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.
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
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. 🙂
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.
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.
Yes it’s early, but I am using that excuse. Riding is fun, and I do enjoy it quite a bit.
Way back on Feb 5 I got out for a ride with a friend. As I was getting ready (ahem, I should say I was putting on my booties), I pulled a muscle in my back. I was sitting down and hurt my back. WTF?
Still it was such a nice day I rode anyway hoping that it would loosen me up a bit. The ride was a spectacular couple of hours. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the sunshine that we rode in. Unfortunately my back didn’t, and I was in some pretty serious back pain that took a couple weeks to resolve.
Last weekend I took my hardtail out to the dump. I still haven’t fixed the chain on my Bullit so the bike choice was easy. Mountain biking is so much different from road biking. The pace is slower, and the workout full body. And you don’t cover nearly the same distance in the same amount of time.
Here is a map of that ride.
Yesterday I got out for a solo road ride. I had aimed for a couple hours, and in the end I think it was 2.5 hours. Blustery day which made for a couple terrifying moments. One cross breeze hit me hard enough to put me into a two wheel drift. The route I ended up doing was really nice too. Prospect Lake Road is sure fun, and pretty quiet. After a few more training rides I will tackle Munn’s Road. There are some big hills on that one.
Can’t wait to get more rides in this year.
I’ve been on Saltspring Island for a few days now, but today I went for a lovely ride. I started out close to Ganges, and rode to the South end of the island. Geoff and I stopped at a friends house, then I continued on my way. I ended up riding toward Ruckle Park. The route out there was twisty, turny, up and down. It was a very fun road. Along the way I kept wondering when I should turn around. Eventually I decided I wanted to go all the easy to the ocean. That was until I hit the gravel road that went to the parking lot. As I was turning around a glint fought my eye. There was a twonie on the ground. I snatched it up and put it in my jersey pocket.
My bacon and scrambled eggs breakfast was weighing heavily in my stomach to this point. So much so, that I couldn’t think about eating my Clif Bar. As I was starting to get hungry, I rounded a corner and spotted a sign that said “fresh baked organic food today”. Beside the road was a little stand. I checked out what was available for $2, and lo and behold, the chocolate chip pecan coconut cookies with hand milled organic flour were $2. I snatched one out deposited my money and bit into it. The container was sitting in the sun so the cookie was still warm, and the chips still soft and gooey. Wow, that was one delicious cookie!
Feeling better I got back on my bike and kept riding. I toured the back roads of Saltspring and had a great time in the process. I chased after Geoff, trying to find him at a centre (he took a different route), but never did. Upon my return to the cabin the first thing that Geoff said was that he only got there a couple minutes before I did.
Lunch, followed by an ice cold beer while sitting in the warm sun was the perfect end to the ride.
View August 14 Tour de Saltspring in a larger map
Total Distance: 47.26 km (29.4 mi)
Total Time: 2:32:59
Moving Time: 2:13:16
Average Speed: 18.54 km/h (11.5 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 21.28 km/h (13.2 mi/h)
Max Speed: 65.02 km/h (40.4 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 1 m (4 ft)
Max Elevation: 194 m (638 ft)
Elevation Gain: 897 m (2942 ft)
Max Grade: 10 %
Min Grade: -12 %