Algebra on a Dolce

Sometimes it's the littlest things in life that make me the happiest. Wednesday night I met other members of the T3 group to start a Winter Cycling Program.

Lesson #1: Try your trainer out before you actually plan to start your workouts. I started pedaling on that dumb thing and realized my legs were so out of shape. Heck, I felt like I was pushing through mud and that was just in the warm-up. On top of that, I could adjust the resistance on the trainer, but I honestly couldn't tell which end of the spectrum had the most resistance.

Lesson #2: Don't ride your trainer for the first time in a room full of macho, speed riders. I guess I thought the trainer would feel just like it does when I ride on the road. The first portion was a 10 minute warm-up followed by 1 minute intervals at 80-85%. As soon as my legs started moving in the warm up, I could tell this was going to be a tough workout. I needed to do a warm up and then have a few minutes to stretch and then resume my time on the bike, but in a group situation it's tough to stop and make everyone else wait for you.

Lesson #3: Learn how to set your bike up on the trainer before the first group ride. I arrived a little late for the group ride and as I was getting my shoes out of my van, my fine T3 teammates set my bike up in the trainer for me. Chivalry is not dead! At the end of the work out, I was chatting with some of my fellow bikers and someone else took my bike off the trainer and carried it to my car. Wow! So sweet! Maybe it's not so bad to ride with a bunch of macho, speed racers.

Dolce on a Trainer thanks to Camo-Man

On Friday morning as I was taking the kids to school, I pulled out of my garage and saw this.
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It is the little things in life that make me happiest. Camo-man knew I was worried about setting my trainer up for the first time. He took time out of his hunting preparation Thursday night to set my Dolce up in my trainer. Now I know I need to take the time to learn how to set up my trainer and I WILL! I just tend to procrastinate a bit. But until I do, it's nice to know that Camo-Man is out there and does what he can to make sure I am not stressed out about my workouts.

I tried to read the cycling plan by myself this morning.(Remember? I admitted that I procrastinate.) It was like looking in an algebra textbook for the first time. WU: 10' 75% + 5' 85. MS: 3x10 (2' B) 1st 75% 2nd 85% 3rd 95%. How would you solve for B?

Needless to say I need to work on my cadence. But that's what training is for - it's a chance to identify your weaknesses of which I have many and try to make them your strengths.