2011 Cycling Training Log

Time has come for my first Brick,

Being that I am a rookie at running, I have to just try things and see if they work for me. While I harbor no ill will towards Tri-athletes, I have no desire to attempt one myself. However the Trail  run/MTB race at the end of the year at the Stump farm has gotten my interest and doing a brick every once in awhile can only be good for me right?

Well I figured I would start off with a run and with the weather being pretty crappy (snowing fairly hard that night) and the other issue with cooling off after the run with the change of clothes, I decided to do my run on the Mill (it is also a little easier to control conditions).  I was set in my thinking that a 4 mile run would be sufficient and a Cadence program uploaded to my Garmin would keep me more then honest on my trainer ride. So I turned on my favorite Political pundit show, set the Mill to 3% incline and a initial pace of 10:00 or 6 mph and started my run to 4 miles. Well, after about .3 miles my left quad and hamstring, and both calves were really tight and some discomfort. I can assure this is the fault of one Greg C. from Body Logic and his body killing Boot Camp. It is :45 minutes of pain and high tempo and a 1 hour spin class proceeded that torture fest. I have been doing quite a bit a running and cycling and also mixing in weight training 3 times a week and I assure you that this nice program he set up hit muscle groups I didn't know where there. See ya Saturday morning Mr, Clausen .....

So I finally pushed through this after the 1.3 mile mark and increased my tempo to 9:14 minute miles and with the upcoming ride in mind, I figured this would be the speed limit. Well around mile 3 I was feeling it and speed it up to 8:35 minute mile and then it happened, I could feel the belt acting up and I slowed it back down to 8:45 and that held until 3.45 and the belt really started sticking (started to loosen) so I ended it at 3.5 and fixed the mill the next night.

I quickly changed into my cycling shoes and re-directed the fan from the mill to the trainer. Grabbed a fresh water bottle and started the Garmin up for a cadence ride. Now with my nifty Garmin 305 , I can easily write a running or riding or use the Garmin supplied program and send it to the device. It was kinda like having a coach with me at all times. So this is how I set my first Cadence Brick ride...

Start program:

1. 5:00 warm up at any pace or HR (timer just counts backwards)
2. Spin @ 80-90 rpm for 5:00
3. 5:00 of free spin
4. Spin @ 90-95 rpm for 5:00
5. 5:00 of free spin
6. Spin @ 95-105 rpm for 5:00
7. 3:30 of free spin
8. Spin @ 90-95 for 5:00
9. 5:00 of free spin with HR in zone2

Well ,it didn't take long at all to think HOLY CRAP!!! this is going to hurt. I prayed that my warm-up was 10 minutes instead 5. My quads just above the knee were the pain culprit in which I never did recover from on the entire ride. This is obviously something that I am going to have to just get used to and it will get better over time..( Rule #5 right Tread Headers?) . Well into my first cadence ramp up it was fairly comfortable and when the timer ran down I continued the cadence through my 5 minute "rest" period. It all changed when I hit the 95+ rpm portion of my cadence ride. The pain was really getting up there (good pain) and the lactic acid was flowing as quickly as the sweat.  I tried in vain to not look at that damn timer and just watch TV and spin till I heard the beeps of mercy, but all I heard was the "you're going to freakin slow" beeps. (cyclist reading this, do you ever cheat on the trainer by using your hands pushing down on your knees?) Let me tell you that was a fairly long 5 minutes and the entire time I am thinking "stop flippin whining because it won't be long from now and those will be :20 cadence intervals)

Well I finally finished my first brick and total time was 1hr 15 minutes. Cardio wise I felt great, but between still recovering from the Boot Camp 48 hrs earlier and trying the first brick, my legs were pretty tired after. I am excited about trying my next brick and I will reverse it and maybe do running intervals and just a base ride. I guess the only reason I am doing this is so I can get in a longer cardio workout in without the boredom of a 2 hr trainer ride or 2 hrs on the mill. I may get up to Ray's this weekend after my Bootcamp workout for some MTB riding...... Or maybe some XC sking at La Grange. Gotta mix it up