Ninety for Forty

This morning I felt surprisingly fresh after yesterday's class.  I decided to do a full 90-minute class today, but to take it easy.  I told Kate I was feeling fairly energetic and asked just how easy I should take it.  She said this is a recovery week, so yesterday's class should not have left me exhausted and suggested taking it down one-third to two-thirds of a zone.  Good enough.  I took it fairly easy during the warm-up.  When the 23-minute reverse pyramid began, I stayed two-thirds of a zone back.  But today's version -- even at two-thirds of a zone behind -- was almost harder than yesterday's workout done full bore.  The difference was yesterday Alex had us going at eight to ten miles an hour below our base speed.  For me this is 16-18 mph, which is still plenty of leg speed and not so muscle-tension, making it hard, but more aerobic than it may have been at lower speed and cadence.  Today, Danielle had us going at the slowest cadence we could manage without losing form, so I rode at 11-12 mph (~45 rpm) and that felt like riding through sand dunes or running in chest-high water -- lots of resistance.

Anyway, I did first four intervals faithfully two-thirds of a zone behind prescribed intensity, but went full bore at the fifth.  It was only one minute long and, as yesterday, I still could do anything for one minute, including this interval.  Between intervals I was resting "harder" than yesterday, riding at lower speeds and resistance levels, which left me fresher for the ensuing intervals.  The first interval of the second set I also did two-thirds of a zone off.  The second was only five watts off, then decided the hell with it, and went for the remaining three with full gusto.  It was hard, but not overly so -- a satisfying workout.

I'll rest for real tomorrow.  Promise.

P.S. That's 40 now.

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If Six(ty) Was Nine(ty)

Six was nine and sixty was ninety today.  An easy hour-long class became a hard 90-minute class.  I went to VeloSF with thoughts of an easy spin today and a hard workout tomorrow.  But I didn't exactly overwork myself in the last three days, so I made an impromptu decision to go for it.  The class's structure appealed to me -- lots of muscle tension work.  Muscle tension is more about strength than about panting.  It's about fighting through burning pain in my legs at low cadences, rather than spinning like crazy at high cadences, feeling as if my heart is about to jump out of my throat.

Today, we did five minutes in mid zone 3, four in high 3, three in low 4, two in mid 4 and one in high 4.  We stood roughly 45% of the time.  We rested for two minutes in low zone 2 between the intervals.  Legs burned, but not too badly.  At the end of this five-interval set, which ended the class, Alex, our instructor said, "and this piece of paper says another 23 minutes."  I asked, "is that for the 90-minute class?"  Alex nodded.  I said, "I'll do it with you if you want to keep going."  He was willing, as was another student, so the three of us did another set.  We rested in zone one because this set started in high zone 3 and finished in zone 5.  For the one minute in zone 5, I went at it with resistance set at 305 watts (my zone 5 starts at 260), reasoning that we can do anything for one minute and I can do 305 watts sitting and standing for that long.  I did.  It was hard.  If I had to, I could have done another minute at that power level.  I am glad I didn't have to.

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I Can't Ride 55 (36-38)

We made a quick getaway to Santa Barbara for an FVC booster shot.  I worked on wearing out the small chainring on my Spectrum 1.  In the 2:40 I rode over three days, I spent less than 20 minutes in the big ring -- intentionally.  Ninety-eight percent of my riding was on flat roads, perfectly suited for big ring mashing, but I wanted to concentrate on spinning, so I was in 30x14 a lot, most of the time at cadences over 96 rpm.

As for the the title of the post, my rides were 50, 50, and 60 minutes.  That's riding.  Driving home from Santa Barbara was atrocious -- it took an hour to get through Salinas, averaging 6mph -- thank you Monterey traffic and the idiot who put up a huge hand-made billboard in north Prunedale complaining about a government land grab that obviously slowed down traffic.  We went from 15mph to 60 immediately after passing his damn sign.  It would have been nice to drive 55, but NOOOO!  The drive to Santa Barbara took under 5 hours and included a lunch stop.  The drive back took 6:30!

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Prime Recovery

Rode easily at the club for 53 minutes because it's a prime number and for no other reason.  Did some one-legged pedaling.  One-legged felt harder than usual I think because I did high cadence riding yesterday, which taxed my hip flexors quite a bit.

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45 in 4

Another hard class at VeloSF.  After a warm-up that included forays into Zone 5, we did 45 minutes in zone 4.  Not consecutive 45 minutes, mercifully, but in three sets of sets.  The first was three 5-minute intervals with 3 minutes recovery between intervals; second was five 3-minute intervals with one minute; third was 15 one-minute intervals with one minute recovery in between.  The second set was the hardest physically, the third was the hardest mentally.  Because we got three minutes off between intervals during the first set, it didn't feel so bad.  With two or three one-minute intervals to go, I felt so overheated that I took off my sleeveless base layer and rode topless.  The difference in core temperature was palpable: my RPE dropped by about 0.75, and I rode the last interval at 10% greater power level than the earlier intervals.  That (lower core temperature) and knowing that it was the last interval...

Marissa, the instructor, responded to my post-class wardrobe propriety question with an understanding shrug and said she doesn't mind my going topless.  Bottomless may create problems, she cautioned, smiling.  I promised to keep my pants on. 

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A Home Ride

Got off the plane early enough for a 33-minute trainer ride at home.  Fitting length for my 33d ride.  This trainer ride's only measurement apparatus was my watch.  No speed, no cadence, no power, no distance, no heart rate.  With National Swimming Championships on TV, the 33 minutes flew by quickly.  I love watching my childhood sports.  I haven't swum competitively since I was 10, but I feel a connection to the sport when I watch it.  Same with track meets, tennis, soccer.  Volleyball, not so much because even women play a completely different game than I did as a kid.  My volleyball was pretty much below the net and errors far outnumbered kills.  But swimming, running, jumping and kicking the ball -- I can relate.  Even tennis.  I've been blown off the court by some of the best regional junior players.  With a lot more training and talent, on a very good day, I might have belonged on the court with them :-)

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Hundred Times Legally Drunk... +1

One month and one day down, less than eleven to go.  One month is a twelfth of the goal or 8.5%, one hundred times the legal limit.  Not that funny, just enjoying numbers.

Yesterday (Sunday) I puttered around the house most of the day.  At Jessica's urging, I finally got out at 5:04 p.m. -- the latest I've started a ride on this streak.  Only had time for 40 minutes, so I climbed Tunnel in the big ring.  A tailwind helped.  It was hard at times, but always manageable.  Felt encouraged that I could do it reasonably comfortably.  Was out of time, so turned around and descended Broadway Terrace.  Broadway Terrace feels like a short-cut, but is very windy (windy, not windy -- OK winding) and requires so much braking that it seems to take a long time to descend.

Traveling for work tomorrow, so decided to go hard in class today because I won't be able to do a hard class tomorrow.  In class, did everything prescribed and felt good doing it.  Feeling optimistic about recovering my form.  Hope my flight home tomorrow leaves on time, so I can squeeze in a home trainer session late in the evening.  Riding stupid early is also an option, but I have a 6:50 a.m. flight, so it would have to be really stupid early.

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