Day 44 – 4×6 Intervals at RPE9

All my interval sessions up to this point had been 4×8 (four intervals at 8 minute duration) so I was looking forward to something new and to see just how hard I could push for 6 minutes. It was hot when I started the ride with a stiff wind out of the Northeast which made the second and fourth intervals particularly difficult.

After my warm up I waited until I had a slight downhill section to start the first interval. I shifted up a couple of gears and quickly got up to 21 mph. My speed varied between 18.5 to 21 mph during the six minutes and it actually felt pretty good. I wasn’t all out but probably couldn’t have given it much more. After the interval I had to slow it way down to recover. This was repeated for the other three intervals but the two into the wind were very tough and my speed did suffer some in areas where I had a direct head wind. The last interval was particularly hard because it was the last of the day and was into the wind. I think I gutted it out pretty good though and gave it a good effort.

Even though these intervals were 2 minutes less than my normal intervals they were very hard due to the effort expended. I wasn’t all out but almost. Here are the days numbers:

Time (h:m): 1:13
Distance: 18.62 miles
Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

Day 45 – 1 Hour Endurance Pace Recovery

I was really feeling the hard interval workout from the day before. My legs were heavy, I was tired, and not keen on riding but knew I needed the recovery ride to work out the kinks in my legs. Even though it was only an hour in length it felt much longer and tougher. The wind was absolutely brutal today blowing at a stiff 20 mph out of the South. Instead of resetting my computer at the end of my warm up I just rode for an hour. My average speed really suffered because of that but I still got in a decent ride.

It was Wednesday which saw, again, lots of cyclists down at White Rock Lake. I think I’m going to have to start calling it ‘Bling Day’ because this is the day you see all the serious riders show up with full team kits, carbon wheels, TT bikes, Colnagos, Pinarellos, etc. I wonder what the total cost of hardware rolling around the lake on a day like this is?

Here’s the day’s numbers:

Time (h:m): 0:57
Distance: 13.6 miles
Avg Speed: 14.32 mph

Day 46 – 4×8 Intervals

Another interval day but back to the 8 minute variety with a little less exertion. It was a hot day but, amazingly, no wind. Wooohooo! Don’t get those very often. White Rock Lake was almost like glass. I did my warm up and rolled straight into my first interval.

I think doing the 1 hour recovery ride yesterday really helped because my body actually felt quite good and I had no heaviness in my legs at all. I had actually noticed that when I got out of bed in the morning. I found myself rolling along at 19 mph for the first interval with no problem and maintained that for most of the interval. The same was repeated for the other intervals with me able to sprint over the small hills in intervals two and four at over 17 mph and quickly accelerating back up to 18.5 to 19 mph. On the fourth interval I pushed it pretty hard for the last 3 minutes or so and it felt great. Once done with the last interval I decided to go ahead and start my cool down and roll back to my car due to it starting to get a little dark. I need to remember to bring my lights next time.

Here are the numbers for today’s ride:

Time (h:m): 1:00
Distance: 16.2 miles
Avg Speed: 16.2 mph

I have a rest day today followed by a four hour endurance ride on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will be nice.

Day 33 – Rest Day

Not much to be said about that. I considered riding anyway because I had missed a day earlier in the week due to rain but decided against it so I didn’t compromise my Saturday morning ride.

Day 34 – 3 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

I woke up a little before 7 AM and headed on down to White Rock Lake to get this ride in. The morning was just beautiful and the temp was still in the lower 80s when I started. There were a lot of folks out this morning doing their riding, running, rollerblading and walking. There even looked to be some kind of running race going on but I missed most of it because it looked like it had started early.

This ride was fairly simple – ride at endurance pace (15 mph) for 3 hours. I’d done this same length of ride just a couple of weeks earlier so I knew I could do it. After a 15 minute warm up I settled into a good rhythm and went to it. Everything went really good but after about an hour the wind started to pick up from the South and that made my Southbound leg around the lake a little difficult on some of the exposed points. I was really happy with the way I attacked the three or four hills that I see in each loop. I did notice that after several laps I couldn’t maintain the same speed I did initially but I can tell I’m getting better at riding them. I brought a cliff bar with me this time and had it at the 1.5 hour point. Immediately after that I rode pretty good (could have been psychological) but the 2 hour to 2.5 hour time frame was pretty hard.

