the tao of cycling: 5,4,3

Sunday, January 15, 2012

5,4,3

yesterday the skies split wide open and let the sun pour over our valley, and many people went outside and played.
not me.
I thought about it, considered it, rejected it, mainly because of this pain-in-the-neck cold I have. it's actually a pain in the chest and throat every time I cough, and I decided the bundling up against the cold/sweating/freezing aspect of riding outside in 43 degree weather was probably not the best thing I could do for my body.
so instead I went to class.

I went early to get some good medium heart rate zone work in, which was a good thing because the class itself was a little shy on that.
the workout was, after a 15 minute warmup,
5 minutes in zone 4A (lactate threshold place) at a fast climbing pace (75 rpm)
4 minutes in zone 4B (halfway between lactate threshold and ventricular threshold), same pace but standing,
3 minutes zone 5 (VT), 85-90 rpm, seated
3 minutes recovery,
repeat,
repeat.

well .. .. .. when one works in zone 4B and above, it really helps to be able to breathe fully, easily, without restriction.
a chest cold can comprise one's breathing, just a bit.

4A was fine. and 4B was fine for the first two minutes, and then I found I couldn't pull breath into my lungs well, and I decided I was stupid--yes, stupid--to try to force it. so I backed down to 4A and stayed there until the zone 5 phase was over.

round two: 4A was fine. 4B was okay, and I found myself in zone 5 at least a quarter of the time. decided not to push to zone 5 for those 3 minutes, stayed in 4B. I'm not stupid.

round three: 4A was fine. 4B was fine. decided to go for zone 5. did it. don't want to discuss level of stupidity.

I think I was correct to stay indoors for my workout. but it was disheartening, especially as I watched cyclist after cyclist spin past my house all afternoon.
today is warmer, even, but windy and gray and I am not called at all to go tool around outside.

being sick sucks. there's no other conclusion to be drawn.
I sit inside, typing, writing away, being productive, but wishing the cough away.
sigh. maybe tomorrow I'll wake up healthy.
I wish the same for you, for us all, actually.

namaste.

No comments:

Post a Comment

the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.