Lovely LBR

I did the Saturday ride with BTS and we left Stafford with Suzanne and me out front of the group. We were a group of about 12 which is not a bad size group. We quickly got the sack as we had no idea where we were going and the people shouting directions had less of an idea!

I ended up about in the middle of the pack and it was raining and pretty horrible. I was quite worried as this was my first pack ride since my accident. I really need to work on my confidence as I wasn't holding the wheel which I know is really annoying for everyone... I actually got better at the end of the ride so I am hoping that this will improve fairly quickly and I will be back to riding OK in the pack.

There was one time where we rode around the airport where John was sent up to the front - I knew we were in trouble then! All of a sudden I was trying to hang on for dear life! I was behind Sarah and she hung in there, but unfortunately I got dropped off, I just couldn't hang on to them. I'm doing OK fitness wise on the bike at the moment so it really shows how well Sarah is going to be able to hang on to the guns.

We then rode fairly casually out to Boondall wetlands and then the slower ones (yes that's me) came back with Bronny via Nudgee Beach and the Chermside Criterium and bike tracks. It was a very relaxed pace and it was extremely civilised due to us racing the following day. If only all rides were like this!

It ended up being a 2 1/2 hour ride with my heart rate not often above 130's.

Easy 45min run

I love these sessions.

Easy 45min run with HR between 140 and 155bpm. I ran from my work at QR down Ann Street on to the river, over the Goodwill bridge (quick drink stop here) around to the left in front of the Kangaroo Point cliffs and then over the Story Bridge and down into the Riverside Centre. The idea was to keep my HR at 140 -155bpm. It was just over 150 for most of it even though I was running really slowly.

But, I didn't care; I enjoyed the scenery, I felt good, the sun was shining and it was a pleasant morning to be out enjoying a run! I could run like this all the time that's for sure. I didn't have to be humiliated by all of the fast runners and I could just go at my own comfortable pace. Maybe I'm a turtle instead of a hare - slow and steady. Jeez that sounds like the words of a future age group champion - not!!!

The good thing is that I didn't pull up sore at all and I wore my skins all day at work and my legs feel great - no niggles, so I'm thrilled with that.

Stairs - what the?

Today was my first Thursday morning session. I hadn't been doing these previously as it was one of the sessions that Mark had dropped off my programme when I became injured.

It was really hard work! We did a lot of drills including hopping up the stairs, 5 on the left leg, 5 on the right leg and then sprinting up the hill with a recovery down and we did a number of reps of this. We did the same drill with jumping up 10 steps. I seem to struggle with the coordination required for the stair drills, I'm not sure if it is a case of not being conditioned to them and once I get a bit more practice I will get the hang of it or whether it is a case of weak core muscles. This was followed by squats that we held for 1 minute followed by a quick 500mtrs to get the feeling of running off the bike in our legs. This was hard work, my legs were burning. After the 3rd time of this I thought my quads were going to explode.

We then did a staggered run back to the goodwill bridge which is probably 2 - 21/2 k's @ 85%. I started out strong keeping pace with Sophie, however about halfway back my heart rate was at 95%, so I had to slow down and let Sophie go, just after I slowed down Dad overtook me. I knew this was going to happen one day, so the day is here. I'm hoping that once I get a bit more running fitness in I'll be able to reel him in, but I'm not so sure. He is running really well at the moment.

This session was followed by watermelon, coffee and toast - it doesn't really get too much better than that!

Max HR Test

This morning was a maximum HR test at Ride Inside at West End on the rollers with the bike. We did a 10min warmup with a few hard kicks thrown in to really get us going, followed by two 8min all out - go as hard as you can sustain with nothing left in the tank at the end of the 8mins. So, I started with my HR around the 150 mark and built up to mid to high 160's and then in the last minute went all out and managed to get my HR up to 171. My resting HR is 53, although I may review this as I haven't taken it for a while.

So from this test we can identify what HR ranges I should be working in over the next period of training. Here are my HR Zone calculations and the summary:

Max HR - 171
Resting HR - 53

Formula for calculating zones: % of (MHR-RHR) + RHR

MHR - RHR = 171-53 = 118
70% of 118 = 82 + RHR (53) = 135
80% of 118 = 94 + 53 = 147
85% of 118 = 100 + 53 = 153
90% of 118 = 106 + 53 = 159
95% of 118 = 112 + 53 = 165
100% of 118 = 118 + 53 = 171

I find this interesting as according to the 220 - your age max HR rule of thumb I should be Max HR at 186, so I would be interested to see why mine is so low. Is it because I don't push myself to the max or is it my make up?

Anyway, it will be interesting to work within these ranges and see how I go.

I think I will try and tape these to my handlebars or try and memorise them or something.