Today I headed out on the handcycle for a planned 13 mile ride. My goal was to ride easy and enjoy the summer like weather before going to Metrohealth to perform a concert on the SCI unit.
Reasons for easy. I just installed a new gear cable and expected issues. My arms are tired and I felt sluggish following over a weeks worth of tough workouts without a day off.
I fastened my helmet strap, started the GPS app on my phone and headed off. Immediately I was detoured to the sidewalk. They are installing new gas lines beneath the road.This began what I thought would be a slow day. By the 2nd block I was back on the road and moving along quicker than normal. By mile 2 my pace was a little ahead of normal. My first 6 on this route are a steady uphill of 225 feet. There is a fair amount of stop and go, so I rarely get to a good cruising speed that is sustainable for very long, but by mile 5 I knew I was on pace to break through some time barriers. Once I hit the turn around point I started flying along around 21 MPH. I hit a few more traffic stops, but managed to get to the 10 mile point in under an hour. That is a PR for this route. I was feeling good, so I added a couple of miles and felt very comfortable on the flat sections going 16 MPH. I finished up with a bunch of personal speed records and felt strong.
This was huge for me. I have been feeling overwhelmed at the idea of making the bike cut off times in Ironman competition. The cutoff is 10:30 from the start time. Based on my swim coming under 2 hours and 15 minutes worth of T1, I would have to average 14 MPH on race day. IM Maryland is flat without any stoplights to be concerned about regaining speed. With this in mind, slowing enough for clean bottle hand-offs and maintaining nutrition would be the only reason to slow...... That and my endurance over 112 miles.
My short term goal is to complete the Cleveland Marathon in under 2 hours. Based on what happened today and the knowledge that I went out tired, I feel good about being able to make that happen next May.
Reasons for easy. I just installed a new gear cable and expected issues. My arms are tired and I felt sluggish following over a weeks worth of tough workouts without a day off.
I fastened my helmet strap, started the GPS app on my phone and headed off. Immediately I was detoured to the sidewalk. They are installing new gas lines beneath the road.This began what I thought would be a slow day. By the 2nd block I was back on the road and moving along quicker than normal. By mile 2 my pace was a little ahead of normal. My first 6 on this route are a steady uphill of 225 feet. There is a fair amount of stop and go, so I rarely get to a good cruising speed that is sustainable for very long, but by mile 5 I knew I was on pace to break through some time barriers. Once I hit the turn around point I started flying along around 21 MPH. I hit a few more traffic stops, but managed to get to the 10 mile point in under an hour. That is a PR for this route. I was feeling good, so I added a couple of miles and felt very comfortable on the flat sections going 16 MPH. I finished up with a bunch of personal speed records and felt strong.
This was huge for me. I have been feeling overwhelmed at the idea of making the bike cut off times in Ironman competition. The cutoff is 10:30 from the start time. Based on my swim coming under 2 hours and 15 minutes worth of T1, I would have to average 14 MPH on race day. IM Maryland is flat without any stoplights to be concerned about regaining speed. With this in mind, slowing enough for clean bottle hand-offs and maintaining nutrition would be the only reason to slow...... That and my endurance over 112 miles.
My short term goal is to complete the Cleveland Marathon in under 2 hours. Based on what happened today and the knowledge that I went out tired, I feel good about being able to make that happen next May.
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