Training with a plan

Well this Friel guy might just know what he's talking about. On the slate today was "E3B" (guy uses so many acronyms it's not funny). That means two hours of "Ride on rolling course. Big chain ring. Most of ride time in heart rate zone 2-3. Seated on most hills." Finally having cadence on a computer for the first time ever, I learned something very interesting. Actually, it wasn't so much that I learned it, but backed up a well-known theory, namely, the inverse relationship between cadence and heart rate. Keeping the heart rate in zone 2-3 was tough in the big chain ring, but as soon as I realized this session was supposed to be training the legs, not the cardio system, it all made sense. As long as I kept my cadence under 80, the heart rate stayed down and my legs were doing the work, not the cardio system. If I stick to this training plan, maybe I'll suck less this year!

On the way home it started drizzling, and I was out of Gu today, so a stop at a coffee shop in St. Paul was perfect for fueling up, warming up and drying out a bit. "Rolling course" is very difficult around here, but between Ohio St., Little Italy and the MN River valley I got a few in, but focused on the intent, namely working the muscular endurance. It was so nice to have a (relatively) warm day! No fingers and toes thawing out, no crawling under the covers shivering when I get home. They say there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear, and that's so true. I've lost my cycling windbreaker shell, and making do without has sucked. Everything else hile either doesn't fit won the bike, doesn't breathe, is too warm, too cold, whatever. Might have to get another.

Time to clean the bike (again!).