Starting the Morning On a Good Note

Swimming is the best way to start the day, even at 5:30 am, especially when practice is followed by a mid-morning nap that extends into the early afternoon. That's exactly what I did yesterday. Must be catching up on sleep-debt from last week's exams and the drive home.

Good new arrived yesterday, twice. My brother Corey will be home this evening. He's just finished law school and the bar exam, and is waiting to start his career. It will be great to hang out for a few weeks. In a way it will be like high-school summers all over again: swim, sleep, and party--though the partying will be mild now that we're in our thirties. Also, Erin will visit next weekend, the same weekend as the Duke 1/2. I look forward to showing her Chapel Hill.

Figuring out the afternoon workout. I often sit around until late in the day when I'm indecisive about what workout to do. When I'm indecisive it's because I don't feel good enough for a hard workout, but don't feel I need a strict recovery day either. Besides, who wants to waste a month off on recovery rides? I decided to ride for ~4hrs with the middle 56 miles at an aerobic development pace (81-88% LTHR) by test riding two 28 mile loops of a new course in rural Orange county. I was also test riding a new position--I lowered the aerobars 5 mm, and changed to a new seat. The new position felt aero, but awkward, it should feel good in a few more rides. While On the ride I ran into local cycling legend, Derek Powers, who oraganizes a local 10-mile time trial series. Turns out he's hosting a TT tomorrow, so i decided to do that instead of my planned CompuTrainer workout...might as well enjoy the nice weather. Now I had some motivation to make today's ride even easier.

My goal was to average 22 mph, a comfortably fast pace with my HR in the 130's. My HR runs low, so while the 130's is 30 beats below LT, it's not an easy effort. I held just over 22 mph, but my HR was in the 120's. After one lap, I dedicded to call it a day. At this point in the season, workouts are either hard or easy, not moderate. Better to rest up and have a killer workout tomorrow that to putter around in no-man's land.