Man. I gotta chill. Or, possibly, I really need to check my HRM. Maybe I’m wearing it wrong because apparently today I managed a max HR of 232. Pretty amazing, aren’t I?

Still, I do need to chill more on my aerobic rides and stay in that aerobic zone.

Route: Willamette to St. John’s and back on Hwy. 30.

Distance: 17.6 miles
Time: 1:11
Avg. spd.: 14.8 mph
Max speed: 36.6 mph (?? That seems wrong, too. I wasn’t going THAT fast down the St. John’s Bridge.)

HR avg: 144 bpm
HR max: 232 (!!) bpm
Below zone 1: 2’49″
In Zone 1: 50’36″
Above Zone 1: 18’01″

I did go too fast. I was on the front pulling like a madman because I’m stupid. But whatever. It’s October. And tomorrow will be easy-easy because I’m lifting.

It’s one of two things:
The new HRM reads my pulse a little differently than my old HRM.
-or-
I’m tired.

I didn’t FEEL like I was going that hard, but apparently, I was. I definitely forced myself to go a little slower. And, ya know, it WAS hilly.

Here are the new HR zones I’ve set up:
Zone 1: 95-157
Zone 2: 158-165
Zone 3: 166-175

Apparently, I have to manually change the zones when I’m on the bike to record the time in that zone. But the new HRM DOES tell me the time spent above and below the zone, and my average and max heartrate. So I guess that’s helpful.

Today’s ride:

Route: Eastside to Sellwood, up the Cemetery, to Terwilliger, up to Fairmount via Dosch. Home via Vista and Salmon.

Time: 1:07
Distance: 14.6

HR Average: 144BPM
Below 1: 1:13
In Zone 1: 48:09
Above 1: 18:19
HR Max: 174 BPM (!! What?!?)

Average Speed: 13.0 MPH
Max speed: 33.3 MPH (I got stuck behind a slow truck on my favorite part of Vista. Alas.)

I felt, well, fine. Tired. Sore. My butt hurt. And I was freaking out that on the Black Bomber with it’s wall-climbing cassette, that my HR was so high. But whatever. I may test to see if I can wear both HRMs at the same time to “test” them.

Did 40 sit-ups when I got back, and stretched out really well. The stretching felt AWESOME. I might do some more of that when I get home.

Spin with Amanda.

1 hour, 10 mph

John’s Landing to downtown to Waterfront, across the Steel Bridge and back along the Esplanade.

Her knee was killing her on anything tilting skyward, which is worrisome.

Oooh. New Polar S150 HRM and a bundle of new stuff from Nashbar. Nothing cures a mild case of bike burnout quite like a new toy. And some freakin’ clothes — my gawd my shorts are see-through. I can’t believe how long I’ve been wearing the same three pairs of shorts and two jerseys. Jeez.

Anyhoo.

15 minutes on stationary bike. Boooorrrrrring!

40 sit-ups
2 x 20 reverse sit-ups on yoga ball
2 x 35 russian twists with 8 lb. med ball
20 Rocky sit-ups
20 Supermans

2 x lunge up series (1x with med ball)
2 x lunge down series (1x with med ball)
2 x lunch with 30 lbs.

And some nice stretching. Ahhh.

Saturday Group Ride with VeloShop

Easy ride with a few short, hard efforts thrown in for good measure.

Distance: 47 miles

Average Speed: 14.9 mph.

Route: Hwy. 30 past St. John’s Bridge, up Newberry Rd.. South on
Skyline, then down Thompson. Then through town and south to the
Cemetery. Then turn around and head back to town and then home.

HR: 130-140 on the flats. 155-163 on the hills. Three quick
sprints/hammers where I shot up into the 170s.

Great ride, stunning day.

Ow.

Went out and did Kelley Point again, but with a group this time. So it was sort of a group ride, but a really hard one because there was some dude named Ricki with us, and he’s F-A-S-T.

Route: Roundabout through NE to Kelley Point, then back.

HR: Climbed as we went: 150-160-170-180. The 180 part was only for a little bit. And we stopped about halfway through because I got a flat.

Distance: Probably about 27 miles.

Dang. I ordered some stuff from Nashbar, but forgot a cheapo cyclocomputer. Dang.

Anyway, I’m totally gassed. That just hurt. We really flew for a while on the way back, and it hurt just to hang on. So much for my easy week. Well, whatever — a good hard effort is still a good thing, and I probably won’t do much tomorrow but lift and do sit-ups.

Aerobic Hills (short)

Time: 1 hour

Route: Sellwood, up through the cemetery, back across Terwilliger, and into downtown.

HR: Didn’t wear it. Long story, don’t ask. But low. The new wheel I got for the Black Bomber had a 900 tooth cog on it, so I spun spun spun up the hills.

Did some sit-ups and other core stuff for about 20 minutes when I got back. Then stretched really well for about 10 minutes. All in all, a very relaxing day.

Did I mention this was gonna be my easy week? I don’t KNOW if it’s time for my easy week, but I FELT like it was.

Aerobic Hills

Route: Went up and over Rocky Butte, then up and over Mt. Tabor. Then down to Belmont for some coffee, then over to Sellwood and back via Springwater.

HR: Low. 157 max on the hills, 145 max on the flats. Mostly in the 130s or lower on the flats. We talked most of the way. Good spin.

Distance/Speed: Um, I’m a moron. I didn’t reset my computer. So probably 30 miles — I was out for about 2:45 (exluding coffee stop).

I was pretty sore all day, which surprised me. I’ve been stretching today and drinking lots of water (it’s the next day when I write this).

It’s pouring rain today, and I’d intended to ride. We’ll see. May have to bust out the trainer for a quick spin or something. Definitely need to figure out the wheel situation for the Black Bomber, because I do NOT want to deal with this rain without fenders.

Masochistic Psycho Ride

So I’d been reading in most of my books that, though it’s October and
I’m building my base, I should still throw down about once a week to
keep the skillz sharp and the legs strong.

Well, I can’t do my group ride tomorrow due to other commitments, so I
figured I’d do a hard tempo ride today.

Oy.

Route: Interstate to Marine Drive, around Kelley Point, and back via the
Bluffs. 26.38 miles.

Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes!

Average speed: 17.8 mph (which, I should point out, included hitting
damn near every light on Interstate)

HR: High. 165-174 for the really hard parts where I could open it up.
And at all the little overpasses, I sprinted HARD. I mean, if it were a
race, and I were breaking away and the other fugitives wanted to throw
me to the wolves, that’s where they’d do it. So, you know, when you’re
suffering, probably everyone else is, too. Just gotta learn to suffer
more.

I’m a little zonked now. Dippy. Tomorrow, with Lawrence, we’ll discover
how well I recover. I’m sure I’ll be fine. But it’s gonna be early in
the morning, so…

Oregon-based pro Doug Ollerenshaw on the economic incentives to dope in the U.S. cycling scene:

“The point, though, is that here in the US at least, dopers are rare. Rare and sad. If someone feels the need to cheat in order to gain slightly more fame and no more money than a checker at Wal-Mart, all while wearing an uglier uniform, then I think the main emotion thatshould be collectively invoked for them is sympathy.”

Nice.