Saturday 4/1/06 What a long day...

I went to bed at 9:30 on Friday and woke up at 11:30 feeling like I had a good night's sleep. Looked at my BlackBerry and thought I may be in for a long night and made sure my alarm was still set for 5am.

5am came and went. I planned on being on the bike by 6am and back in time to plow the back 40. Finally left the house at 9am. Pulled my mask off a couple more times during the night and had another rough night of sleep. But, at least it was Saturday and I didn't have too much work to do.

How much more pumped can you get then when you get in your car, advance the CD changer, and hear Kelly Clarkson (I swear it is my daughter's CD). I feel like the Rock's character, Elliot in Be Cool when I listen this cd and sing along. But, I have to admit, she is my guilty pleasure. It's not like I don't have 5 other disks in the changer to choose from.





Got out to my spot and made up my bottle of Heed and Perptuem. I was excited to get to try them out and get my first feel for them in action. I had a 2:45 ride and 2 hr walk right after. So, I took 1 bottle of water, one bottle of Heed, and 1 bottle of Perpetuem, and one Raspberry Hammer Gel. I had a 32 oz mix of my Isopure Strawberry Protein shake waiting for me to recover and and fuel for the walk.

Nice head wind going out on the ride. That usually means that when you turn to come back West, a huge head wind awaits. This wears on the mind, but when I made the turn, it was not near as bad as it has been the past couple of rides.

We completely skipped Spring and wen straight to Summer. It was 91 by 10am and the slight drizzle and overcast skies were both gone by the time I got a couple minutes into the ride. Turned out to be a nice day. More and more cars on the road as people are flocking to the beach.
I wanted to see where I was over the first month of training and really look back at previous rides and compare them. I concentrated on my cadence and wanted a higher percentage of pedaling as well as higher percentages in the cadence ranges. I also was hoping to see that I bumped the intensity up up just a bit, feeling better after the ride. I did feel better when I was done and actually hit my normal turn around 10 minutes faster today with the heaviest headwind on me going out.

So, I was anxious to get home, crack open my CyclingPeaks, and see the results....
Cadence chart from 3/11/06

Cadence chart from 4/1/06


I was real happy to see the blue was much larger this go around. Still a lot of work to do, much much much improved in less than a month. I'll take it.

Heart rate goals were met as I was able to bump things up just a bit and still felt better when I was done.
HR 3/11/06

HR 4/1/06

Bumped the ride up around 5 beats a minute - and on a longer ride. The numbers worked out to be:
3/11 -
54:45 minutes, 36.8% in zones 140-145
56:43 minutes, 31.8% in zones 145-150.
4/1-
1:22 hours, 49.7 % in zones 145-150
52:15 minutes, 31.7 % in zones 150-155

Can't complain about that. I owe it all to Kelly Clarkson for getting the day started right ;)

The 2 hour walk after the ride was a tough walk. It was nothing but hot and my knees were feeling the extra effort. I was trying to think of how in the world I would be able to run in November after coming off a 112 mile ride. But, we have plenty of time to prepare for that.

Great day over all. I was super excited to get back home and till my garden so I have some fresh veggies soon - NOT!

Fuel worked out great for the workouts and just enjoyed another nice day along the beach. I will be paying for this tomorrow, I know. But, it is a scheduled off day. I am not going to try and make up missed homework form Friday and wreck next week. Starting next week out fresh with the goal of getting everything in!