The Real Thing, Take One

There has been a lot written recently about the fact that endurance athletes need not kill themselves six days a week to get peak performance -- when it was once believed that only miles upon miles upon miles of base training would get you there, now it is understood that the body's physiology prefers a series of short "interval" style high impact workouts followed by a longer workout to absorb the training. In my case, almost all of the interval style workouts will be done in the cozy confines of a gym, complete with towels, drinking fountains, etc.

The same cannot be said for what will become a staple, the weekend bike ride. While it is indeed true that I live in San Diego, and, to be fair, the challenges of outdoor riding are not the same that I faced when I lived in the likes of Minneapolis, Washington, DC, or New York, there is just something different about hopping on the oh-so-skinny saddle, strapping on helmet and bike shoes and actually hitting the pavement.

1:45 Foundation Bike Ride

Over the course of my training for the Aquabike, I think it will vary as to whether I swim or bike on Saturday morning. The morning does provide a bit of a childcare challenge as the Princess and the Lovely Wife head off to ballet class every Saturday at 9am. The Princess loves it, and I wouldn't think of ever preempting it -- but, as you can imagine, this means that the Pea needs care... and while it would be easy to do the bike ride at the gym, bringing him to day care, that is just NOT what I need to get in proper shape for my goals.

On this day, the Princess and her mother headed to ballet, she did wonderfully well (and was thus treated with a chocolate-milk outing as a result), and they rolled back in around 10:15. The Princess was over the moon to see my "bike, bike shoes, bike gloves, and helmet" spread out and started to dress daddy for his ride. It's not a fast process when a two year old is in charge, but the sheer joy on her face as she sipped on my water bottles and helped me strap on my helmet simply cannot be matched. So, it was a little after 10:30 when I hit the road.

It was a little after 10:31 when it started raining. I know, I know, I live in San Diego and this isn't supposed to happen. Well, you're right -- all the while they were at ballet the sun had beaten back the rain clouds from the evening before and it looked gorgeous. I had put on only a t-shirt, slathered on sun screen and... by 10:33 I was soaked and some nice woman literally said to me "ohh, poor guy..."

But, alas, the sun did peek out as I carried on and by 11:00 the weather was once again gorgeous, I was drying off, and as I hit the typical mile-long 4-5% grade climbs that typify my part of San Diego county I was feeling bad for the other riders wearing far too much clothing.

All in all, it was a good ride -- but as I said when I started, wow is it different from the gym. Not to overdo it with the statistical analysis, but at the gym you are deluged with numbers and you are able to respond accordingly with your muscles. In the real world, for better or for worse (and I tend to think for better), riding a bike can be beautiful. There were birds out, the sprinkling of rain had opened up flowers in only a few minutes, there were vistas of mountains and streams that may not have had water in them only 12 hours earlier -- it was a nice day to be taking a "real bike ride" for the first time since before the holidays.

What I mean to say is that I was slow -- very slow. Whereas I had pumped and pumped at the gym and was able to conquer 13+ miles in 45 minutes, I got a bit lackadaisical in the schizophrenic weather and nice scenery and kind of coasted at around 15mph for nearly the whole ride. I did do a lot of hills, and I did have some highly aerobic moments, but let's just say that I was not the taskmaster I was at the gym twice this week. If I had a power meter on my bike, and I don't because they cost a few hundred dollars(!), I'm guessing I would have averaged around 150. Not good enough, and I know that, but I was getting used to the bike again. Getting used to smashing my sit bones onto a small seat, getting used to a real climb with pebbles and dirt, and getting used to being distracted by the world.

I did put in 25 miles and the training was as it should be -- and all remains right in the world.