Wow - the time is just flying by. I have less than two weeks to go before I fly to Hawaii. I've continued to ride, and continued to commute to work by bike 2 to 3 days a week. In doing so, I've broken the usual training recommendation that you increase your riding 10 percent a week as you're building to a goal. Hmm... I was riding 20 to 40 miles a week before I added the commuting and before I started lengthening my weekend rides. The last three weeks have been in the 120 to 150 mile range. That's way more than 10 percent a week! I think what's really on my side though is that although I didn't ride outside through the winter, I never stopped exercising. I tried to keep my aerobic exercise base at 6 to 9 hours a week throughout the winter. So my jumping from a 30 mile week to a 130 mile week didn't cause any problems for me other than being tired. Not too bad. My plans are to have another decent mileage week this coming week, then the week of my trip (I leave on a Friday) I'll try to be a bit more laid back - I'll probably try to do a couple of short rides. Even though I wanted to have more mileage under my tires before I leave, I think I'm really in decent shape for the trip.
I've found that I really enjoy commuting to work by bike. Now why didn't I try this years ago? Right now 2 to 3 days a week is fine. Maybe someday I'll graduate to more, but for now I'm OK with 2 to 3 times. I've noticed on the days that I ride to work that I'm eating all day. I have breakfast before I leave home, then usually have some cottage cheese or yogurt (from the stash I keep in the refrigerator at the office) plus a homemade muffin (oatmeal raisin was my choice for this week - yum!). I have lunch and some fruit at lunch time, a mid-afternoon fruit break, and grab an energy bar before I leave on my bike to head home. Another shower at home, then dinner. I just have to remember that it's ok to eat like a crazy cyclist on the days that I'm riding, but I need to keep a little control on the days that I'm not riding. I bought the book Optimal Muscle Recovery and Performance by Ed Burke from www.roadbikerider.com, and I just loved the quote from the book that they included in their newsletter on April 24th. The topic was recovery for the masters athlete, talking about nutrition for those of us who are over 40: "The bottom line on nutrition for the mature athlete is very simple: Pause a moment before eating anything and objectively analyze what the end result will be. Will it enhance your training or contribute to good health? Will it help maintain muscle mass? Or will it leave behind empty calories looking for a thigh on which to take up residence?" I love it - now I'll just have to keep that in mind. So what does this mean? I think it means that I can eat all the ice cream I want as long as I keep riding!
This is the first weekend in ages where we've had two good days. It seems like either Saturday or Sunday have been total washouts with serious rainfall over the last few weeks. I definitely enjoyed this one with two good rides. Yesterday I started out with the intent to ride to Ipswich, but somehow ended up following bike club arrows instead. All of the clubs around here paint arrows on the pavement for their weekly rides - the only danger in following them after the fact is that I might end up riding more mileage than I originally planned. Luckly the century rides are usually tagged with the mileage next to the arrow, so at least it's not an inadvertant 100 miles when I follow the mystery arrows! I had a nice ride wandering around back roads yesterday, so today I stayed on route 133 to start out, and really did ride to Ipswich and back again. Both rides were nice spring rides - the first time I'd been on these particular roads this season.
I've been switching off between my two touring bikes - but I decided today that as a sign of spring I really should get my skinny-tired road bike out. What a nice change of pace!
Had a bit of a strange cyclist encounter yesterday. I saw another cyclist at an intersection in Boxford Center. I waved as I passed - and we each continued on our way. I guess we ended up riding different loops that put us back in the same spot later, because I rode past him again. As I rode by, he said "at least I'm not riding a funny-looking bike". Odd comment - and yes, I was riding my Air Glide yesterday (little wheels make me fly... seat post on titanium beam, and it's purple!), not an ordinary looking bike. I waited for him to catch up so we could chat, but he never caught me. When I stopped to take a picture he finally caught up with me and said "you ride pretty fast, for a girl". I wonder if that made him feel better. The fact is, I was riding slowly yesterday, not pushing it, smelling the roses, taking pictures. If I was slow, he was slower! Weird. Guess it takes all types. And of course, I really don't take offense at odd comments about my bikes or about me - I just thought this was a little strange.
I saw a lot of other cyclists today - some just in passing (going the other way) and others with a quick conversation. I guess everyone is finally coming out now that the sun is shining. I also had a chance to chat with a couple of Harley riders as we were waiting for a light to change. They asked me how far I'd ridden today, and when I responded "42 miles", one of them said that riding that distance on his Harley sometimes makes him tired! Yeah, but I bet I get to eat more than he does after my ride...
Had an interesting dog encounter today too. I was riding along minding my own business when a dog came racing at me out of no where. The funny thing was, he kept racing and barking, but after my first view of him he ran behind a wooden fence (I guess he was defending his property) and continued to chase along on the other side of the fence. Don't get me wrong - I was happy he stayed on the other side of the fence. And he did make me laugh!
I think I'll follow Kati's example and include some pictures here of the sights I saw on my rides over the past couple of days. It will be fun to compare these with the pictures from Hawaii in a couple of weeks!
Saturday, May 3rd - a little chill in the air, but a beautiful spring day with a clear blue sky. The grass is green, the perennials are flowering, and some of the trees are starting to show some green - that early season very light green. It's beautiful!
Sunday, May 4th - another beauty of a day. It was supposed to be warmer than yesterday, but it really didn't feel that way as I was riding. I think the temperature was about the same - in the high 50s while I was riding - but there was a wind out of the east, and I was heading towards the ocean. So I think the perceived temperature difference was from a wind blowing cool air in from the ocean. Still a nice day...
Sunday, May 11th - it was another good week of biking. I managed to get in 145 miles this week in spite of the fact that it wasn't a good week for commuting by bike. I rode 3 evenings after work, plus had two good rides this weekend. It was in the 50s and low 60s yesterday and today, with some wind, and a nice blue sky. I rode without the camera and of course missed some good pictures because of it - but the riding was good! The longest ride I've done so far this season is 48 miles - and the first traveling day in Hawaii will be 65 miles long (I think) and hilly. I'm sure I'll be fine - and I'm looking forward to some warm weather riding!
This should be a resting week (as opposed to a training week). I'm going to try to get in a couple of short and easy rides, nothing too intense.
Only 5 more days...
