So last Sunday the plan was to take on a 40-50m ride, and I was stoked. That was until my riding partner for the day played the hungover card and bailed on me. Lame. That's right running buddy, I called you LAME! Really now, you play you pay. Before I digress into my real thoughts on that matter I will continue. So yeah, I putzed around the apartment keeping an eye on the weather (which sort of looked like rain, but I wasn't super convinced it was going to happen) and before you know it it was going on 2pm. Woah! Where'd the day go?!? It was time to bear up and go.
Now let me take a second here to fully admit that I am geographically, topographically, directionally, map following-ly cue sheet reading-ly, CHALLENGED! I've lived in this state all of my life, and in this city for the better part of almost 10yrs now. You would think that I would be able to get myself around by now. You would think. In a car I can usually make heads or tails of the situation, thanks in large part to the GPS functionality of my phone. But on a bike, no way. I have even been known to get myself turned around and lost with a Garmin 705. I am pathetic. But I know that if I head out more than say 15m in any direction from my place unsupervised, I will end up lost. That's just the cold hard facts of it.
So 2pm'ish, geared up and ready to go. Its sort of of gray out, a little misty, cool but totally rideable. So I set up with 3 different distances in mind, keeping the weather as my deciding factor. Before the rain hit/without getting lost:
Plan A) Seminole and Whalen (~25m)
Plan B) Seminole and Lacy (~22m)
Plan C) Seminole and PD (~20)
As I was heading through the Arboretum it went from misty to drizzly. Still rideable. As I made my way down Seminole it went from drizzly to just out and out raining. Ick. Double ick. It was now like 50deg and raining. It's amazing how quickly I went from chilly to just out and out cold. Plan C was all the farther I made it. Defeated, cold, wet and miserable I turned around and headed home.
By the time I got I home I think hypothermia may have set in....but I was really proud of myself for getting out there and riding by myself on such a miserable day. Don't judge; it's the small things that are going to get me through.
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To recap, last week I met with Angie Sturtevant of Specialists in Sports Performance for a myriad of VO2 and power related tests. Let me just say, Angie ROCKS!! Not only were the results of the tests super helpful, but Angie herself is just such a positive and supportive person! She helped calm my "I can't do it" fears and left me feeling soooo much better. I can't say enough good things about my experience with here and HIGHLY recommend her if you're in the area and are looking for some training related guidance. But I'm going to get back to what I did with all the magical info she gave me as not to sound like too much of a groupie...
Tuesday night I decided to out my new VO2 and Power test results to work.
One of the things I committed to do when talking with Angie was 1 indoor trainer interval workout a week through my training season. Yuck. But I said I would, and I believed her that it would help, so I set up a workout based on the zones we had determined and went for it. I kept in mind that I am good for like, oh, 50mins on a trainer and decided to push myself for the duration. After a little warm up I went into a 15min interval at my threshold pace, followed by a few intervals of 3min on/2min off between my max power zone and recovery, another 10mins at my threshold, and a cool down. It felt good. I felt like I was riding with a purpose. 55mins well spent. Again, I am going to embrace this small victory...
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Every Thursday is ride day around the office. The guys, being the manly men that they are, have their "Gun Show Ride." Now this is the ride where the guys head out and flex their muscles. You can just smell the testosterone. While we have some pretty bad ass lady riders around here that could hang with this crowd (I, however, am so not one of them), we usually opt not to.
Our response to this ride is the "Fun Show Ride." Some day, same ride, different time and crowd. Every Thursday evening a group of ladies head out on this loop with a strict no drop pace and just ride to ride. Once again, I bailed on them last minute. They are so going to vote me off the ride!
I did however head to the other side of town to take on a slightly longer ride. We took ont he same route that I was skooled on last fall. Lots of wind, a few little hills, and limited day light made for a pretty solid ride. I would even say that I felt better about my riding efforts this time than the last time we rode it. The running buddy was quick to qualify his efforts as "not really pushing it" as he was "feeling kind of tired." Right well, his leisurely pace kept me working. So whatever.
I can honestly say that it wasn't a balls to the wall all out ride. Could I have pushed harder? Yes. Were my legs still a little hurty from my 9.5m run home the day before? Sure were. Am I content with my ride efforts for the day? Heck yeah!
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Next stop, long ride on Sunday! I will learn to love the bike.
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