SpokEasy

July 2021

Ease Up!

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I have to ease up sometimes, especially when the day before was a hard workout. Thus today was recovery day. My legs needed the chance to recover from the “force” intervals I did yesterday! The wind was calm, and that was a big help. I decided to head for the park, so I wouldn’t have to climb the access ramp to the top of the levee. For that matter, riding along that path makes me slightly nervous at present. The grass alongside the path has become quite tall; and now that I’ve seen a few snakes while out riding, I’m concerned about the possibility of a literal snake in the grass! I did a very short morning ride; less than 5 miles. For recovery rides, you’re supposed to stay in heart rate Zone 1; but my new chest strap’s sensor still isn’t picking up anything. That meant that I had to guess; and keeping it slow and easy was the best that I could do. Incidentally, is a recovery drink in order on recovery day; or should I limit the recovery drink to post-force-workout and post-long-ride? Protein powder isn’t the cheapest stuff around, after all! Then I rode to work, again keeping the pace slow and easy. I had to remember, \”ease up!\” I parked my bike; and then I had to go to physical therapy (for a compression problem in my neck) before I actually went to work. “PT” can get a bit strenuous, so an ease up ride was a good idea in that respect, too. Tomorrow it’s back to pace pushing; and I can begin planning my ride food for Sunday. I hope the weather cooperates. I\’ve been quite lucky; but sometime that luck will end.

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Building Blocks

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I guess you could call my century training plan building blocks: I\’m starting with small steps; and I\’ll let them build up over time. Last week I took a break from pace-pushing and force exercises; and yesterday, I began again with pace work. Now I\’m working for five minutes of pushing for 15 mph or faster; and three minutes of easy riding in between efforts. Before now, I had done four minutes \”on\”; four minutes \”off\”; and I need to get used to riding harder, for longer at a time. So there\’s a little bit of build! Next week, I can make the pace efforts six minutes long; and keep the easy in-between riding to three minutes. The following week will be \”break week\”; and the week after that, I can increase the pace efforts to seven minutes; and so on. Hence, building blocks. Now, how about the \”force\” intervals? Ten seconds at a time now seems like too little; but is 45 seconds too much? I think that several years of doing these exercises once a week (admittedly with breaks several months long!) has helped; so I need to keep them up. Especially if I\’ve got any idea of riding 100 miles in one day! I feel like I\’m a bit stronger than I used to be; but I wish I could know whether my power has improved! Forcing It? Today I worked on those “force” intervals, and made them 30 seconds long. The workout had a rather loose structure. First, I rode comfortably for about 10 minutes; and then I began the intervals. After I did my half-minute, I rode easily until I felt recovered; and then began another hard effort. I lost count of how many force intervals I did; but it wasn’t a huge number. The overall ride, in fact, was rather short. As long as there isn’t a Love to Ride challenge in progress, I can omit a few miles; and I got started a bit late, anyway. Besides, there\’s no point in forcing it too hard and/or too often. Why risk an overuse injury? The sky was heavily overcast, and I’m glad it didn’t rain. I didn’t see any lightning, either. Yesterday morning, outward-bound, I saw flashes of lightning in the clouds off to the South and West. Good thing that lightning was far away! I suppose you could call a cyclist\’s diet building bocks, too; whether you\’re omnivore, vegan, or in between. We need proper nutrition to keep healthy and strong, even if we aren\’t Tour de France material — which I definitely am not. Despite all the \”building blocks\” that I have on hand (e.g. broccoli), I came home and couldn\’t face cooking. One of those days!

