Back in the day - the 'day' being sometime in 1983 - I would train one day of each weekend on the 'flats' which meant I would ride down and back on the Burke-Gilman Trail and one day on the 'hills' which meant I would ride to Seward Park and then come up the switchbacks on my way home. I know, MAJOR hills. Plus on the flat day I was 'that guy' who would TT the trail… AT least back then there was much less traffic on the trail. What the hell did I know, I had been riding for exactly one year, had just started racing and did not have a clue.
As I got more fit I would look for more hills and lengthen my rides. Eventually I was riding all the way to Marymoor Park and back on my flat day and doing Madrona more than once on my way home for a hill workout. I was NUTS.
This morning totally took me back to 1983.
I left home around 5:45 after attaching a couple of red, flashing lights to the back of my bike with zip ties. :( Can you say 'fair weather rider'? I knew you could.
ASIDE - why don't all seat bags have a loop of fabric to slip a flasher onto? They should. Damn it.
I headed down to Seward to warm up while visions of six or eight (ten?) repeats danced in my head. About two miles into my ride it was time for the first nose blow and something did not feel right. As I got to a street light I touched my white sleeve to my face and sure enough it came away red. Shit. I think I have had three nosebleeds in the last week, what is up? Am I dehydrated? The answer is probably (I blame alcohol) but still, this seems excessive.
Now I'm riding with a finger of my left hand pressed against my right nostril so blood won't drip down onto my clothes or my bike. Ten repeats was looking less likely to happen.
I was also realizing that my headlight kinda (read: really) sucks. I have this 2 Watt Planet Bike thingy and had it on flashing mode to conserve the battery and it just was not lighting up the road surface. I rode through the I-90 pedestrian tunnel and then headed south down the switchbacks and man did I have to slow down… way down. At this point I was still needing to press my hand against my nose some but also had to use both brakes, pretty comical I'm sure.
Once down on Lake WA Blvd I realized that my legs felt less than ideal; so much for 10 (I was high anyway…) repeats.
At Seward the restrooms were thankfully unlocked and well lit so I cleaned up my face, cautiously blew my nose and feeling confident that I was in the clear headed back. As I got closer to Leschi I tried to get psyched up for six (note the decreased quantity…) repeats.
The first hill was in the saddle at a moderately difficult pace; no heroics as I wanted to see how I felt. Hill number two was out of the saddle all the way in the big ring (50-tooth on my rain bike). Sounds impressive but I also have a big cassette on this bike so still no heroics. After this hill and after looking at my watch (could you tell how I seamlessly segued into an excuse there?) I decided that four were going to be just fine thankyouverymuch. Hey, I had to get to work.
Number three was back in the saddle in the same gear as number one but it felt smoother and I think I went slightly faster.
Number four was back in the big ring and out of the saddle and after going about 50' I looked up and saw a group of cyclists way up the hill so decided to give it a little bit extra to see if I could catch them. It was just the motivation I needed.
I caught the last rider as I crested the first part of the hill by the duck pond, I shifted up and began to chase down the main 'pack' that had dropped this guy. I went about as hard as I could on the second part of the hill and was really struggling with the burn but just missed catching the rest. At least I zoomed past a few feet beyond the summit. :) And you know what? Just as I was going around this bunch of four or five riders someone said, "Hey Martin!" I was caught off guard and only managed a lame, breathless "Good morning…" and then I was already headed up Union and on my way home. I did not recognize the guy that knew who I was. :(
That was pretty short but quality. If I can start just a little earlier and if I can motivate myself to do a couple more repeats then it would be a pretty good workout. Welcome back into my life Madrona.
Oh yeah, that max heart rate is obviously bogus but everything else seems legit. Sometimes the technology just does not work the way you want it to. Too bad I don't have power on this bike, I would love to know what the hell I am putting out.
At lunch I went for a run at the IMA as my ride was not very long, I wanted more volume and I'm loath to give up running 100%. It felt pretty good! I was breathing easy the whole time and it felt like being on cruise control. I love that feeling.
| Sleep | 7 |
| Waking HR | |
| Body Weight | 12:00 PM - 181 lb. |
| Body Fat | |
| Breakfast | 5:00 AM - Clif Bar, water |
| Lunch | |
| Dinner | |
| Workout Food | ride - half a large bottle w/ 1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED |
| Injuries | |
| Therapy | 12:30 PM - 10 min sauna |
| Time of Day | ride - 5:45 AM run - 12:00 PM |
| Workout Type | ride - zone 4 hills run - endurance |
| Weather | ride - mid 40s, wet ground, dry sky, calm |
| Course | |
| Results | |
| Time | run - 30 min |
| Distance | run - 4.2 miles |
| Pace | run - 5 min at 7:30, 25 min at 7:00 |
| Equipment | ride - Rain Bike run - Hoka Combo XT |
| Clothing | ride - Sugoi shoe covers, Roubaix knickers, Craft long sleeve undershirt, heavy long sleeve jersey, wind vest, Polypropylene gloves, OR Gripper gloves, cap |
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