, caught up to a few other riders and slowly moved on down the road from those we caught. A great morning for a ride and the average speed was up. From our initial “Yes we’ll have a nice easy tempo ride” turned into a Lets catch the next wheel up the road, this in turn had the HR around the 165 and speeds sitting on the 35kmh (22Mph for the non metric readers). Rest of the day was spent relaxing and letting the legs rest, Arvo was off to a 1st Birthday bash for Big “D” who hit the big 01 in style…. Cake was good!
No commentsWe Ride at Dawn
Alarm sounds… after six hours on the pillow in lala land I slid outta bed an eye balled the skies. Nothing but blue skies… well as much as I could tell as it was still dark out. Jumped into my super sexy CSC kit and checked the phone: No SMS from the “Hawk” (names with held to protect the innocent).
I’m hoping to improve on my camera while riding skills, The pics aren’t too bad considering it’s a phone cam.
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