After I was done I felt really good about the ride and am happy with the numbers. While I didn’t ride 50 miles during my timed endurance portion, if I was to add on my warm up I would be over the half-century mark. Here are the numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 3:10
Total Distance: 48.4 miles
Avg Speed: 15.28 mph

Day 35 – 1.5 Hour Endurance Pace Ride

This is the same ride as Day 34 but for only half the time. Instead of waiting until the evening to ride I decided to ride early and am glad I did because it got HOT later in the day. One bad thing about the ride though was that the wind was brutal. Straight out of the South but blowing hard. It made it quite difficult on portions of the loop but I just grinded it out. Saw lots of riders again this morning. Here are the numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 23 miles
Avg Speed: 15.3 mph

Day 36 – Rest Day (Week 5 Re-Cap)

Today is Monday and the standard rest day. The Century Training Plan I’m following also has tomorrow as a rest day so I should be well-rested for Wednesday’s ride. I know I need the rest but I don’t feel like I need two days off.

The mileage numbers and measurements for this week are below. I’m about 23 miles short of what I should have been for the weekly mileage due to a rain day but I’m still happy with the numbers. My measurements seem to be fluctuating a bit and frustrate me. I really thought I’d start seeing change changes in my girth by this point but I haven’t seen anything significant. It seems like I’m holding within a half inch on all measurements with some up and some down. The next several weeks should tell me a lot though because my Saturday rides will see me really raising the bar on the mileage with this Saturday calling for a 4 hour ride. I’d like to find someplace other than White Rock Lake to do it so if any of you readers are in Dallas and can suggest a safe, low traffic route I’d like to hear about it.

Here are this weeks mileage numbers:

Total Time: (h:m): 5:59
Total Distance: 91.3
Avg Speed: 15.2 mph
Total Training Mileage (since 4-Jul-09): 509.87

Measurements changes since last week:

Neck: +.5 in
Chest: -.5 in
Left Bicep: -.25 in
Right Bicep: +.25 in
Waist: +.5 in
Left Thigh: -.5 in
Right Thigh: -1 in
Left Calf: -1 in
Right Calf: 0

New Gloves

After finishing my ride on Sunday morning (Day 35) my gloves finally gave up the ghost with one of the seams giving way. The seam had actually given away a while ago but it finally came all the way loose today. I can’t argue with how they’ve performed because they were a cheap pair of Nashbar gloves that have probably seen well over 1000 miles of riding. They needed replacement a long time ago but I try to make stuff last as long as possible (maybe I’m just cheap). I ended up going to the local Performance Store and they had several gloves on sale. I opted for the Performance Century Gel Glove which cost me $12.99. I know they aren’t a name-brand glove but compared to some of the name-brands that were on sale the Century Gel seemed to fit better and had better padding. We’ll see how they go and I’ll probably do a long-term review to let you know how they work out.

Day 17 brings me to Tuesday’s ride of Week 1 of the Bicycling Century Training Plan which is a 1.5 hour overall endurance ride with 4×8 intervals. The weather was near perfect today with a temperature of 90F, partly cloudy and only a slight wind.

I did a 15 minute warm up and decided I would do this entire ride in the small chain ring to see how it felt vice doing it in the big ring. At the end of the warm up I reset my computer and started on the first eight minute interval.

This first interval was setup so it was on a relatively flat section of the White Rock Lake loop. I was moving along really good at a speed of 18-20 mph with no problems. After eight minutes I backed off the speed and took it easy for eight minutes to recover. The second interval contained some hills and was into a slight headwind that made it a little more difficult but was still able to maintain 17+ mph. The remaining two intervals were done in almost the same spots as the first two which was nice for consistency.

After finishing the second interval I still had almost half an hour to ride at endurance pace so I started another loop of the lake and turned around after 15 minutes and then continued onto my car for a cool down.

Overall I felt pretty good during the entire ride and was able to push it pretty hard during the intervals. I think riding in the smaller chain ring was easier on me and I may need to make that standard right now. There were quite a few riders out today with lots, lots and lots of people riding their time trial and aero setups. There must have been some kind of sale on time trial bikes, aero wheels and profile bars I wasn’t aware of.

Here are the numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Distance: 24.17 miles
Avg Speed: 16 mph (interval speed was 17-20 mph with recovery at 13-15 mph)

I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get a ride in this morning. Tropical Storm Hannah prevented me from riding yesterday as it went by Florida heading for the Carolinas. The weather report called for a good day so I went to bed early expecting to ride. The alarm went off at 7:00 and I took a quick look outside. The sky was clear and there was no wind. Awesome. I was out the door by 7:20.

