Tuesday - Jun 25, 2013 - AM Ride & Lunch Gym

Tuesday - June 25, 2013

AM Ride

Morning ride!  I've been looking forward to this for a few days, and couldn't wait to get out.  I removed the aero bars and put the headlight on the handlebars.  I also added a new iPhone mount and removed the CatEye speedometer.  I was playing music from my phone, and watching my Strava info as I rolled on. 

I wanted to cover 27 miles with three hills, so I got up at 4am and headed out by 4:45am.  Another beautiful, almost chilly morning.  Anyone that doesn't like working out during the day because of the heat, needs to check out AM workouts.  It was perfect for most of my ride. 

The first hill on my route was Given.  Last week, I climbed Spooky Hollow and then coasted down Given back to Loveland-Madeira.  This time, I went up Given and down Spooky Hollow.  Given, unknown to me as I was climbing it, is the steepest hill I've climbed yet.  Much of it has a grade between 10% and 20%, with three short spots over 20%.  The thing is nuts.  I know the Tour de France guys would fly up this thing, sitting down, no big deal.  But I was out of the seat, cranking away and going switchback.  Anything I could do to get UP.

Coasting down Spooky Hollow was fun and I kept going, popping a GU and putting on my goggles for the bug infested bike trail section.  I took the trail to Kugler Mill/Galbraith and got to my next hill.  This one isn't as bad as Given, with a 4-6% grade.  I was in an easy gear and even shifted up a couple harder gears because I felt so good on the climb.  Uneventful climb up Kugler Mill to Given, which is where I turned off to head down to Milford and the start of Indian Hill Road.  Given was fun, like Spooky Hollow, and I ate a PowerBar to get some energy.  It might not have hit me by the time I got to the climb, but it was tasty!

Non-Old Indian Hill (wink;) is like Kugler Mill/Galbraith with a 4-6% grade, so it's normally not too bad.  I was a little drained from the other two hills, but the climb here wasn't too bad.  I had Rancid's ...And Out Come the Wolves album on repeat, full volume, to keep me company.  At the top of Indian Hill I snacked on a Clif Bar and finished my ride. 

I started to get lactic acid buildup in my left leg on Kugler Mill, so I was pushing it pretty hard.  I was sore a little, walking up stairs today at work to the break room.  This tells me I did a good job kicking my butt on the ride.  I want to run Thursday, instead of biking twice a week, motivated today's "big" ride.  With a bike on Tuesday, a swim on Wednesday, and a run on Thursday, I'll have to push each leg to get the most out of them.  Knowing me though, this 27 mile/3 hill route will grow into a 30 or 33 mile ride with 4 or 5 hills.  I'm a little crazy like that.

Lunch Gym

Another back and bicep day at the Blue Ash Rec Center during lunch.  I did the same back machines, 7 sets of each with increasing/decreasing weight on both machines.  I then moved to isolated "kill" bicep curls since the preacher curl machine was busy.  I did three double sets for the "kill" set and then started looking for a rowing machine.

I've never used a rowing machine before, I didn't even know if they had them, but I thought it could compliment back and bi day nicely.  It turns out, they have 5 rowing machines on the second floor near the cardio machines.  I hopped on one, saw that it was set to 10 (of 10) and started rowing.  As I'm walking to the machine, my ego says, "Yeah, I'll probably do 20-30 minutes of this on the hardest setting, no problem."  After about two minutes on the machine, I'm just hoping to be able to do five minutes.  I was keeping the intensity high, not sure what the screen was saying.  Something about 500m, which I guess is my estimate on how long to row 500 meters?  I was around 2:00 the entire time.  I also saw what must have been pulls per minute, and I was between 25-28.  There was a timer, and some other stuff I'm not sure about.  But after 5 minutes I couldn't stop!  Who brags about doing 5 minutes on the rowing machine?  Who would read a blog about doing 5 minutes?  So, I went for another 5.  I had my headphones on and just zoned out, rowing away.  It's not even really "hard".  I was just being a baby, watching the clock as I had to get back to work. 

So, 7 sets, 7 sets, 3 double curl sets, then 10 minutes on the rowing machine.  Not bad.  I was feeling the rowing in my shoulders as I left, so I was excited about that.  I also ate well, keeping my calories down for the day, for the most part.  Tomorrow is a swim and lunch run outside, I hope it's not too hot.  Thursday is a run and maybe chest/tricep day at the gym.  I might push the gym to Friday as there's a work party Thursday.  We'll see.

Here is the Strava data from the ride: