Top of the Key

Felt somewhat ‘off’ today before starting my long bike. Probably because of the yoga yesterday. Started later than usual, around 10:30am. As the season wears on, I’ll be starting these bikes around 7 or 8 because they’ll take 5-7 hours. Today’s ride was 3 hours and 40 minutes on the trainer. 5 mies on the powercranks, just couldn’t push it. The legs were sluggish. So I switched over to the tri bike and just settled into the workout. Main set was 3×5 min in z4 with 3 min. rest in between. Really focused on hammering this part, with minimal body sway which you get when you power hard on the pedals. I like these sets alot. Craig set me up with these last summer in preparation for Timberman. I was doing 3×20 min. in z4. Really helped me build speed leading up to my 2:30 bike at Timberman. Definitely a highlight for me. So working through the pain on these, on the trainer is key. The crazy thing is after the main workout, I still had 35 miles of z2 to complete. Just sitting there at a steady pace, at a HR of 140 is a total mental training block. And it only gets longer. Let’s see, I watched college basketball, Memphis vs. Georgetown, and then Tennessee vs. Xavier, both highly ranked games. It helps me pass the time. I used to play hoops alot, and even when I started training for triathlons, I would stay play pick up hoops at least once a week. But just too prone to injury, and can’t really afford to be layed up…it’s just not worth it for me.

Finally off the bike, I did my usually quick 1 mile run around the block. Again came in under 8 min. miles, trying to keep my HR around 155/160 which is middle of z2. Came back home and around the corner came this lttle scruffy looking dog. It was heading toward me, and so as it approached, I figured it must have escaped because it had tags. Sure enough, it lived right across the street. It was extremely friendly, so i leashed it up and returned it to the neighbors yard, which it then showed me where it’s been escaping. So i just baracaded that area and left a message for the owner. My good deed for the day.

Onto stabalizer week, perfect timing with the holidays. I got my plans for the next 2 weeks too. Just as i was settling into my workout schedule, I’m starting 4 bikes per week after stabalizer. A sign of things to come. Overall, I’m really happy with the past week, and the past 3 weeks since returning from our vacation. Still building up strong in the run, and that’s the main focus.