Push it, push it real good!

It is time for a bike update, before I turn on the Around the Bay excitement. HINT: It's ONE WEEK from now!! Ok, enough with the caps or I'll lose my voice before the race. Biking, or rather trainer rides, have been going really well and I don't hate burying myself in the basement, just yet. Kurtie, Neo and I are still in our threesome honeymoon, how cute. We do it 4 times a week:

Monday: 1h easy spin
Wednesday: 1h-1h30 hard workout
Saturday: Long aerobic ride (currently at 2h30)
Sunday: 30 min ez spin after the long run

I just finished the last workout about half an hour ago, and I'm happy once more to have completed them all as requested. Last week I thought I didn't push hard enough over the weekend, but given how difficult Wednesday's group spin with the coach was, I must have looked for an excuse to do the minimum, if that means something. One could argue that spending 2h on the bike isn't minimum effort, but for sure it made me feel like a lazy bum. 2h at 50% FTP is nothing to be really proud of in my books, unless you count patience as a virtue.

This week though, I decided to draw a clean slate and push myself a little more. For the hard ride, coach said I should do "Mist" on Trainer Road, which contained a series of hard intervals. To give you an idea of the effort level, it feels like you are pushing hard up a hill, then you run out of breath half way, but try not to pass out and finish the interval while maintaining the same power, no fading. Repeat 6 times, all the same. I must have gained some power since I first started working on my trainer because I didn't feel like death and even better, I smashed 9 of them records with this ride.
Look at them pretties!

The last two power peaks are there because I felt like it, I was getting bored, not because they were required by any means. Show off! But I was actually curious to see how high/hard I could go for a few seconds at a time. To put these results in perspective, the highest peak is not even the half of what my hubbs can do, but he's a guy and he likes to show off too.

Anyway, I felt really proud of myself after this ride, like I was ready to conquer the world.

For the Saturday long ride, I chose another Trainer Road workout, this time called "Goodale". What I like about those long aerobic rides from Trainer Road is that they aren't boring. If it was just a flat line I would shoot myself trying to hold a somewhat challenging pace, but with those, you have to keep paying attention because the power level changes every 3-4 minutes. I put on a movie "Beasts of the Southern Wild", but it was totally underwhelming and pretty boring too. I think I'll stick with Nick Cage or Christian Bale from now on. Last week I watched "Drive Angry" and that was much more fitting.

During the 2.5h I ate one homemade energy bar (recipe here, wink wink) and drank a bottle of Gatorade and one of water. I was a bit hungry by the end, but I knew that I only had to do a 15min run off the bike, then have lunch, so there was no need for more. 

Two more records down with this one as well. I think I am getting decent at biking on the spot. Not sure I even want to get back on the road for now, where all the crazy drivers and potholes are. Given how Mother Nature is teasing us with another snow storm next week, we may have at least another month or two to feel warm enough to go "out there" where the "wild things are". Oops, another boring movie reference. I better end this post before I start talking about "Life of Pi" too.

Otherwise, I promise not to talk about my bike for at least another week, unless something super crazy happens, like a shredded tyre or a broken shoe. After Mother Nature, I am tempting the Devil ... heh heh. Too many movies in my head. Time for bed.

Gratuitous Salt 'n' Pepa reference link here. Get your mind out of the gutter!