85 Days Remaining Part 2: Afternoon Bike Ride

After getting home from the 5K race I had plans to hang with the kids. Amanda was not feeling good, Addy was at a birthday party, Ava hit a major wall and fell asleep and as soon as I was ready to ask Aiden to go do something he was out the door playing with his friends. With Amanda sleeping on the couch I decided that I might as well go ahead and get my long ride in.

So, after lunch I jumped on my bike(on the darn trainer) and started up. My mind was not ready for the 3 hour Spinerval DVD so I put on a 90 minute DVD from Endurance Nation. It was basically a recorded lecture by two guys who shared ideas and strategies for Ironman. Despite being a boring setup of two guys talking I pedaled along and picked up some really good ideas. These will be shared in a future post.

My plan for today was to ride at what I feel is my race cadence and pace. I know my pace is faster than what I will experience on the road, but the key was the cadence in the gear that I most likely will ride in during the race. I held on to that pace/cadence for the first 26 miles. At this point I needed to mix things up. I decided to crank the gears a little and pick up the pace through mile 30. Instead I pushed my legs through mile 34 so I cranked harder than race pace for 8 miles. I took the next two miles to work on a higher cadence above 90. From here I went one mile on, one mile off where I just cranked as hard as I could. The last mile or two I really pushed and talked my way through it. I need to push through my mental hurdles. I am pulling the Curt S. running approach to my bike where when you hit that place where you struggle you just go harder. I did just that today.

I was very happy to have this ride done and over with. We have a super busy day tomorrow. My legs are sore from this ride as I pushed pretty good today, but it felt good. I felt like this was the kind of ride I needed.

I need to get in a 8 mile run tomorrow morning to wrap up my training for the week. I am happy that I was able to get it all done despite a crazy week of school and life.