Century Training Series: Day 16
Ok, now that I’ve gotten the first two weeks under my belt I’m re-starting at week 1 of the 10 week Century Training Plan. Yesterday was a rest day and today called for a one hour endurance pace ride. The pace I’ve set for myself for my century is 15 mph.
I arrived at the tennis center off of Fair Oaks Avenue at about 6:15 and put my bike together. The weather was actually very nice. Not too hot, a few clouds and a little breeze. A great day to ride. After getting everything ready I headed on out to do my 15 minute warm up.
Once the warm up was complete I was cruising along at 15 mph in the big ring and rest my computer so I could get a good, accurate, reading on my one hour endurance ride. After about 10 minutes I noticed that I was cruising along at 16.5 mph with no problem. I backed off some but noticed again a few minutes later that I was back up over 16 mph. At that point I decided not to fight it and just fell into a comfortable rhythm.
There are four hills around the White Rock Lake loop that I ride that vary from long and steady to short and steep. I attacked each one riding as hard as I could and keeping my pace above 15, sometimes 17 mph. The short steep hill I was unable to maintain the high pace but pushed up it as hard as I could. I would continue this pace for just about two full laps of White Rock Lake. Once the hour was up I backed way down on the pace and did some easy spinning on the way back to my car. I pulled my computer off the bike and put in my jersey pocket so as to preserve my one hour data. Here are the numbers:
Total Time (h:m): 1:00
Total Distance: 16.83 miles
Avg Speed: 16.7 mph (yeah!)
When I first started riding the loop down at White Rock Lake several months ago it would take me anywhere from 40-45 minutes to complete a loop. Today I completed my first loop in 33 minutes. Amazing.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Days 12, 13 and 14
Day 12
This is the traditional easy cycling day that has 30 minutes of easy spinning scheduled. Due to having to drive out of town I had to skip it.
Day 13
This was Saturday and I had a 3 hour endurance ride scheduled. Before heading out of town on Friday I mapped out a new route on MapMyRide to try. I was up at 6:00 AM on Saturday morning and rolling by 6:30. After 15 minutes I reset my computer and set out for 3 hours of riding.
I headed due east on Highway 199 towards Dickson. This is a fairly trafficked two-lane road but has six foot wide shoulders that makes it pretty safe. It’s not too flat either with three very good size hills over the 9 miles from Ardmore to Dickson. I lived and went to school in Dickson and had only been back through there a few times in the past 20 years. Before turning off Highway 199 I rolled by my brother’s house and past the old house we used to live in before moving when I was 10. Once in Dickson I turned North on Highway 177.
Washita River
Eventually I reached SH53 and turned left (West). This was the same type of road as 177 but with even less traffic and more scenic. I’m not sure I’d ever been on that road before. It was truly a beautiful piece of highway to ride on. I went by the old airport, turned to the North and then back to the West so I could continue on to Highway 77 over at Springer. Once past the airport though I ran into some more hills that really taxed me but I suffered on.
The trip down 77 was the worst part of the ride because the shoulder was in absolute ruins. Luckily this was a four-lane highway and I was able to ride in the right-hand lane heading South. Again, traffic was light so that wasn’t a problem but I hit a couple more hills that put the burn into my legs.
Once back into Ardmore I headed across town and realized that I was on track to finish in only 2:15 (h:mm) so I needed to kill 45 minutes. I wound up doing some loops on the South side of town to complete the ride and eventually ended up riding 2 hours and 57 minutes.
Overall I felt great this entire ride except for the last 20 minutes or so. After I had been on the bike an hour or so I realized that I hadn’t brought anything with me to eat and was worried that might be a problem. Turns out it wasn’t for the majority of the ride but I think that may have been what caused the last 20 minutes or so to hurt some. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Here are the numbers:
Time: 2:57:18 (plus an additional 15 minutes warm up)
Distance: 45.69 miles (plus an additional 3.31 during warm up) (49 total!)
Avg Speed: 15.4 mph
Day 14
I was back in Dallas this evening and was scheduled for a 1.5 hour endurance ride. I was worried I wouldn’t get the ride in because of thunderstorms but I did. I didn’t feel too great and the wind was terrible and coming from just the right direction to make it feel like I had a head wind no matter which was I was headed. White Rock Lake sits in kind of a natural bowl and I think the wind swirls really bad on spots which contributed to the head wind. Because of the wind, and feeling tired from yesterday, I only road for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Here are the numbers:
Time: 1:15:32 (plus 15 minute warm up)
Distance: 19.17 miles
Avg Speed: 15.2 mph Read More
Century Training Series: Day 11
Yesterday was Day 11 of my Century Training Plan and consisted of the same workout as Day 10 which was 1.5 hours overall endurance with 4×8 intervals stuck in there. I was looking forward to trying the intervals again since Day 10s intervals were interrupted with road side assistance. I was thrilled to find no flat when I opened my trunk. I did patch the tube I took from Fernando after I helped him so I would have a spare. I still need to pick up some more CO2 when I get a chance.
