Street Hill Blues
I ran my five mile Twin Peaks route today in 47:01. I was hoping to do the hill run in 45:00; I’d like to be running nine minutes to the mile even on the hills. But that might not be realistic right now. I pushed really damn hard and that was all I could do. My legs were hurting pretty bad up the hill, probably because I ran yesterday and then followed that up with a swim (where hammerhead’s wetsuit made a world of difference!) and squats at the gym. That time is actually 45 seconds slower than my PR on that particular route. According to my monitor, my average heartrate was 180, so I think I probably shouldn’t have tried to push it any harder than that.
I pretty much consider myself in winter season right now; I need to work on long slow distance, just taking it easy and building my base, also getting to the gym and working on my core, maybe put a little tone on these arms. But I still want to do an occasional intense hill workout like this.
I did the first 1.6 miles (all uphill) in 17:23, and the final 3.4 miles (mixed downhill and some flatter terrain with a couple more small hills) in 29:38. That’s still a 10:52 pace uphill and 8:43 down. Even in the “off-season” I know I can do better than that. It was a good run, but I know I can do better.
I started riding again this
I started riding again this weekend. There is early morning light again with the changing of the clocks.
After a summer of inactivity, I’m averaging a 4 minute mile on a 5 mile loop around the neighborhood with a neglible climb. 🙁
Need to find another 5 mph if I’m going to make the commute to Wallingford feasible. I found a great program called Cyclistats for logging my rides. It factors incline, ride intensity, bicycle and passenger weight into a breakdown on the calories burned per ride. It also makes projections, stores regular rides so that you don’t have to keep entering it all in…It’s pretty cool.
I figure to keep doing the 5 mile until I find that extra speed, then take it up a notch to a 7 mile loop with a more sustained climb. Once I can maintain speed on the 7 mile, I’ll add a second lap, then add the 5 mile as a third lap/cooldown.
If I can pull all that off and maintain 20mph, I figure I’m ready for the real thing. If the weather cooperates, I’ll start commuting by the end of January. I figure I’ll be acclimated to the cold by training straight through the end of the year.
Am I kidding myself???
I don’t think you’re kidding
I don’t think you’re kidding yourself, but maybe expecting to average 20mph on a commute is unrealistic. Rather than basing your speed on the shorter rides you’re doing, get up early one morning and try it out, or else ride the route on a weekend morning. That will give you a better feel for the distance and the time involved.
My advice would actually be to ride distances longer than your commute to build your strength rather than trying to build strength by sprinting. I think you’d rather commute in 1:20 and arrive ready for your day than 1:00 and sore and aching. The speed will come. Maybe slowly, but it’s probably better for it to build slowly rather than look for a quantum leap.
So no, I don’t think you’re kidding yourself regarding your capacity to do this. I do think you might be better served by a different training approach.
TWO WHEELS GOOD, FOUR WHEELS BAD –Gearhead Orwell
Point taken.
I guess I’ll
Point taken.
I guess I’ll just focus on building stamina then. I’ll do the same gradual buildup from the 5 to the 7, then from the seven to the 14, and then add a third 7 mile lap at the end, which will be 1 mile longer than the actual ride itself.
Eight weeks to build up to this, minus losses to weather…two weeks at the 5, three at the 14, then three at the 21. After three weeks of the 21, I should be ready to try the actual commute with confidence. Seems doable.