Brick Workout #2

Hi. It's Laura.

Happy Friday!

It’s a very happy Friday for me.

By a stroke of luck I was able to get my brick workout in this morning instead of having to wait until Saturday.

When I heard yesterday that the opportunity to get it done Friday was a possibility, I got all kinds of excited.  I know it seems silly to be so excited about getting in a two hour plus workout but if you ride or run in Manhattan you would understand.

On Saturdays & Sundays in Central Park, there is always some kind of run/ride/race taking place first thing in the morning.  If it’s not a walk for breast cancer, it’s a cycling race. If it’s not a healthy kidney run, it’s the 5 Boro Bike Tour (which is this Sunday BTW). I am not against any of these things except for the fact that most of them end on the West side of Central park, which is my neighborhood.  This makes both the park and the neighborhood quite busy.

Even Riverside Park is busy on the weekend.  The spot where I do my transition for my brick workout, Team in Training does theirs as well (apparently I am not the only smart one in the hood). Riverside Park is crowded on Saturdays, Central Park is crowded on Saturdays. So again, I am very excited for a chance to get the work done on Friday.

It is a work day and I already have my workout scheduled set. But who wouldn't switch the harder workout to a work day and take the easier day on Saturday?

I was up at regular time and had breakfast. I normally do not eat breakfast until after my workout. I prefer to train in a fasted or semi fasted state (I will Gu or Gu Chomp on longer run days). But today, heading out for a two hour ride and a subsequent run, I thought it best to fuel (remember lessons learned from last week).

Off to an excellent start.  Contacts in with no problem and no additional equipment issues to start (or finish).

It’s still too chilly to ride in cycling clothes. So I stuck with the jacket and skull cap. I have a two hour ride ahead of me and I know I am going to New Jersey again. The only problem with Jersey is, I really have no idea where I am going. Maps don't really help because they look at roads not bike routes. I do know that I was on the right bike path. The really large signs that say "cyclists ride single file" were a bit of giveaway.  I use the term "bike path" loosely.  There is no actually bike “path” just a road. 

I know that over the GWB, you can make a left or a right. I usually choose right and I chose it again today. Using the maps made for cars; I have been able to create a route and can share it with you where I went today. 

From W75th Street to Riverside Drive along Riverside to W177th Street and over the GWB (boy was I happy that I was not in that traffic today). Turn right onto Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee. There is a downhill on Hudson Terrace that is terrifying.

Cyclists tend to ride in the shoulder. At the bottom of the hill, it is completely pot holed and scarified pavement. I hit that area this morning at about 25 miles an hour. At that point the bike shakes and you need to brace everything to hold the bike upright. 

I get to end of the road. I already know, right takes me to the Palisades Parkway, left turns onto East Palisades Ave and to the traffic light. This is really the end of the road for me. I don't know which way to go. Sitting at the traffic light I see another cyclist coming from my right, right turn it is. Right onto 9W.  There is no shoulder for me to be on and I can only think that if I were in a car I would look at me and think "stupid woman".

I made it all the way out to Sage Road (past Unilever and CNBC). I know this because I marked it on my phone when I got out there so I can see where I was and then tell you. 

By the time I got out there, I was three minutes short of the hour.  I know I am going to be back too early. The ride home is always faster with lots of downhill.

As I was heading back down Hudson terrace I decided to go past the bridge entrance and see what is on the other side.

I pass the entrance to the GWB and the name of the street changes from Hudson Terrace to Main Street.  I figured I would go out about 10 minutes more then turn around and head back.

Can you say hill?  I became a little worried when I saw the truck warning sign.

It did not give a grade on the sign but I knew no good would come from this.

I got about half way down the hill and decided to turn back (mostly because I had no idea where I was going to wind up).  Once I finally got across the road, I could not quite make it back up the hill because I was in such a low gear. I had to head to the bottom anyway so I could change gears and start the climb back up.  I checked the GPS on my watch and I went from a -17% to 8% grade.  I put my head down and just worked. There was no looking up, no watch checking for heart rate or speed checking. Just get up the hill. And what a hill.

I thought about, if I had to get off and walk it up the hill, how disappointed I would be.  But I didn't, can’t quit now. By the time I got onto the bridge, I forgot all about that hill.

The rest of the ride home was a breeze. I made it back quickly and was just shy of the two hour mark.  Thankfully I do not have another really long ride for two more weeks. phew.

Since today was a brick workout, and the run was a short one, it was better than last week’s. It was a tad faster and I had a lot less side cramping.  Things are looking up.

I wish I could brick every Friday (on weeks I have bricks). It is such a pleasure to ride with no real bike traffic (car traffic is a different story all together). I know that I have the weekend that includes a rest day and short workout. It will feel like a real weekend.

I sat down to write the other day but found myself exhausted so I opted to nap instead.

The workouts this training season are killing me. I find myself tired all the time. I took a look back at last year’s blog entries to see where I was in my training. I was very happy to find out I was tired last year too! Apparently all this fresh air and exercise is exhausting.

This week’s workouts included an hour ride & an hour swim on Monday, a 7 mile run on Tuesday, an18 mile ride on Wednesday and a 5 mile run & 1100 meter swim on Thursday. I do not wonder why I am tired anymore.  I embraced the nap instead of feeling guilty about it. I enjoyed it so much, I may do it again today!

 Enjoy the weekend!

 Laura