Since I wasn’t starting until 6:30 PM I shortened my warm up to 15 minutes and then rolled right into the first eight minute interval. I started it on what I consider one of the toughest portions of the White Rock Lake loop which probably wasn’t a smart idea and probably should have waited a few minutes until I was passed it. Why this one section is tough on me I’m not sure. It is slightly uphill but I think it may be steeper/longer than it looks. I pushed through it and finished the first interval but a little slower than I wanted.
Eight minutes of spinning at a lower speed followed with another eight minute interval on its heals. I repeated this cycle until I had completed four eight minute (4×8) intervals. For the third and fourth intervals I actually picked my speed up quite a bit because I felt like I could. I didn’t have any problems maintaining 18-19.5 mph on those intervals. It wasn’t easy though. By the fourth interval I was really feeling it in my legs and felt it all over this morning. I’m guessing that means I’ve pushed myself a little further than normal which is a good thing.
Here are the numbers (these are very close estimates since I dropped my computer and dislodged the battery thus wiping out all my data…bummer):
Total Distance: 27 miles
Total Time: 1h:50m (15 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down)
Avg MPH: 14.7 Total (13.7 for 15 minute warm up and 15.7 for 1.5 hour intervals/endurance/cool down)
Overall I’d say that’s a good ride for me.
I won’t be able to ride the 30 minute recovery ride scheduled for today due to traveling out of town but I do have a 3 hour endurance ride scheduled for Saturday and a 1.5 hour ride on Sunday. My next post will probably be on Sunday since I’ll be without Internet access.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Day 10
What a wacky ride today. It all started when I opened my trunk to pull my bike out (I’d really like to get a roof rack some day).
I immediately discovered my front tire flat. This is probably the third front flat in as many weeks so I was getting frustrated. Each time I carefully inspected the tire at the location of the hole to find nothing even though the hole seemed to be forming in the same spot each time. I took a look at the rim and discovered the rim tape worn in that area and now think that the tube may have gotten the hole from a spoke hole edge. I had some electrical tape in my trunk so I ran some around the inside of the rim over the existing tape. We’ll see how that goes. Next time I’m at the bike shop I’ll pick up some new rim tape. Remember the two new tubes I bought the other day? I just used one.
After this delay I finally got started and everything went good for the warm up. It was hot again but didn’t seem too bad. The wind was blowing pretty good though which wasn’t cool. After the warm up I had a 1.5 overall endurance ride scheduled with 4×8 intervals. The plan was to ride 8 minutes at 17 mph followed by 8 minutes at 13 mph (15 mph average) and repeat four times. Everything went good until about halfway through my second interval.
As I come around a corner I see a guy on the side of the road with his bike upside down. I ask if he needs anything and he says a pump. I stop to help but after using a CO2, my pump, and having another cyclist stop and use CO2, we were unable to inflate his tire. The other guy that stopped and I think the tube he put in was bad. Even if it was good it wouldn’t have lasted long because his tire sidewall was basically shredded from age. It looked like he hadn’t ridden the bike in a while. I let him borrow my phone to call is girlfriend and then I moved on and finished my second interval.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Day 9
With Day 9 comes the second week of cycling in the century training plan. Yesterday was a rest day so I was chomping at the bits to get out and ride. I wasn’t looking forward to the heat and wind though.
Yesterday’s ride is the same as Day 2 which is one hour at endurance pace (15 mph for me). Throw in my warm up and I was looking at about 1.5 hours on the bike which isn’t bad. I arrived at my normal parking area and put my bike together. As I was putting on my gear I realized I had forgotten my gloves. After Sunday evenings Day 7 ride I had hand washed them so they would dry over the rest day but forgot them when I left the house today. Normally I would have been upset but I looked at it as an opportunity to get some sun on the back of my hands. Right now I’ve got this tan oval on the back of my hand where the hole is on my gloves. I don’t remember the last time I had ridden without gloves so it took some getting used to. Can’t really say that I enjoyed it though. Gotta remember them today.
I started out with my normal 30 minute warm up and took it kinda slow at first because it was hot out. The high for the day was 102F with the heat index a little higher. What made it worse though was the wind. Wow it was blowing hard at times. The weather channel said it was 10-20 mph and there were a couple times I bet it was gusting over 20 mph. Once the warm up was done I settled into 15 mph and kept that pace pretty good for most of the hour. I dropped a little on a couple of the hills but gained it back on the downhill side.
About a half-hour into the endurance portion I saw a young woman sitting on the curb with her bike laying next to her. I watched two guys ahead of me look her way and ride past without saying a word. I always make it a point to ask folks if they need anything when I see them stopped or it’s obvious they’re having trouble. So, as always, I asked her if everything was OK and she said something about her chain as I went by. I stopped and took a quick look. Her chain had come off probably from shifting while coming up the hill she was stopped on. It took less than a minute to fix and she was on her way. It always feels good to help folks out like that.
After getting back on my bike I completed the remainder of my endurance ride with no issues.
Here are the numbers:
Total Time: 1:36:47 (30 min warm up; 1 hr endurance; 6 min cool down)
Distance: 23.20
Avg MPH: 14.3 (includes warm up and cool down)
I’m writing this on Wednesday so I can tell you that I felt sore this morning from the ride. Not sure why as I didn’t think it was overly strenuous. It could be lack of sleep. I’m notorious for going to sleep at midnight and only getting six hours in. I know that’s not enough and I need to do better.
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