Weekend Riding

Currently... on the laptop on the floor, with wine on one said and my loyal dog/cat on the other... :)

Hey, where did my bike fitness go? I mean, it's only been like 7 weeks since I did an Ironman... and I've been riding like 3-4x/week... I mean, even if most of that riding was easy, you wouldn't think your power would just go away like mine has. I guess if I didn't have a power meter I wouldn't know the difference, but those #littleliedetectors are telling me that things have changed in the watts department. I'll admit that maybe I haven't been as diligent about taking care of myself these last few weeks, so that could be part of it, but still.

Dinner, anyone?

Since I'm not training for anything right now, I've found it to be a good time to go out and join my community and be social and do other's people's workouts for a change. Its been enlightening!

I think the thing I've noticed most when riding with groups (any and all groups!) is how hard people ride up every hill. I mean, any time the road tilts slightly up, everyone starts pushing hard, but no one will admit they are pushing hard. Yesterday I was cruising along by myself when I got caught by a group of guys who said they were just out for a short easy spin b/c they were doing the Honolulu Century Ride today... Just a short easy spin, they said... ok, so if you are going "easy" then why I am pushing 240w to stay next to you while we climb up this hill?? I guess the easy part comes at the top of the hill?

Backroads Waimanalo and yes we take up the whole road.

Eventually yesterday I met up with another group and they were riding in a similar way. Uphill 200+ watts; at all other times 100w. I guess there's some merit to that style of riding (call it fartlek intervals?) unless you're prepping for a long distance triathlon, in which case I'd say its decidedly less than ideal. There's only one gal in this group who is prepping for an upcoming long distance triathlon, so I made an attempt to teach her how to 'flatten out the hills' when riding over gently rolling rolling terrain. Goal: keep effort steady, which means that pace will not be steady! You'll go slower on the uphills. Let it go. But you'll go a lot faster on the slightly downhill parts! And overall will go faster b/c you won't be spiking your power and therefore won't need extended periods to 'recover'...

That's me checking watts on my garmin and trying to explain this concept
before we attempt another 20min 'steady' interval...

I think everyone was bored out of their minds climbing behind me b/c I eased up enough to not spike watts, but at all other times they were working while I was holding the watts when the road tilted slightly down.

See how spiky up and down my pink line is? It's all over the place! Can you see the one short section where its a more steady effort?

I think this is really the biggest issue with group rides- it's nearly impossible to ride a truly steady effort. So yes, group rides are fun, and its good to be social(!), but if you're serious about training specifically for a long distance triathlon, you might be doing yourself a disservice by always riding with others. Especially if no one has a power meter. :)

Today I led a session at the computrainer studio, which I haven't done for a long time. So of course being inside is an opportunity to be more specific- not that I personally need to be at the moment- but I was doing a favor by 'guest coaching' the class. I chose the session based on the needs of the gals who were there, so while the race specific session was good for them, it was a bit beyond what I am capable of need to be doing at the moment. Um, when did 160w become hard??

Pretty specific set. Anyone guess what it is?

Note about my hip- it feels nearly perfect. And because of that, I can totally see how this is the type of injury that can take like 6+ months to recover from... Mostly b/c if I hadn't read so many horror stories online from athletes who felt better and started running then re-injured themselves then had to rest again, I'd totally be out running right now. It def feels like I could. However, I've talked with several athletes who have been through it and universally the ones who healed themselves the quickest were the ones who heeded the instructions to NOT RUN for the full time the doc says. One gal I rode with yesterday told me that hers felt good for a full 4-5 weeks before she attempted running on it again, and then when she did start to run it was all good no issues she could just build her run volume back up and has had no further problems. So her story was reassuring and steeled me in my resolve to follow the instructions Don't test it! I have, however, walked the dog a few times and it doesn't seem to have set me back to do that.