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Structure

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Structure is an important aspect of training. Having a definite plan to follow is apt to bring about better results than training by the seat of your pants. It\’s already July; and if I want to do a 100-mile day in October, it\’s high time I put down a training plan on paper. Yes, I have a vague plan in my head; but if it\’s written down in black and white, it will be easier to follow. So, let\’s develop my training structure. Something that I\’m not sure about is: how many times a week should I work on pushing the pace? Twice? I already know that the most intense workouts should take place only once a week; and that a day off from riding once a week is wise. Riders under the age of 40 should take a break from hard interval work every fourth week; and riders over 40 should skip the intense work every third week. Sunday, of course, is my long-ride day. Plans So let\’s start working up that structure! I intend to extend that Sunday long ride to 55 miles this coming weekend; and I need to increase it to 70 miles by mid-September. Why 70 miles? Why not leave it at 50 miles? They say you can do an event ride that\’s double your regular weekly long ride. That might work on paper; but maybe you\’ll be blessed with calm winds and sunshine for those 50-mile weekly rides; and then, on century day, be faced with headwinds and rain! I hope that my \”force\” exercises will improve my strength enough to let me battle prolonged headwinds. I do force exercises one day a week; but do I do enough of them? Are they long enough? And hard enough? I often get the feeling that I\’m too easy on myself. Should I work more at pushing the pace during the weekly long ride; or should I limit that to weekday morning rides?As I\’ve mentioned so often, I don\’t want to \”blow up\” miles away from here; and then have to struggle all the way back home. My structure also needs to include regular off-bike work; namely, exercises for arms, upper body, and core. I\’ve been slack about such work for months, shameful to state; but If I\’m going to be riding all day, I\’ve got to have a solid core; and good arm strength. There are century training plans galore out there. I don\’t do century rides often enough to try them all; so I can\’t say which one is \”best\”. I\’m rather pessimistic about this week\’s riding, because the weather outlook isn\’t good. I might have to \”train\” in the trainer, unless the \”scattered\” T-storms are far enough apart for me to ride between them!

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Kicking Back

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I\’m kicking back today! I love it when I get a three-day weekend. It means a day when I can sleep a few hours later; and go for a bicycle ride if I want to; and I don\’t have to get up early to run errands. Sure, I could go grocery shopping later in the day, but I like to get it done before there\’s much traffic; and, during Summer, before the heat builds up. Then, too, when I shop at the salvage store, I want to get there early. I suspect that the good stuff goes fast. At 9 am, it looked like a good time to go riding. The sun was out; and the wind was calm. True, it was 82 degrees; but it\’s usually 78-80 degrees at 5 am, anyway. \’Tis the season! Before 10 am it had become overcast; and in fact the chances of rain were high. I had thought of riding the hybrid to the drug store; but I decided to stick with kicking back, and stay indoors and dry. I have plenty that I can do at home! But no cooking today. The freezer is crammed with enough stuff for the next two weeks: Poppin\’ Pete; the quinoa version of Leapin\’ Leo; and more! Not to mention all the cheese cubes; bags of frozen blueberries and veggies; and the ice-cube trays. Speaking of kicking back, isn\’t today the first rest day for the Tour de France? But for those guys, the \”rest\” days don\’t mean lounging around. They\’re still doing a very easy ride; or perhaps spinning in a trainer. I\’m glad I can take it easy when I do get a holiday! I\’ve still got an uneasy eye on Elsa. It appears that Louisiana is in the clear — but it bears repeating: one never knows!

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Blank Verse?

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\”Happy Fourth of July!\” isn\’t exactly blank verse. In fact, I\’m not a poet, so I rarely bother with poetry; blank verse or otherwise. Today I did a short ride of 29 miles. I don\’t know why, but my legs still feel tired! There was little wind, for a change; and it was from the West, so I had it behind me on the way home. Again, I spent a lot of time on the small ring. Low-gear, high-cadence riding (average, 83 rpm) might burn fat; but I can see that such riding is where my gut most needs training. Speaking of gut training, today I tested a Luna Bar as ride food. It didn\’t seem very sustaining, although I like the chocolate-peppermint flavor. I think I\’ll stick with FitCrunch and Met-Rx bars. This morning I saw little or nothing over which to wax poetic; whether blank verse or haiku. No bald eagles; no rabbits; and (thank goodness!) no snakes. I had my eye on the clouds, of course. They were building up; and there\’s a 60% chance of T-storms. In fact, the forecast of afternoon T-storms is one reason why I kept it short today. But I got in my ride; and now I can be lazy for a while. At present I\’m charging up my ancient iPod, so that I can enjoy my favorite Fourth of July musical fare: Sousa marches! They seem to have a unique zest; and I say, if you want to move a roomful of furniture — play Sousa marches at it!

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Senility?

