Swim day. While the kids had their lessons, I went over to the deep pool and swam some lengths. I had less than a half hour, so I swam pretty hard. I managed 600 before I headed over to the nearly empty hot tub. I haven’t done a hot tub post-swim in a long time. Usually I swim later, and by that time the hot tub is packed. Not only was the hot tub nearly empty, I had the entire swim lane to myself.
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Epic Familiar
The long ride. Saturday morning. Epic. We had planned 3.5-4 hours, and it had to include Munns Rd. I was aiming for the 4 hour end of things to try and get in over 100 KM.
We started out on the goose for an easy warm up, then headed to Munns right away. As we approached the first big hill, I noticed I was already out of breath. Odd. We kept pushing, and made if from the turnoff from Burnside, to the turn off onto Millstream Lake road in 29 minutes. Pretty good. After turning onto Willis Point rd, I see we had did Millstream Lake road in 15 minutes. Not bad.
We got onto Wallace and started hammering along the flat section. I grabbed a bite of my bar and noticed that I was late in starting to eat. I didn’t think anything of it though. This was a mistake.
As we continued on West Saanich road, I was increasingly aware of heading away from town, and not feeling as strong as I would have liked. I had gotten behind the curve on my nutrition and was playing catch up. I was hungry, my tummy felt empty, and no matter what I ate, the feeling wasn’t going away. I didn’t think I was going to make the distance.
By the time we stopped at Panorama Rec centre for a water break I had eaten half the food I had brought, and was feeling OK. From there we followed a familiar route, that took us to Michell Farms. From there the route home is very familiar.
But in the back of my mind I could tell I couldn’t do the entire water route home. I didn’t have the reserves in me. At Blenkinsop I peeled off from my friend and zipped home along the goose.
By the time I got home I was feeling pretty crappy about my decision. I really wanted to get in 4 hours and to break 100K. Yes, I managed to get home without bonking, but I felt like I let myself down.
View Tour de Victoria, April 21 2012 in a larger map
Total distance: 87.45 km (54.3 mi)
Total time: 3:31:40
Moving time: 3:26:08
Average speed: 24.79 km/h (15.4 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.46 km/h (15.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 65.30 km/h (40.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.42 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.36 min/km (3.8 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.92 min/km (1.5 min/mi)
Max elevation: 286 m (939 ft)
Min elevation: -22 m (-74 ft)
Elevation gain: 2220 m (7284 ft)
Max grade: 40 %
Min grade: -39 %
Recorded: 4/21/2012 8:05 AM
Activity type: cycling
For my long rides I need to be more away of my nutrition. Keeping the machine fueled is vital to being able to go the distance. I need to watch the clock more and consume calories are more regular intervals.
Besides the nutrition problems, the ride was good. I did well on the hills of Munns Rd, and wasn’t sore the next day from it. The sun was out, and by the end of the ride it was warm. I can’t wait until next weekend to try to break 100K again. I will force myself to do it not matter how tired I feel.
Pool Slow
Tuesday I zipped down to the pool for a quick swim. In a half hour I managed to do at least 800M. It may have been more, but at one point my mind wandered and I lost count for a minute.
Of that 800M I did 200M using the kickboard. The kickboard is a lot of leg work, and very tiring. It also feels extremely slow compared to a front crawl.
The best part about the swim? Room. There were three swim lanes open, and I had a lane all to myself for most of my swim. Beauty.
Intimidating Nutrition
Training continues. Yesterday was my long ride day. The plan for the day was to ride around 3 hours, and to include Munns. That road is a little intimidating. I’d only done it once before and it was hard, painful, steep, unrelenting, nasty, and hard. Still, I’ve been feeling pretty strong lately, so I was game.
I met up with my buddy on the Selkirk trestle, and we zipped along the goose until we got out to Burnside Rd. Then it was a short jaunt to Prospect Lake road, then Munns Road.
Sure enough, we climbed, up. It was hard, it seemed unrelenting, then it stopped. It didn’t seem as long as last time. I wasn’t gasping for breath at the top. I was so happy.
