Bike Psych

Today's workout was another of many really great learning experiences. The task was a 50 mile ride + 30 minute run brick...with 30 of the 50 cycling miles at tempo pace. I was not exactly looking forward to this one...had a bit of anxiety (or maybe just aversion, truth be told) for that 30 mile tempo ride. I've finally wrapped my head around tempo runs, but have felt that my cycling is far behind, both physically and mentally. Cheryl talked to me last week about riding at a "slightly uncomfortable" pace and I'm really not used to it---I usually ride too conservatively (ok, perhaps we could say lazily) or do the shorter intervals and redline them hard. So... learning this kind of pacing on the bike and pushing closer to what I'm really capable of has been a little daunting.

It took me over 2 hours from the time I got up this morning until I got my butt out there...I was sluggish and just not feeling the love for the whole brick idea. My legs still had a little bit of "tired" and "lunge butt" in them from Thursday and I just didn't know how this was going to go. Heather and Chase were going to do the Cancer walk this morning and I was thinking that might be a lot more fun and normal than the workout on my calendar...but I finally bucked up.

I drove to the arboretum and staged myself there so that I wouldn't dread the big hill at the end and so I could run in the arboretum...turned out to be a good plan. I warmed up for about 8 miles and went over I-90...stalled one more time with a bathroom break at the park. Then, for the tempo part, I did the long side of Mercer Island 3 times...out, back, out again. Not very creative, but it was the perfect route...no stops, rolling hills, and naturally broken into thirds. I really worked on a lot of things that need attention today...stayed aero almost the whole time--even on some of the slight inclines, hardly coasted on the descents, drank while in the aero bars, and worked on my cornering and pedalling through the curves...I took several at over 20mph without coasting and I kept a strong and steady workrate the whole 30 miles. I'm not sure where it came from, but I am really proud of this ride and held a pace of 19mph for the 30 miles!! My avg HR was very close to AT at 139, too. This ride was a huge confidence builder, especially when I picked off 3 different men in the last 2 miles of the tempo part---that NEVER happens. They all passed me again when I slowed down and was recovering, but hell, who cares?!

I passed my friend, Rebecca, going the other direction on the way back near Leschi and rode with her for a few minutes to chat...then headed back to my car. The run was fine and I felt good...didn't push super hard, but held a decent pace and got almost 3.5 miles in the 30 minutes.

I think I was as proud of this workout as some of the races I've done...really cool since I really thought it might totally suck when I got up this morning!

Brick:

48.3 mile ride (2:48 total)

8.4 mile warm up (35 min, 14.5 mph)

30 mile tempo ride:
1:34:37
Avg HR = 139, Max 156
Avg pace = 19mph!!! (whoop!!)

9.9 mile cool down (38ish min, 15.4 mph)

30 minute run:
3.44 miles
Avg HR = 142
Max HR = 155