I’m in the groove of expecting to be riding my pushbike now. To work, to the shops, etc. After my initial excitement with the Sufferfest I’ve got a bit sad with it. I still love the Sufferfest workouts, which they’ve kept, but the vast majority of the site is Wahoo Systm training videos. It’s tedious. Some boring footage talking to cycling teams and of them on the races. The other day I took my glasses off so I wouldn’t have to keep reading the subtitles. I was thinking of switching to TrainerRoad when my trial runs out, but that is the ultimate in boring, just a graph of the power you should be maintaining and your ride date. Hmmm. The only thing in TRs favour is it is hardcore about improving you. I just went to see if they do free trials (they don’t) and ended up reading a Systm vs TR review. There doesn’t seem to be much in it. Systm is better because of the diversity of training available (yoga, mental training, tri, strength, etc) but TR is better dedicated bike training. If you’ve got the self motivation to do the work, through the boredom.
Anyway, despite not being Sufferfest, the Systm workouts have been working me. I thought at first it was still too easy, like MyWhoosh, but then they threw in one where I was hanging on, wondering if I was going to quit, by 7 minutes of a 50+ minute ride. If some of them really challenge me, I can believe the plan will work.
Another less than ideal thing is that split nosed saddle I got. I was trying to toughen up to it, but I had an easy 90 minute ride the other day, and by 50 minutes I was standing up to relieve the discomfort. I’ve fitted a cheap, Chinese knock-off snub nosed saddle I had in the shed and ordered the Fizik Mistica saddle it was ripping off. It’s second hand so not ridiculously expensive. I’ll see if that works any better. It’s the saddle I did the full Iron distance tri on. That was misery, but with practice, a good pad, and lube, maybe a half won’t be so bad.
My tri suit arrived today. I took it for a spin on the trainer.
Here’s a still from a video I shot to observe my position on the bike.
I think that’s reasonable. my arse is in line with back of the upright, my leg is at the bottom of the stroke and still has some bend, my elbows are in the cups, my ears are not far from being over my elbows, and my back is fairly flat (not hunched). Looking at it, I could possibly drop the tri bars flat and lower them to the head stock. That would flatten me out more, but would make it a more extreme position.
Despite my best hopes for the newfangled and ultra comfortable pad, it still felt like a thin chamois. Dammit. I’ll keep practicing, try to toughen up, see if I can find the right position, but I think it might be a lot to do with just sucking it up. Meh.
I’ve been working on my swim. The idiot proof breathing, the stroke, etc. I make small gains then blow it all again. Somebody said I’m trying too hard to be fast. Work and work on the technique, the speed will follow. I was discouraged, but that’s good advice.
My marathon training said my long run this week should be 15 miles, 12 of them at race pace. I thought I’d do a mile to warm up, then a half. I had no idea what my current race pace is, so I tried for what I’d like it to be. I set off trying for 6.50, which was, it turns out, ridiculously optimistic, so I settled for sub 7 for 4 miles but then I blew up. I was happy that I kept going and didn’t quit, but it was 1.35:44. I can want for more, but I’m only a few months back to running, and it was in my top 10 of halfs, so I’ll take it.
The other thing for me at the moment is my motorbikes. I’ve gone from ‘lost interest’ to ‘can’t face working on them’. I have to get a grip. One bloody job left on the Harley. The CB550 might be a bit more tricky. But they’ll never get done if I can’t bring myself to start on them.
In other news, Wendy’s going through it. She’s found out she’s got something wrong with a heart valve. I think she’ll be alright, they’ve diagnosed it and referred it to the specialist hospital, but it’s deeply unpleasant for her in the meantime. Chest pains, trouble breathing, feeling awful. Poor sausage. When she’s been fixed up I’m going to seriously encourage her to get fit. We can go for rides and walks together. We need to get her heart strong. Bloody horrendous when she first announced the diagnosis. She googled it and it said “dead in 2 years”. She told me while I was at work. That was a bit traumatic. It turns out that was US site, where they expect the plebs to be too poor to afford treatment, so they just die. Luke found the NHS site “surgery, crack on”.
The sooner she gets fixed the better, obviously.
Right,
Later,
Buck.