Sunday, July 23, 2006
Our Own Tour...
And the great workouts just keep coming. After working at the marina all day and feeling a little sore from the run the night before, I was thinking a nap sounded better than riding. But that's the great thing about my brother, he doesn't leave me that option...and yes, that is a good thing. I had told him I wanted to do an easy 2.5-3 hour low-intensity ride. Even though he's just getting back into riding and has been going 20 miles, he was up for the challenge. So as soon as I pulled into the park after work I saw him walking the bikes over to the shop to air up the tires, adjust the derailleurs, and all that other good stuff. Thirty minutes later our bikes were aired up, water bottles were filled, and we were ready to roll.
After the first ten minutes of consistent hills, we finally got into a rhythm with our cadence ranging between 90-100. I've really been trying to work on this...that and keeping my heels down. Earlier this week I took my bike in to get it professionally fitted. All I can say is Corey is a genius. Ok, so maybe it's just the fact that he's gone through a lot of training and he's done races so he's incredibly knowledgeable, but I was blown away by how much more comfortable I was on my bike. As he put it, you should just feel like you're hanging out on the bike while your legs spin. That's exactly how it was. Even though I had told Rob I wanted to do this ride at a lower intensity, I was feeling so good with the new adjustments and the higher cadence that the low intensity wasn't even an option. And this is why I love training with my bro, he's such a good sport, he kept right up, pushing me the entire time.
We got to our turn around point and I could feel myself shifting slightly in my seat. Nowhere near what it was the previous week when I rode 65 miles with my dad and I was crying before the turn around. Yes, that's right crying because it hurt so bad...all I could think is I was never going to be able to finish the biking part of the half ironman in three weeks. Well thanks to Corey and his crew at Village Bike Shop, this was no longer a concern. And the shifting in my seat was just due to the saddle being slightly too wide. A new one had already been ordered for me and should be here next week.
When we got within ten minutes of home I could tell I was getting a little tired, but I don't think the hills were helping with this. After turning into the campground and dismounting, we quickly changed shoes and started walking. We did one lap around the park and my legs felt surprising good considering I had just rode 50 miles. So I ran a mile and was amazed at how much easier it was after spinning at a higher cadence than I used to. Before, I was all about forcing the pedals around, not spinning, and my legs paid for this in the run. Now I felt like I could keep on running. So bring on that half ironman...now I'm ready.
After the first ten minutes of consistent hills, we finally got into a rhythm with our cadence ranging between 90-100. I've really been trying to work on this...that and keeping my heels down. Earlier this week I took my bike in to get it professionally fitted. All I can say is Corey is a genius. Ok, so maybe it's just the fact that he's gone through a lot of training and he's done races so he's incredibly knowledgeable, but I was blown away by how much more comfortable I was on my bike. As he put it, you should just feel like you're hanging out on the bike while your legs spin. That's exactly how it was. Even though I had told Rob I wanted to do this ride at a lower intensity, I was feeling so good with the new adjustments and the higher cadence that the low intensity wasn't even an option. And this is why I love training with my bro, he's such a good sport, he kept right up, pushing me the entire time.
We got to our turn around point and I could feel myself shifting slightly in my seat. Nowhere near what it was the previous week when I rode 65 miles with my dad and I was crying before the turn around. Yes, that's right crying because it hurt so bad...all I could think is I was never going to be able to finish the biking part of the half ironman in three weeks. Well thanks to Corey and his crew at Village Bike Shop, this was no longer a concern. And the shifting in my seat was just due to the saddle being slightly too wide. A new one had already been ordered for me and should be here next week.
When we got within ten minutes of home I could tell I was getting a little tired, but I don't think the hills were helping with this. After turning into the campground and dismounting, we quickly changed shoes and started walking. We did one lap around the park and my legs felt surprising good considering I had just rode 50 miles. So I ran a mile and was amazed at how much easier it was after spinning at a higher cadence than I used to. Before, I was all about forcing the pedals around, not spinning, and my legs paid for this in the run. Now I felt like I could keep on running. So bring on that half ironman...now I'm ready.
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