My fitness plan had me riding my bicycle for 30 miles today so I set out to ride the same route as last week. Unlike last Saturday, I made sure to let my wife know where I was riding and when I expected to be back. The route is below.

Overall the ride was very uneventful which was kind of nice. The sun had yet to crawl above the trees so most of the first half of the ride was in some cool shadows. It was awesome. As I neared the 10-mile point while crossing in front of the St Johns Towncenter (a big shopping area), I hear somebody yell my name. I look across the road and it’s Kevin from Ride 28. I yelled back and pulled over to see if he wanted to talk. I looked back and he kept going. Oh well. From there I did the loop around around UNF. Jaxgtr, I saw the turn you were talking about that can add some mileage on the campus. It’s the light at the campus police station. I’ll have to try that out sometime.

After finishing that loop I headed back through the Town Center and took a turn West that would take me down to my rest stop at Southpoint Community Church. While riding a long stretch on the way to the Church, I saw Kevin again heading in the opposite direction. I yelled and waived but he must not have heard me. It looked like he was concentrating on his ride and listening to his ipod. I should have called him yesterday and asked if he wanted to ride since it looks like he was riding the same route as me. Kevin, sorry about not calling. I’ll give you a call this week to see if we can meet up next Saturday.

I stopped at the Church for a quick break and took the opportunity to adjust my pedals (two of the adjustment screws had worked loose) and eat a little snack. I realized this morning that I didn’t have anymore Jelly Belly® Sport Beans or gels so I threw a little cheese and cracker snack in my bag on the way out the door. It was actually pretty tasty. I also took the opportunity to refill my water bottles. There’s a water hose on the backside of the Church but I discovered last week that you need a wrench to operate it. Luckily, I remembered to throw a miniature crescent wrench into my seat bag before leaving the house.

After getting my rest I set out again and road the ten miles back home. There were a couple of times during the ride that I felt good and decided to pick up the speed for a short interval. One was right before my rest break on a nice long flat stretch where I was able to get my speed up to 20.5 mph. The other was about halfway home on another flat piece of road where I was able to get my speed up to 20.7 mph. It felt good. Another thing I did today was ride the entire route in my big chain ring. I rarely ride using it but have decided to try and use it more often. No pain no gain.

That’s about it. It was a really great ride that left me feeling good. I saw a lot of folks this morning either running, walking, or riding. It’s always nice to see others while I’m out riding. All told, I rode 30.7 miles in 2 hours 8 minutes.

Well, today starts week two of my fitness plan that will take me until the end of the year. You can read about the plan here. I’m still in the base fitness phase and will be for another five weeks when I accumulate 500 miles of easy cycling. I should reach that 500 mile milestone the week of 6-Oct.

Last week I got in 57.8 miles which is about 12 less than I had planned. I was short because I needed to take a break after riding for two straight days and didn’t want to ride for four straight days. It was a good decision so I’m not too upset about it.

I was up at 5:00 AM again this morning and was riding by about 5:15. It had apparently rained during the night, and probably not long before I came outside, so the roads were wet with an occasional puddle. Overall they weren’t bad. It was dark outside though. We’re in new moon so there was no help from Artemis.

I wondered how I would feel after riding 31 miles on Saturday and I was surprised that I actually felt pretty good. I intentionally took Monday off (due to it being a holiday and to take two days of rest after Saturday) and it looks like it paid off. I actually felt that I had to hold myself back from pushing too hard but I didn’t do too good a job of it.

Whenever I ride I always have problems with my hands becoming numb and/or tingly. I read an article in Bicycling Magazine this weekend that talked about bike how riding can cause prolonged pressure on the ulnar nerve and can cause the “pins and needles” feeling that I’m experiencing. The article said to try and change your hand position often (which I do) and to try and build up some strength in the wrists. A couple of exercises were provided that I’m going to have to try out.

I saw several runners this morning..even a couple that were obviously out before I was just based on where they were. More power to them. In the coming weeks, I may have to start earlier too. My wife is going in for surgery next week and I’ll be playing Mr. Mom for a while. That means I’ll take over getting the kids ready for school in the mornings and stuff like that. That means I need to be back home from my morning ride no later than around 5:50 so that I can get their breakfast cooked. It’ll be a challenge but I’m not worried.

Anyway, that’s about it for today. I road my 13 miles in 55 minutes today.