Then it was off to Millstream Lake road. I remembered there were some killer hills there too. This time they weren’t as long or ad hard either. I was feeling pretty good about my shape at this point.
After this section we headed out Wallace Drive for a bit, then over to Keating, then got onto the Lochside trail and followed that all along the water until I got home. In all it was close to 3.5 hours, just under 85 KM, and with no stopping at all. The average speed was a little lower than I would have liked, but I can work on that.
I also need to work on nutrition a bit. I didn’t have any issues, but my buddy suggested a couple things that I would like to try.
Time to step up the distance! 70 ish days until the ride. I need to feel comfortable doing 120km or more.
View Tour de Victoria April 14, 2012 in a larger map
Created by My Tracks on Android.
Total distance: 84.84 km (52.7 mi)
Total time: 3:29:28
Moving time: 3:26:55
Average speed: 24.30 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 24.60 km/h (15.3 mi/h)
Max speed: 65.08 km/h (40.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.47 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.44 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.92 min/km (1.5 min/mi)
Max elevation: 248 m (813 ft)
Min elevation: -35 m (-114 ft)
Elevation gain: 1533 m (5029 ft)
Max grade: 25 %
Min grade: -36 %
Recorded: 4/14/2012 8:36 AM
Grind Week
Thursday night was another training night. I got my bike on the trainer for an hours spin. Well, not so much spin as a grind.
I had put a new bike computer on recently, and the one I got has a cadence meter, and runs the speedo off the rear wheel. This is wonderful for on the trainer since I can pick a certain goal, and easily stik to it. I used to use my heart rate monitor for the same purpose, but seeing your cadence drop, or your KM/H drop i find to be more of an incentive to ride harder
I did a five minute warmup, a 15 minute high gear low RPM set, followed by a five minute, lower gear, high RPM set for recovery. I repeated the low RPM and high RPM sets, then finished up with a final 10 minute low RPM set and a five minute cool down.
I worked up quite a sweat during this workout. I am actually looking forward to doing it again next week.
The kids came down to see me and say hi. I like it when they do, but they allowed the smell of cooking dinner to waft down to me. Mmm, Sue was making a lamb hit pot meal that smelled divine. I managed to not let myself get derailed by the smell. 🙂
Evening Board
Tuesday night was my swim night. I walked down to the pool after dinner, and what a perfect evening to be outside. The warm springtime air was energizing.
The pool was pretty busy, but the one open lane wasn’t too clogged. It was pretty funny to watch the people taking scuba lessons though. Swimming along with a diver below me was pretty weird.
In total I swam 1000m. I even used a kick board for the first time for 200m of that 1000. Tiring swim, but good for the body.
Goose Pace
Ride training is going well. On Wednesday Sue and I went for a ride together. We were a little limited in time (2 hours), but we had a nice day for it, and rode along the water as far as we could, then got onto the Goose and headed for home.
As we got close to Saanich municipal hall, I had a most dramatic puncture. A pop, followed by a loud hissing, which paused every time my tire rolled over the hole. Aaargh. Changing another flat. I also managed to mess up another tube, so I broke out the patch kit again. What a way to end a ride. Since Sue was meeting her mom, she carried on without me.
View Tour de Victoria April 4, 2012 in a larger map
Total distance: 42.01 km (26.1 mi)
Total time: 2:10:08
Moving time: 1:53:19
Average speed: 19.37 km/h (12.0 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 22.25 km/h (13.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 53.59 km/h (33.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 3.10 min/km (5.0 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.70 min/km (4.3 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.12 min/km (1.8 min/mi)
Max elevation: 61 m (201 ft)
Min elevation: -29 m (-95 ft)
Elevation gain: 1283 m (4208 ft)
Max grade: 28 %
Min grade: -36 %
After that I went to the shop and bought some new tires for my bike. Here is hoping they make a difference.
