Sprinting Hurts! -- Log

So this week i'm focusing on sprints...ouch..they *hurt*!!

I go out for a regular 2hr EM ride, and throw in 6 sprint efforts, leaving 10mins between each one for recovery (very important - you can sprint better, and thus train better, if you're recovered.) Each sprint is 12-15 seconds, biggest gear, as hard as i can...it's bizarre how this can tire me more than riding for 4hrs...!! After each effort, i sit there watching my HR, as it just sits at 190-193 for several seconds....pretty wild!

Seems to be doing something tho - legs seem to be taking on a new, bigger shape, and i feel stronger..should have started doing this long ago..ahh well! Legs are much more achey afterwards too...

Got another week of these, then will focus on hill climbs for a couple weeks...eeep...

Also, been resting at least 2 days a week, that seems to be a remarkably helpful thing too...i feel much more strong when i head out now. Guess there's something to that..hahah.. Still tho, i enjoy getting out 6-7 days a week, what can i say!!!

In the last week:

Sat (Sept 17th) - went to watch the Oak Bay crit, it was a short course (750m), and riders kept pedaling through the corners (clipping..) - no accidents tho.

Met with Kevin there, and we headed up the waterfront (frozen!! Starting to get cool here..) and did that loop. On the way back into town on the Goose, we ran into Sarah, who was just heading out for a ride..funny that! So she hooked up with us, and i was just gonna ride down to K's and head home, but i ended up doing the water again..haha.. My planned 2hr ride turned into 3.5hrs - pretty cool.

Sun - Jumped in with the BSide ride, nothing too exciting to report, did the full route.

Mon - noodled out to the track in case anyone else went out, it was booked by the Lacrosse folks, so i kept on riding and got a nice Recovery ride in.

Tue - did a 2hr EM ride w/Sarah and Andy (good to have him out again! He's now training for a half-marathon..gaaaaah), did my first six sprints, felt pretty good! I had my arms in a bit of a strange position (basically straight at the elbow in the drops) which is handy when starting a sprint, but not so great when you're already rolling.. The way my bars are shaped, i ended up getting bruises just above my wrists, since i was pressing there on the bars..d'oh!

It's getting dark early now, gonna have to bring lights, and dress more warmly..

Wed - rest day!

Thu - another 2hr EM w/6 sprints, with Kevin. Pretty high-pace most of the ride, my average was 157bpm...which is pretty high..usually closer to 145 for this type of ride. Felt *great* tho, so just went with it.

Rest day Friday, then prolly gonna ride Shawnigan with these guys on Sat, and BSide on Sun...then more sprints Tue and Thu.

Gonna add a new feature to my entries, since music is a big part of my riding, should be interesting to see what sticks over time:

Current Albums in the MuVo

Listening to recent albums mainly:

* Beck - Guero
* Death Cab - Plans
* Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better (new one)
* Pinback - Blue Screen Life
* Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart (love, love, love it for rides!!)
* Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site

(These are the albums currently in my Creative MuVo, 512mb MP3 player. I just set it to 'random' and soak up the tunes on my rides.. The MuVo is the best flash-based MP3 player on the planet, btw!)