Longest Bike Ride, More To Come

Good morning.

Well I went on that long bike ride yesterday along the lakefront. Went 56 miles. It was not as hard as I expected. You get in a groove. My quads feel strong on the bike. There were a lot of people on the lakefront path. There were, walkers, roller bladers, runners, bikers, etc. So, some of the time was devoted to dodging all these people. There were many open areas south of the main beach areas. One benefit of having all these people on the path is your bike handling skills become very crisp.

There are some experienced bike riders on this path. I try to keep up with them or pass them when I can. Sometimes we play a cat and mouse game of following and passing. It is really good exercise. I am happily impressed with my quads/legs ability to turn on the power when passing. I am sure some of these guys were thinking, "who is this guy?" On a flat section during a pass I can reach 25 miles an hour with excellent cadence. The legs just pound it out and they have pretty good stamina.

It took mw 3:21 to do the 56 miles. Part of this time is getting to and from the lakefront path and waiting at stop lights. If I could ride the 56 miles with no interference I would guess I could do it under 3 hours. My triathlon goal was 2:30 for the half Ironman. I am not sure if this is attainable. We will see.

When I got done with the ride and in my garage I saw a pair of running shoes and thought, "hey, lets see how it feels to run right after a 56 mile bike ride." Let me tell you, it felt like I had bowling balls on my feet. My legs felt so damn heavy. It almost feels like you just ran the hardest marathon of your life. The legs don't want to go. I went up and down the street a few times. Wow.

To work on this I must incorporate brick training into my training. A brick workout is when you follow a bike ride immediately with a run. This teaches your legs to get moving after the bike segment of the triathlon. I will try this perhaps this week. My bike stats:

Split Time Moving Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Speed Avg Moving Speed Max Speed Calories
1 0:05:16 0:05:06 1 13 36 11.4 11.8 16.4 71
2 0:04:00 0:03:59 1 33 23 15 15.1 20.3 83
3 0:05:10 0:05:11 1 46 30 11.6 11.6 18.1 75
4 0:04:04 0:04:04 1 20 16 14.7 14.8 18.8 70
5 0:03:27 0:03:28 1 -- 36 17.3 17.3 21.9 55
6 0:03:22 0:03:21 1 46 7 17.8 17.9 24.5 87
7 0:03:37 0:03:39 1 -- 26 16.6 16.4 19.7 47
8 0:03:39 0:03:39 1 -- 23 16.4 16.4 19.2 52
9 0:03:38 0:03:39 1 3 10 16.4 16.4 18.5 47
10 0:03:30 0:03:30 1 3 10 17.1 17.1 19.5 53
11 0:03:40 0:03:41 1 3 10 16.3 16.3 21.4 55
12 0:03:36 0:03:36 1 13 3 16.7 16.7 20 54
13 0:03:28 0:03:30 1 3 7 17.3 17.1 19.9 57
14 0:05:02 0:05:02 1 26 20 11.9 11.9 20.8 95
15 0:03:37 0:03:39 1 3 3 16.5 16.4 23 54
16 0:03:25 0:03:23 1 10 7 17.5 17.7 22.6 59
17 0:03:00 0:03:02 1 10 3 20 19.8 22.1 77
18 0:03:02 0:03:01 1 7 16 19.7 19.9 23.8 62
19 0:03:11 0:03:13 1 7 7 18.8 18.7 23.2 70
20 0:03:16 0:03:16 1 16 7 18.3 18.4 23.5 59
21 0:03:17 0:03:18 1 0 7 18.2 18.2 21.5 63
22 0:03:17 0:03:17 1 3 7 18.3 18.3 20.5 63
23 0:03:28 0:03:29 1 16 3 17.2 17.2 20.4 57
24 0:04:30 0:04:30 1 33 26 13.3 13.3 19.4 82
25 0:03:05 0:03:06 1 -- 33 19.4 19.4 22.7 59
26 0:02:58 0:02:59 1 10 13 20.2 20.1 22.7 78
27 0:02:51 0:02:50 1 13 7 21 21.2 23.3 80
28 0:02:48 0:02:50 1 3 10 21.4 21.2 23.1 75
29 0:02:53 0:02:52 1 23 3 20.8 20.9 24 75
30 0:02:48 0:02:49 1 0 7 21.4 21.3 23.5 80
31 0:03:12 0:03:12 1 13 10 18.7 18.7 22.5 64
32 0:03:30 0:03:29 1 20 13 17.1 17.2 21.1 63
33 0:03:13 0:03:15 1 10 13 18.6 18.5 22.9 75
34 0:04:04 0:04:04 1 89 36 14.7 14.8 24.2 126
35 0:02:56 0:02:57 1 3 39 20.4 20.3 25.1 55
36 0:02:51 0:02:51 1 -- 20 21 21.1 25.5 61
37 0:03:03 0:03:04 1 10 0 19.6 19.6 23.7 70
38 0:02:55 0:02:55 1 10 3 20.5 20.6 23.6 70
39 0:03:08 0:03:08 1 0 10 19.1 19.1 22.6 61
40 0:03:00 0:03:01 1 0 7 19.9 19.9 23.3 65
41 0:03:23 0:03:23 1 10 3 17.7 17.7 20.7 57
42 0:03:34 0:03:35 1 7 7 16.8 16.7 17.9 53
43 0:03:41 0:03:41 1 3 7 16.2 16.3 19.2 54
44 0:03:54 0:03:55 1 10 7 15.4 15.3 18.7 54
45 0:03:47 0:03:47 1 7 3 15.8 15.9 18.3 52
46 0:03:40 0:03:41 1 3 7 16.4 16.3 19.7 49
47 0:03:15 0:03:16 1 3 7 18.4 18.4 22.6 61
48 0:03:18 0:03:18 1 10 7 18.2 18.2 20.8 57
49 0:03:10 0:03:11 1 0 10 18.9 18.8 22.1 60
50 0:03:22 0:03:22 1 10 3 17.8 17.8 22.7 68
51 0:03:26 0:03:26 1 0 10 17.5 17.5 20.2 51
52 0:03:47 0:03:48 1 13 10 15.8 15.8 21.9 63
53 0:04:04 0:03:34 1 13 16 14.8 16.8 21.8 56
54 0:05:23 0:05:01 1 3 16 11.1 12 20.6 60
55 0:05:09 0:05:09 1 26 20 11.6 11.7 18.5 57
56 0:03:51 0:03:53 1 26 13 15.6 15.5 19.1 69
57 0:01:13 0:01:13 0.27 0 7 13 13.1 16.7 20
Summary 3:21:12 3:20:08 56.27 666 709 16.8 16.9 25.5 3,645



-----
" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin