Thursday, March 15, 2007

3/13/2007 Cycling + SRR = Brick

Tuesday was the first day on the bike in a long time that didn't result in frozen face or frozen toes, or some other combination of frozen body parts by the end of the ride. It was an incredibly unseasonably warm 70+ degrees F outside. What a brilliant day for a ride!

It was a good day to settle a dispute in my mind. When I set about planning my 16 mile run last weekend I managed to underestimate my mileage by almost 2 miles. Instead of running 16 miles I ended up running 17.75 miles. It's not that big of a deal, and was an excellent, if hard, lesson in running longer distances. I learned that I need some sort of food or gel before and during a run that long or I will bonk in a big way. The dispute was whether I really missed the boat when I planned the run or if routeslip was is just off. To settle it once and for all I rode the same route that I ran to check the distance. I'm reasonably confident that it will give me the correct mileage.

Dist: 18.72 miles
Avg: 15.8 mph
Max: 38.2 mph
Time: 1:11.03

It wasn't really 18.72 miles. That was my total ride. The confirmed distance for Sunday's run is 17.75 miles give or take a tenth of a mile. It sets to rest my anal retentive mind.

After my riding was done, I finished up with a 23 minute, 2.8 mile SRR on Filager and back Meghan's Run. I am bound and determined to get brick sessions in as I can before duathlon season starts this year. I'm shooting for 0 leg cramps during the races this year. I don't think it was a matter of diet that was causing them last year as much as it was poor training. We shall see.

Speaking of training I need to set up some sort of training regiment for my cycling. It's not going to be enough for me to get out and just ride a bunch of miles this year. I want to increase my speed. To do this I'm going to need a plan. I've though about setting up something similar to what I do for running. During any given week I'll get out 3 times. Once for a long ride, once for an interval session, and one other time for a brick day. It sounds like a plan, but I'm going to do some research first to get some ideas.

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