Training Since Sunday

Sunday's Ride

View 38 Mile in a larger map
This ride was much of the reason I haven't posted in a few days, it really broke my momentum. First, as it was getting dark I discovered that one of the batteries in my lights was dead. Not only had the battery died, it had corroded so that opening up the battery compartment was a mess. Second, I missed one of my turns and ended up over in North Andover. I had to have my wife come and pick me up, and ended up having to remove both the wheels to get it to fit in the car. Third, when I measured my distance and determined my speed, I discovered that I had ridden significantly slower than my previous average.

Problems aside, I had chosen today to try out the East Coast Greenway, which comes within a few miles of our house. Unfortunately, I guess the areas outside of the converted trail have absolutely no indication that they are part of the greenway. I rode on the route for 15 miles, and didn't see so much as a sign.

Tuesday's Ride

View 8 Mile in a larger map
I took an easy loop near my house to try to get back into training after Sunday's experience. I was feeling pretty good about the ride until I got home and discovered that my average speed was still very low.

Today's Ride

My motivation has been running a little low, and daylight savings time has been messing with my rhythm even further, so I didn't get out on my bike until around 9:00. I ended up deciding to try a bicycle trainer I got from my in-laws, for which I have mixed reviews.

The Bad

Cycling in place is beyond boring. I was sitting in our drive spinning for an hour, and I will never do that again without something to occupy my mind. It's also somewhat surreal to be cycling without moving, and near the end it really felt sisyphean.

The Good

Segregating the cycling from movement allowed me to concentrate on technique. I was able to adjust my toe clips to better fit my feet and do the single foot drills, which are both supposed to help with the more efficient pedal strokes I described in a previous post. I was also able to time my cadence, and discovered that the optimal of 90 was a lot slower than I thought. Finally, I was able to focus on maintaining a consistent cadence, something that was very difficult when having to spend most of my energy worrying about hills.

The Conclusion

I think that there are some really good benefits to using the stationary trainer, and I think I'll incorporate it into my training regimen. My Tuesday ride is supposed to be easier, so that is the ride I'm going to replace. I will also either load many songs onto my mp3 player, or set it up inside in front of the TV.

Donations

I surpassed my fund raising goal this past week, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their support. I am very excited by the amount that has been raised thus far, and really appreciate you're generosity. When I first started raising money, I thought I would be lucky to get even a little over the minimum requirement, but now I'm sitting just $75 shy of getting into the "Winner's Circle" for the event. Thanks again, everybody, the support has really kept me going through this rough patch in my training.