Training progress
Sunday, September 10th, 2006 11:22 pm
Today I realized how far I have come since the beginning of summer.
I wanted to take a longer ride this weekend, but things didn’t work out. I had about an hour this afternoon so I decided to just sprint my old 10 mile loop. This loop is pretty hilly and when I started training four months ago, I could average maybe 14 or 14.5 mph on this loop. I since graduated to longer and longer distances (although also flatter), and after awhile I quit doing the 10 mile loop altogether. So it’s probably been a couple months.
Today it was raining and 55 degrees, but the ride was surprisingly comfortable. I’ve been pretty fortunate this summer and haven’t gotten caught in the rain, so I was also intrigued by the idea of some poor-weather riding. I finished the ride in less than 40 minutes and averaged 16.4 mph (you road-bike riders keep in mind this is on a mountain bike with fat tires). The hills seemed a lot smaller than I remembered them! In the past, I would climb the hills slowly and at the top I was out of breath and coasted down the back side. Today, my legs pumped me up those hills like they weren’t even there, and on the backside I cranked up the gear and shot down to the next uphill.By the end I was quite out of breath and my heart was racing, but my legs felt perfectly fine (though slightly shaky as I got off the bike). I realized that this was probably the first ride this summer that my heart got a better work-out than my legs. It was a neat feeling. I’m going to have to do more sprints like that in the future.
This was really my first ride since the century last weekend. That ride took a long time to recover from. But I think I have just experienced the benefits of those longer trips. I must have put on a lot of muscle mass.
Also keep in mind I was a flabby couch potato at the beginning of the summer. I guess I still am, but I’m starting to replace some of that flab with muscle. And it feels real good. I really hope I can keep up with some kind of exercise routine through the winter so that I don’t have to start from square one with my riding next summer again.
Today I realized how far I have come since the beginning of summer.
I wanted to take a longer ride this weekend, but things didn’t work out. I had about an hour this afternoon so I decided to just sprint my old 10 mile loop. This loop is pretty hilly and when I started training four months ago, I could average maybe 14 or 14.5 mph on this loop. I since graduated to longer and longer distances (although also flatter), and after awhile I quit doing the 10 mile loop altogether. So it’s probably been a couple months.
Today it was raining and 55 degrees, but the ride was surprisingly comfortable. I’ve been pretty fortunate this summer and haven’t gotten caught in the rain, so I was also intrigued by the idea of some poor-weather riding. I finished the ride in less than 40 minutes and averaged 16.4 mph (you road-bike riders keep in mind this is on a mountain bike with fat tires). The hills seemed a lot smaller than I remembered them! In the past, I would climb the hills slowly and at the top I was out of breath and coasted down the back side. Today, my legs pumped me up those hills like they weren’t even there, and on the backside I cranked up the gear and shot down to the next uphill.By the end I was quite out of breath and my heart was racing, but my legs felt perfectly fine (though slightly shaky as I got off the bike). I realized that this was probably the first ride this summer that my heart got a better work-out than my legs. It was a neat feeling. I’m going to have to do more sprints like that in the future.
This was really my first ride since the century last weekend. That ride took a long time to recover from. But I think I have just experienced the benefits of those longer trips. I must have put on a lot of muscle mass.
Also keep in mind I was a flabby couch potato at the beginning of the summer. I guess I still am, but I’m starting to replace some of that flab with muscle. And it feels real good. I really hope I can keep up with some kind of exercise routine through the winter so that I don’t have to start from square one with my riding next summer again.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
