Where to Look...

6:45 AM-8:00 AM

BIKE
Standard w/u, core work, cooldown.
Dist: 13.66 miles
Avg. Speed: Around 13 mph
Time: 1:02 (?)
Top speed: 32 mph
AHR: 123
MHR: 141

This was the Griffith Loop again. Pretty manageable! Certainly easier than it’s been in the past—I knew what to expect more. Heart rate stayed pretty low, as you can see, though the descent, of course, threw it off. Speaking of, I’m getting better at descending! It’s a matter of looking HIGH UP—as far down the curve as you can. Always look at your path, not at the obstacles (ie, the edge of the curve, with the long, dangerous plunge). Look at where you want to go, not where you DON’T want to go. A life lesson? Eyes on the Prize, right? Not on the hurdles. So, yes, anyway—I did a faster descent.

AHR also thrown off by all these friggin’ gates that they have up now! Good god. They’re repaving—which is excellent! Above you can see how mad I am about the shitty state of the roads out there. But I had to walk my bike around all these pigging gates, which sucked hard, slowed me down, and pulled my HR down a lot.

The other day’s brick was TOUGH, definitely. That day I AVERAGED a HR that was my PEAK HR today. Now, my HR is getting lower as I build aerobic power, but that’s a testament to how hard I was working the other day. Anyway, feeling back in form today. Next time I do that loop I SHOULD add a trip or two up and town the flat track along the river. For time trials’ sake. Fast fast. Maybe my second ride this week will be time trials mostly…

I definitely feel like today’s volume was very much in the realm of my strength and speed right now. Not an exhausting workout at all. If it weren’t for my damn leg it could have been a brick…R soleus sore AGAIN, L also a bit. Not too bad after the run, but I’m trying to be conservative. Yesterday I did some running with Margreta—easy, light, but again, felt the pain. Weird. It’s muscle soreness, but it’s so localized and extreme. You would think it would be getting better as my running-specific strength improves, but it doesn’t seem to be happening!

Anyway, good ride today. I’ll check on my leg tomorrow morning and either take the day off or do a run on it. Warming up is key…easy run, increasing in speed gradually. Don’t really think I should swim, but who knows? Maybe an easy one with some biking or running as well? I’m improvising.