Feb 02, 2006: 16 Miles of Suffering

Today was my speed workout. I didn't get to ride with Mark & John for our 6:00am ride because I had to be at Almond School to register my son, Dale, for kindergarden next year. I didn't make any special preparations - just looked for a break in the drizzle so I could begin my effort. I got a call from TBO that my new Bontrager back wheel was in and I could come by and pick it up. That seemed to be the motivation to get out of the house and ride. I decided that I'd do a 25 mile warm-up ride and then 16 miles at a time trial pace. The 16 mile TT was something that I used to do all of the time - it will give me a chance to see how I compare.

Leg 1 of my day was to suit up and ride down to TBO at <>

After I got situated with my new wheel, I took off and did the entire course I was about to ride at <65%>

Ride Stats for Warm Up:

1. 25 miles
2. Ave speed 15.6 mph
3. Max speed 39 mph
4. Ave HR 121 bpm
5. Max HR 146 bpm
6. Time in Zones
   1. Light Intensity - 0%
   2. Fat Burn - 65%
   3. Aerobic - 35%
   4. Max Aerobic - 0%
   5. Anaerobic - 0%

Now for the time trail stage...

I started from the corner of Foothill and Main Street in Los Altos. The weather has warmed up to 66F and the sun is starting to come out so it is nice compared to what it has been. When the light turned green it was time to start. I went straight across Foothill, up the first hill on Burke and the time trial has begun. On every hill I made a major push - I'd try to pedal over the top of the hill and then rest a bit on the downhill side or once the climb flattened out a little. I was trying to keep my heartrate just around 90% of max and then up to 95% of max on the climbs. It wasn't long before the misery set it - time trials suck! I kept asking myself if I was ready for this today - it hurt so bad and I just wanted to stop and breathe - but I didnt stop - I just kept pedaling as hard as I could.

Every hill I would pace myself up, attack at the top, ride over the top and try to recover. On and on and on it went - my legs were on fire and so were my lungs. The sweat was pouring off of me. But I just kept pushing as hard as I could. When I finally rolled over the last hill on Altamont it was a real treat since I know I have a long downhill on Page Mill to rest. Then I make the left hand turn onto Arastradero and I only have 3 more climbs to go before I hit the Alpine downhill. I felt like I'm making good time and that was insentive for me to try harder otherwise I would have just given up up at this point - I was nearing exhaustion. I used to do this ride a lot - this hard - what happened??? Am I really going faster?

Then I made the right hand turn onto Alpine and I knew the hard stuff was over. I had a chance to rest on the long downhill but you still have to keep up a good pace. I was not able to hit the 30-31 mph that is typical for me on this stretch. Instead I'm topping out around 28-29 mph. A bit slower. I also ran out of gas at the bottom on the left hand kicker down by the guardrail. The legs are fading....

I made the right hand turn onto Foothill and blasted up that little hill - 22 mph - that's better. Then I settled in for the long grind down Foothill and the 4 miserable steps after Arastradero that lead to the finish. There are many rollers on Foothill that will kick your ass if you are nearing exhaustion - which I was. But nothing is harder than the section after Aratradero - when I hit the steps I got my speed up to 22 mph again - this is good - 23 mph woud have been better though. Then I roll into the left hand turn lane on Edith and hit the stop watch button - it is over - what a relief!!! My time is good - 47 min 38 secs.

I'm dripping wet with sweat and ready to get back to recovery. Did I tell you I really like to ride at a pace that is <65% src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/03.gif" alt="Image">

I was happy with the results - it was my best time so far. My next goal is to get this under 45 minutes - now that will be rolling. I know I can do it.

Ride Stats for Time Trial:

1. 16 miles @ 47 min 38 secs
2. Ave speed 20.0 mph
3. Max speed 39.0 mph
4. Ave HR 173 bpm
5. Max HR 187 bpm
6. Time in Zones
   1. Light Intensity - 0%
   2. Fat Burn - 0%
   3. Aerobic - 5%
   4. Max Aerobic - 87%
   5. Anaerobic - 7%