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Senility isn\’t creeping up on me already, is it? Sometimes it seems like it. There are mornings when I get back home at the end of a ride; and discover that I forgot to turn on my bicycle\’s tail light. Sometimes I also forget to turn on my wrist blinkie! It\’s a good thing I have my headlight on top of my helmet, or I might forget that, too. Today I noticed more senility. The trip to the salvage store went OK, at least as far as the weather goes. I felt only a few drops on the way to the store; and on the way back home it didn\’t rain, although the sky looked threatening. In fact, I\’m still waiting for the forecast to prove itself. Today I didn\’t take the trailer, because I decided I didn\’t want the extra drag if it did rain. The panniers were sufficient; and I think I need to do something to keep myself from bringing home big loads for a while, anyway! I got a few more cans of soup to add to my hurricane supplies; and I decided to get some bologna, because it\’s Fourth of July weekend. Senility struck again when I went to the bike shop. I had ordered a new heart-rate strap; and several days ago the shop informed me that it had come in. After I got home from the salvage store, I rode over to get it. So what did I do? I paid for the thing, but forgot to pick it up! I was at least halfway home before I realized my error. It\’s a good thing the shop is only one mile from home; and it wasn\’t a huge deal for me to ride back there. Fourth of July Now, what to do for the Fourth of July? I can\’t let fears of senility keep me inactive! According to the forecast, the main chances for rain/T-storms tomorrow are after 1 pm; so I should be OK for a morning ride. I think I\’ll make it rather short — perhaps 30 miles; and then the following Sunday I\’ll shoot for 55 miles. It\’s time I bumped up my distance! It looks like we\’re in for another stormy week. It appears that Elsa won\’t be a threat to us, which is something to be thankful for; but all the same I\’m SO tired of worrying about getting caught in a T-storm every time I ride! All I can do is hope that senility won\’t cause me to forget to take along my poncho!

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Alex and Ani Bracelet

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The Alex and Ani Bracelet lets you show the spirit of the Pan-Mass Challenge; and contribute to a good cause as well. Twenty percent of the purchase price for each bracelet sold goes to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This bracelet is adjustable; fits most wrists. Made in the USA. Pan-Mass Challenge takes place in August, so it sounds like a hot ride. Or is Massachusetts a lot cooler than \”Swampeast\” Louisiana?

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Snakes!

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Snakes! This is a year for snakes, for sure. In the last month or so, I’ve seen three of them while out riding; and that’s more than I ever saw in all the previous years combined! I wasn’t able to identify any of those reptiles; but I suppose they were some kind of water snakes. The first two had patterned skin; and the one I spotted this morning looked all black. I couldn’t positively identify it, because I was moving too fast to get a good look; but it might have been a cottonmouth. I’m glad it was on the opposite side of the path! Most snakes in the USA are non-venomous and harmless to humans; or they are so far. In recent years we hear of pythons in the Everglades; and pythons can grow big enough to be a danger. Early this week there was a report in the news about a cobra on the loose in North Carolina! I hope they catch that cobra; and I hope the Everglades can be cleared of pythons. If I ever have my own place, with a garden in the yard, I won’t mind having a few kingsnakes around. They’ll help keep vermin under control. I won’t, however, go out of my way to find them! That’s enough about those crawling creatures now. I have to make plans for this weekend’s riding! I though of skipping the salvage store tomorrow to go to Whole Foods, because I want some things that the salvage store probably won’t have; but then I remembered that I have Monday off. I can go to the salvage store as usual; and hit Whole Foods on Monday! It looks like I might be OK as far as weather goes; but we’ll see!

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Boucle sans Fin

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Boucle sans fin. I feel like I’m stuck in an endless loop. The weather is part of it. Day after day, the forecast predicts showers and T-storms. The overcast and rain keep us a little cooler; but I’m tired of dirty water getting splashed on my bikes; and on my footwear; and on my panniers. I\’m tired of wondering every evening whether I can ride the next morning; or whether T-storms will force me to abandon my ride plans. At times those daily rides seem like boucle sans fin. I have to admit that it can be quite a grind. Today I actually skipped doing a “real” ride, because I was tired; and my legs felt stiff and sore. I rode to the grocery store, though; and I then I rode to work.  Another boucle sans fin is the endless parade of tropical storms. Around here we can\’t afford to ignore that. The roster of storm names has already reached “E”; and I hope that Elsa doesn’t prove herself a lioness! I wish there were a way to break that endless loop; but I don\’t know how to trigger global cooling! Then there\’s La Grande Boucle. I don\’t follow the race closely, but I enjoy looking at the pics. Among my favorites are pics that show the peloton streaming past fields of sunflowers; and this, after seven years, is still my favorite of all! Photos showing the aftermath of crashes aren\’t my favorites; but I guess they have to show all aspects of Le Tour. It looks like we\’re in for a stormy weekend, and I might have to set up my bike in the trainer. Talk about boucle sans fin — pedaling and pedaling; and going nowhere!

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