Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Fiddlesticks!


These are fiddleheads - unfurled fronds of a young fern. I ate them all and they were great!

My Monday 6 mile easy run was in the pouring rain. It had been pouring all day but I went out anyway. Hairball galore again! Glad I did it when I did since it came down harder when I got home. How did my easy runs go from 3 miles to 5 miles to 6 miles now? I think my coach thinks I won't notice. So it was nice and slow as planned with around 9:00 miles.

Today's workout was a tempo bike ride. This was my 2nd ride since 2007 and 1st alone with my clipless pedals. I was a little scared! What if I crashed? I packed along my cell phone and headed out on the street but the ride was somewhat stymied in many ways.

First, I realized that the time spent between my apartment and the Springwater path is useless. It is not a workout and can't really be part of my workout, right? Too much stopping and going on city streets.

Because of this time suck, I realized that I was not going to be able to do the full workout and get back to work in time for a meeting. I just decided to do the best that I could, go to the end of Springwater and come back.

I started my Garmin right at the Hawthorne bridge - it took me about 14:01 to get to the end of Springwater and I used that as a warm up. I went 15.3 mph and my HR was 135 bpm.

After that I stopped for a minute and turned around to start my "tempo" or intervals or whatever. But when I looked at the training plan again I realized it couldn't be right...here is what it says:

Perform 3 X 10/3 min Z5/Z6 riding. Take a 5 min recovery between each interval.

So since I couldn't figure it out I decided that I'd just do as many 3 on/5 offs as would take me back to Hawthorne. I did the next 3:00 @ 159 bpm/23.4 MPH. I just couldn't get my HR up that fast! Then I stopped for what I'd planned to be 5:00 but decided to cut it short after 3:00. Next 2:17 was at 160 bpm/20.6 MPH. I couldn't get in a full 3:00 because it hit a crowd of people and it slowed everything down.

Obviously I'm going to have to get used to these workouts. It sucks that Springwater is too short and a distance away. How do people typically get their bike rides in w/o having to find a long route to ride? I suppose I could go back and forth on Springwater but doesn't that screw things up by stopping to turn around? I don't know...

My total recorded was 27:08 minutes/136 bpm/avg speed 16 mph/7.38 miles.

Add to that the distance to my apt and I guess it'd be about 10 miles total. How pathetic! I feel like this was not a very good use of time. I considered going out again for a 2nd time after I was done with work, but I just can't. Any suggestions on how to make this more efficient for me based off of where I live and my restrictions (no car, work schedule).

Biking has a lot more variables than running and it is going to take some time to get used to it.

I bought a leg floater for my swim pulls and new goggles! I still need some more bike shorts and a few bike tops. I scored a pair of nike sunglasses that I found on the floor of a bar last weekend. I'd normally hand them over to the manager but I was a bit drunk and felt lucky cause I needed a pair. Am I going to hell?

3 comments:

P.O.M. said...

What the heck are those? They actually sound interesting.

Re the glasses.... I don't think you're going to hell, but karma might give ya a little love bite in the a$$.

http://gokristen.wordpress.com said...

There is a 3 mile loop around the Rose Bowl here in Pasadena...I like it because I just go there and do as many laps as I have time for.
Not sure if you have something like that near you, but it works out well.
www.mapmyride.com --- you can search local rides there as well.

Alisa said...

Those look nasty, sorry!

As for biking...it's not that conveinant but if continue on Springwater past the neighborhood streets, it's pretty open, not a lot of people and goes forever.