Friday and Saturday I did two road rides. On Saturday as I went out I felt a bit heavy and sluggish. It was also during that 3pm hour, which is my sleepiest time and never seems good. But, apparently I friggin hammered! I did 30 miles in 1:44, with over 2000' of climbing (not huge, but decent, and within that usual 1000'/hour). This was on a loop I do fairly often, and I don't recall ever having done this in under 2 hours! Sweet. I did eat along the way, which I know gave me a little boost too (1 Gu and 1 Clif Mojo bar (yum!)).
I do think I've been hammering a bit harder in general lately though. And getting in rides like this, especially when I head out and am thinking I'm feeling tired or slow or what not, and then laying down a good pace, is a really nice feeling. After getting home, having a recovery drink, and showering, I was feeling pretty darn sleepy though, just wanted to lay on the couch and chill. Alas, when you have two kids, and mom needs to go pick up a friend at the airport, there is no such luck.
One other thing, on Lorane on the way back, literally 10 seconds after I unzipped my jersey just a little bit, a bee flew in and managed to attempt to sting me 8 times! I have a trail of red bumps down my right side - the trail the bee left as it stung me along its path. Apparently it was a rookie bee, and he wasn't able to get his stinger in and have it stay (or it didn't have a barb?). But with all these stingings, I had to pull over and get him outta there as I was not having luck smacking my side to smash him while riding.
On Saturday, had a smaller window for a ride, and headed out again at that 3pm hour. Was definitely feeling tired, so went for a loop that didn't have as steep or long climbs in it. Good recovery. Turned out to be a very nice little loop. Only an hour and 20 minutes ride time, but did my beloved Blanton road section (mini climb and ripper descent), then out the Lorane Highway and eventually did a little dead end offshoot called Summerville, that ended with a short 12% grade leading up to this:
Turned around, and headed home. Pushed the pace relatively well, especially the final climb up McLean. Arrived home, and much like the day before, showered, and wanted to chill. But my wife was heading out to dinner with her out-of-town friend, so there chillin' was not to be. Luckily, I made an espresso and mostly chilled while hanging out in the backyard with my kids. And then of course I made a great meal: a really good steak, grilled, and then a tasty salad made with all local organic ingredients from our CSA, with exception for the avocado :) Later on I had some snacks too, and yet woke up this morning to weigh the least I have in 10 years (I've been losing weight since moving to Oregon and riding more of course).
This feeling of slowness, or tiredness or what not, yet riding quite solid, has been happening more often than not lately. Kinda strange, but nice to know how it works. I think my attitude remains the same in general though, to just listen to my body and go the pace I can. Push it when I can, and do tempo when needed.
Turned around, and headed home. Pushed the pace relatively well, especially the final climb up McLean. Arrived home, and much like the day before, showered, and wanted to chill. But my wife was heading out to dinner with her out-of-town friend, so there chillin' was not to be. Luckily, I made an espresso and mostly chilled while hanging out in the backyard with my kids. And then of course I made a great meal: a really good steak, grilled, and then a tasty salad made with all local organic ingredients from our CSA, with exception for the avocado :) Later on I had some snacks too, and yet woke up this morning to weigh the least I have in 10 years (I've been losing weight since moving to Oregon and riding more of course).
This feeling of slowness, or tiredness or what not, yet riding quite solid, has been happening more often than not lately. Kinda strange, but nice to know how it works. I think my attitude remains the same in general though, to just listen to my body and go the pace I can. Push it when I can, and do tempo when needed.
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