Workout: Bike Commute

Monday 7/28: Bike commute to work. 32 minutes x 2, tempo pace

Coming off a week of sloth, I hope to get back to a three workout per week pace starting this week. Fantastic weather today, so I eased back into things with a tempo ride to work on the commuter machine.

Workout: Tempo Run

Sunday, 7/21: 6 miles in 49:36 or 8:16/mi

Even though it was 8:00 a.m., this was a hot and sticky 6 miles. We were in Springfield, OH visiting with the families and I decided to get up before everybody else and head out for a quick six on the bike trail.

My pace was steady and I didn't really try to push it. I'd had almost a week without workouts, so I was feeling kind of uncoordinated and sluggish for the first two miles. I eventually smoothed things out and enjoyed the run for the most part.

I also wanted to put a little co-suffering karma into the atmosphere for my buddy Randy Comer who competed in the Racine, WI Half-Ironman . He had a great race, winning his division and turning some fantastic splits!

We are back to a normal schedule this week, so I am hoping to have a much more active workout regimen.

Workout: Bike Commute

Monday 7/14: Bike commute to work. 20 miles total, 32 minutes x 2, tempo pace

Rode the road bike to work this morning after dropping Les & Lily off at the train station for their big Chicago trip. As it is Bastille Day and the first big mountain finish day in the TdF, seems more than appropriate to ride today.

Workout: Ride with Sean

Saturday 7/12: 10.49 miles, 52:00 AVT; AVS 12.1 mph

By brother was visiting for the weekend, and we decided to take a spin around the neighborhood. It was warm and humid, but there was enough of a breeze to make it bearable. Sean rode my commuter bike and I was on the road machine.

We passed by a nicely supported 2-day group ride for Multiple Sclerosis; we were even cheered by volunteers at the aid station who told us we were riding the wrong way. When we confessed we were just locals, they cheered us anyway!

Sean did a fine job on this ride, which included one long climb that I sometimes use to do interval workouts on. He's been riding at home more lately, so this kept his workout regimen going nicely.

Workout: Club Ride

Thursday 7/10: Club ride 32.3 miles, 1:38:37 AVT; AVS 19.4253 mph

I hadn't been on a club ride in a couple of weeks, so I was looking forward to it with that nervous energy that seems to accumulate when you haven't tested your fitness in, well, a couple of weeks...or at least haven't ridden next to anybody else. The ride leader bailed, so the course that won out last night was chosen on the fly and was a new one for me. I was excited to hear that it had 11 hills!

I ate it up. With the exception of our freakishly fast recumbent guy who can go easily 30 on the downhills and 27 on the flats, I was usually out front. I was the first upright wheel home by some minutes. And it was a good hard tempo+ pace for most of the way in. The way out was quick, but more relaxed because most of the hilly sections came after the halfway point. Great route...I'll have to do that one more often myself.

Workout: Long Ride

Saturday 7/5: Long ride to Grass Lake, MI. 43.6 miles, 2:25:37 AVS 17.96 mph

It was an absolutely picture-perfect day to do a long ride today, so I called up my buddy Steve who was doing some weekend-warrior remodeling and let him know I was riding to his house. My route was South/Southeast, and the only adverse condition I faced was wind...steady out of the East with significant gusts out of the Southeast. That slowed my average speed, particularly since a good portion of my route - just slightly less than half - was along a MI state route that is mostly bordered by open fields.

The latter part of the ride was beautiful, taking me through the Waterloo State Recreation area. Wooded and with several challenging climbs, it made the last 10 miles or so quite nice.

I was kind of surprised that I didn't see a single fellow cyclist on the road anywhere, given that it was a holiday weekend, the weather was spectacular, and Le Tour started today. I did see a lot of folks on motorcycles, though.

Despite another power outage this week, I managed three workouts. Why should a power outage interrupt workout schedules? Mostly because it interrupts life, in general. With no running water (well requires a pump, pump requires electricity), it makes everything a bit primitive lifestyle-wise. Case in point: we harvested rainwater to flush the toilets last week. In any case, I hope to do at least three and possibly four workouts again next week, especially if the weather holds.

Workout: Bike Commute

Tuesday 7/1: Bike commute to work. 20 miles total, 32 minutes x 2, tempo- pace

Chose the road bike to commute on today. A little treat before my birthday. Took the back way, so it was just a bit longer than my usual route but took the same amount of time since the roadie is quicker.