I just realized I haven’t posted in quite a while about how the training is going!
My riding is still well out of hand – I’ve only missed going out 4 days this month. My speed is still good, around 20 mph, though I’ve had to slog through some pretty ugly wind so I’ve used that opportunity to slow the pace down and get in some recovery rides. My ride today it appears as though I may actually have some happy time – the wind has died down considerably so I’ll be hitting this one hard. I’ve begun to tinker with my bike set up a little bit here and there to see if I can improve on what I had, maybe eek a little more power out or make some gains aerodynamically – I’ll keep the progress on that posted. For now, I’ve raised up the seat another 1/8 of an inch or so, dropped the stem about 1/2″ and tilted my bars up a bit to present the hoods at a more comfortable angle (my wrists are starting to fatigue from the angle they were required to be at to get to the hoods).
Running is going quite well after that tough run three weeks ago or so. Even though I had a tough time on that run three weeks ago, that 8:06 pace for almost 7 miles was nearing a personal best time for me as well. Last Saturday I rode down to the running club for the first time this season and put out a personal best paced 5k. I’ll be bumping that distance up to 5 miles this week and then 7 next week where I’ll level out for a few before bumping up to 9’s in June where I’ll stay the rest of the summer until the Crim.
Over the last two and a half weeks I’ve gotten my mileage up to mid season distances – 102 miles two weeks ago, 118 last week and I should be able to top 100 again this week.
I’ve found myself eating a lot more as a result so I’m interested to see where I’m at when I weigh in at the running club on Saturday. I’ll be sure to post the results, I’m going purely by listening to my gut – no counting calories.
Oh, my buddy Steve called the other day to ask if I would be interested in doing a Sprint or an Olympic once a month with him – that’s great news, and we’ll be able to throw in an off-road tri from time to time as well.
Fit Recovery 
Jim, are you using a power meter? Or just going off peceived effort and/or speed? Gary
I don’t have a power meter, it’s all perceived exertion – more aptly stated, it’s me repeating over and over in my head, “pedal faster punk”!
From running for so many years, I know when I’m punking out, though a HR monit
iPhones are not perfect…
…Monitor and a power meter would help, I’m still just in this to have fun and stay in shape.
The speed is GPS tracked – that’s accurate to a hundredth of a mile per hour… Today I had to bust it pretty hard just to maintain 19 mph – wind wasn’t too bad, but it was COLD!
Nice workout! Sounds like you’ve been pushing yourself more and more. How’s everything been since you scaled the training back?
🙂 It’s FUN!
[…] I did write about slamming my stem a couple of weeks ago (along with changing the angle of my bars/drops/hoods)… That took a little bit of getting used to, but I’ve been stretching […]