Mud = A Bust

6:05 AM-7:15

BIKE WORKOUT
Time: 1:10:33
Effort: Level II workout.
AHR: 118 (63%)
MHR: 148 (79%)
Distance: 11.45 miles
Avg Speed: 10 mph

Ugh! What an awful workout! Griffith Park roads were all silty from the rain runoff, mud got into my bike gears and fucked up my cleats; I worried about the bike a lot of the way. It really was more of a mountain bike ride, and here I was on my bike trying to make it work. Also fell over at an intersection when a slow-moving pedestrian didn’t get out of my way fast enough. Wound up opening the cut in my leg again and having to drag my bike—which was caught on my cleat-foot—off to the side. Annoying. Really annoying.

Only high points were the initial hill up to the observatory, which I did in very low gear, preserving energy, staying in the saddle, and keeping the cadence up at around 80; that seems to be the key to good climbing. I WANTED to put some serious mileage down today, but took a wrong turn down a really shitty, pot-holed, muddy road, which totally screwed up my descent—meaning brakes were on full on the way down. It was awful. At the end I also tried to salvage things by busting up some Hollywood Hills down at the foot of the Griffith entrance before I went slinking back to my car. That was pretty good…anyway, climbing isn’t my issue. It’s the time-trial stuff that I still need to work on—flat, raw speed and endurance, in the aerobars. Perhaps this weekend I’ll take an early trip to the Santa Monica bike path and put down 25-30 miles or so. THAT will be fun. Today was sort of a bust. I mean, not TOO bad, but spent a lot of time out of the HR zone. The only reason I averaged 118 was those hill climbs. Oh well.

Calves STILL a little sore. Maybe run this weekend? Not before, I think. Do another swim and another bike first.

Tomorrow I’m going to swim again. LSD. Maybe I’ll do MORE than a mile this time! Who knows…