Pushing the Pedals

Team in Training is a six month training program.  It starts off easy and then gets steadily harder.  As an example, the first week of training (back in June) only required about 40 miles on the bike, but by November I will be riding about 200 miles each week before tapering before the big race.  Each week sees a 10-15% increase in miles.  I am getting ready for my first 50 mile ride.  It’s a great milestone.

In fact this past week was a real feel-good time for me.  On Friday, I met Michelle and we rode 38 miles from Burlington, out to Lexington, Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, and back through Bedford to Burlington.  Originally, I mapped out a 35 mile route, but we took a couple of wrong turns.  ha h  Oh well, that’s life.  This route was pretty hilly.  And, if the long, grinding hills (one lasted for almost 1.5 miles) wasn’t bad enough …. we discovered the road was under construction and had to ride through stripe after stripe of dirt and gravel. 

[Riding through dirt or sand feels like you’ve entered mud.  It just tugs at your wheels and threatens to stop you.  Add dirt and gravel to a long hill and it’s just added punishment.]

I popped into my granny gear and slowly spun my way along for minutes on end. 

I have been riding since May and have upgraded to a new bike, been teaching more spin classes and have steadily increased my mileage.  I am getting stronger.  I am bringing more power to the road and I can actually feel the changes in my legs.  I am climbing the hills more efficiently.  I am not totally destroyed by a long, evil hill.  I can climb the hills in higher gears.  I am seeing my own improvements and it’s very satisfying.

Our overall MPH on that ride was 14.8.  Not too shabby for long, nasty hills.

Saturday I agreed to sub 2 back-to-back spin classes.  It was a long, brutal, sweaty two hours.  I was done (stick a fork in me style)!

Then Monday, I rode 40.30 miles with Michelle.  This route was rolling hills.  There was no one killer hill but the entire route was rolling up and down hills or various heights and lengths.  I felt super strong.  My speed over the flats was 19-22 mph.  I scaled most of the rolling hills at a 15-16 mph pace.  My bike handling has really been improving (I noticed that I don’t wobble or weave when looking over my shoulder or take water or food) — this is especially noticeable in my downhilling.  I am continuing to refine and improve my hill climbing.  I am concentrating on my pedal stroke and really figuring out how to change my gears for max performance.  Our average MPH on this ride was 15.1.

I am definitely in the stage of working on strength.  I have an appointment with a personal trainer on Monday.  She’s going to design a gym/training program for me.  Strenth then endurance.  Increased speed should be a nice biproduct.  🙂

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