And the council has spoken--it's been a pretty long run of weeks now where something (mileage or gradient) has increased every week. It's time for a rest week. Though that's where the consensus ends. What exactly constitutes a rest week?
I've received some negative feedback on how I've elected to implement my rest week, but let's let the outcomes be the final judge. We will take the next week or so to assess whether more drastic resting measures are necessary. At worst, I can try again next week.
**Unrelated Update** Colorado means new data! Since my trusty old Target scale has kicked the bucket, I can only measure my obesity every few weeks. I am happy to report that I've crossed the halfway mark. At the beginning of this journey, I weighed in at a corpulent 120+ pounds. I'm now down to 111, so it's 10 down, 10 to go. If only food wasn't so very very delicious...
Sunday 05/24: 43.4 miles, about 3:30, Turkey Creek to High Grade Road, with a double back to do the steep part of HGR. A charmed ride with zero rain, despite the generally wet conditions. I felt pretty horrible in the beginning with a stomach ache, but felt progressively better. The path was very pretty and we even got some sunshine. This ride was shorter than I would have liked, but it was all quality stuff, with the climbing starting right away. There was a nice mix of steepnesses and a lot of changes in scenery... which is not naturally my preference, but it was a nice change of pace. I was worried about the second consecutive climbing day, but felt like I held up very nicely. I'm adjusting to this bike and the gearing isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still felt good towards the end, but the decision to head back was the right one, as the torrential downpour started immediately after we got into the car.
Monday 05/25: 58.5 miles, about 3:25, Peter's "Flat" Rolling Boulder ride. Our luck ran out with the weather on this ride, but it wasn't too bad. Headed out away from the mountains, past a llama farm (they are SO adorable!) and out into the plains outside of Boulder. Was just trying to enjoy a nice mellow ride, but somehow got goaded into doing a significant chunk at high intensity. I think I went about 45 minutes, starting under threshold and gradually accelerating. There was a nice stretch in there that felt just about threshold and surprisingly sustainable, but the problem was that there was a liberal sprinkling of hills that prevented me from settling into a rhythm. For some reason, this caused me to push harder and harder, until it stopped feeling very sustainable. Backed off and felt better pretty quickly. Saw a beautiful climb out by Carter Lake, but the clouds were closing in, so we turned back. Got rained on on the way home, but it wasn't that bad. It was actually really fun to go fast, and I was pleased that I could do it at all, since my usual diet these days consists almost exclusively of mellow effort levels.
Tuesday 05/26: Off, travel back home. A sad day :(.
Wednesday 05/27: Off. Legs feel really rested and good, the rest of me did not. I did manage to get up at 5 am, but decided to go back to sleep given how awful I felt and knowing that I was booked into meetings straight from 10 am to 8 pm. I felt really guilty about not riding, even knowing that it was the responsible decision to make.
Thursday 05/28: 45.7 miles, 2:31:26 (18.1 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop. Woke up extra early at 4:30 am to get this done before my first morning meeting. The darkness was a little scary in terms of not being able to see the crap on the road, but it was actually kind of peaceful and nice. Felt really good except for a few miles in the middle around where the dam is. Still managed to pick up my first > 18 mph! For some reason, I like that middle third of this ride the least. I had decided a while back that when I started consistently completing this ride in the 2:30 range, I would tack on the extra 5 miles or so to get to the North end of the River Trail before doubling back to Encanto Park... but I've been dragging my feet on implementing this because it would elongate the crappy middle section.
Another footnote to this day is that I ran for the first time today, rather serendipitously. Despite my valiant efforts to the contrary, I arrived 3 minutes too late to work, thus missing the team's departure for our offsite meeting. Not knowing how to get to my destination, I wasted another 4 minutes trying to figure out directions, leaving me 8 minutes to arrive. Thankfully I was wearing my running shoes with my new orthotics, per my podiatrist's recommendation, so run I did at a nice good tempo pace for about 5 to 7 minutes. It felt wonderful for about 200m after which it felt really horrible. Then after I arrived my hamstrings and calves started to seize up. They still do not feel very wonderful. Running is hard.
Friday 05/29: Off, shots. Man, I don't know how I ever used to run... my legs are still feeling shot. Just really tight and sore. Terrible. I hope this doesn't end up affecting tomorrow's ride. I've potentially got a big day planned!
Saturday 05/30: 105 miles, 7:39:45 (13.7 mph) Angeles Crest to Dawson's Saddle. An awesome super fun ride with Will and Ian. There were some grumblings along the way, but ultimately everyone made it happily to the peak before you descend into Wrightwood. A little rain and a little overcast, but it was really neat! We went at a nice mellow pace, so I felt good the whole way through. For some reason I felt inspired to hammer it a little bit on the last mile or so up to the saddle, feeling especially good at this point.
It was also my first time past Red Box on the 2, so there was plenty of amusing new scenery, and 7 hours actually goes by real quick with good company. I've been feeling really crummy (unrelated to cycling) this week, so I really appreciated this awesome ride. It also made me feel like the Wrightwood ride was definitely within reach some day in the near future. Lunch and dinner at Newcombe's Ranch. Felt a little barfy immediately after eating, but good times.
Training this week: 252.6 miles, 17:06:11
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