Saturday was my first ride on them. Despite my rear wheel being out of true, I had a great ride. I covered lots of great roads, felt strong the entire time, and pushed myself pretty hard along the way. I’ve been riding in a higher gear than normal and trying to grind my way through the rides. The goal is to build up my leg muscles so that on ride day I can tackle anything I want to, and not blow out my legs. 140KM is a long distance to go and killing my legs even half way through isn’t an option.
View Tour de Victoria April 7, 2012 in a larger map
Total distance: 69.36 km (43.1 mi)
Total time: 2:53:14
Moving time: 2:47:50
Average speed: 24.02 km/h (14.9 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 24.80 km/h (15.4 mi/h)
Max speed: 66.43 km/h (41.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.50 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.42 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.90 min/km (1.5 min/mi)
Max elevation: 106 m (348 ft)
Min elevation: -15 m (-49 ft)
Elevation gain: 1697 m (5567 ft)
Max grade: 32 %
Min grade: -38 %
Great ride with a decent pace. I can’t wait until next weekend now.
Thinking Oddly
Thursday morning I woke up at 5:30 for apparently no reason. Groggily I did my best to fall back asleep. When I woke up just before 7 I started thinking about why I had woken up.
It wasn’t the kids, it wasn’t something outside, it wasn’t the cat, it wasn’t Sue. Then it hit my like a ton of bricks.
Thursday was March 29th. That was the two year anniversary of Yoshi passing away. Oddly, it happened right around 5:30 in the morning.
I don’t think I will forget that day. I still love you Yoshi. RIP.
Delicious Dam
Lat Tuesday I hit the pool for another swim workout. I am feeling pretty good in the pool, but now I want to work on my leg strength, so I think for my next swim I will grab a board and just kick for a few hundred metres. This particular swim though I manged 800.
After the swim I felt the delicious drained feeling. My body certainly got a workout. I’ve decided that I also want to learn how to do the flip turns. Of course, after seeing Rick Mercer try them, maybe I will hold off a bit 😉
On Friday I managed to get onto the trainer for a hard workout. After a five minute warmup, I alternated pushing a hard gear at slow RPM’s with a 1 minute recovery window. That sure got the heart rate up, but at the end of it, I didn’t feel like I had done much work. I should have ridden longer, but unfortunately that was all the time I could squeeze in.
Yesterday, while in Nanaimo, Sue and I got out for a nice ride. We took the parkway trail from Mom’s house and headed south. I pushed a pretty hard gear as much as I could. My goal is to build up my legs strength in training, then when the Tour de Victoria is on, I can run in a lower gear with higher RPM. We’ll see how that plays out.
As we went through Colliery Dam Park, I thought my bike felt a little off. I glanced at the rear wheel and thought it looked a little low. Sure enough, it was going flat. We emerged from the park, and I set about fixing it. With no spare tube (I had to put the spare on my bike earlier), I patched the hole, and used my CO2 to fill the tire.
Thankfully the patch job held or I would have had to call someone for help. The weather for the ride was pretty nice too. I was glad the rain held off, and we even had some sun along the way.
Some time when in Nanaimo, I’d love to figure out some nice roads to ride on so we can get off the parkway trail. It’s OK, but there are some brutally steep sections, and isn’t really that scenic.
Fried Trainer
Yesterday I headed out for a ride with D. He brought his fast bike out, which had me a little intimidated. Sure enough, he outrode me pretty much everywhere. This could have been demoralizing, but instead I am taking it as a cue that I need to get better prepared for the Tour de Victoria. I have three months to get ready. I have to step up my training.
The ride was just over 60KM. On the return trip my legs were starting to feel a little fried. I did not managed my nutrition while riding very well, which may have played a part in this. Instead of following the water all the way back, I parted ways with D, and tried to find a quicker, and flatter, way home.
It was at this point that I really started slowing down. I just had no power left in my legs to really keep rolling. Here is the route.
Find more Bike Ride in Victoria
Back at home I scarfed back some food, then grabbed some water and sat on the front step in the sunshine. Gorgeous. I can’t wait to get out and ride again next weekend. Before then though I plan to hit the pool for some lengths, and get on the trainer once too.