I know...it's all relative. I had a really nice morning anyway, doing a quick zip down to Chobham and back to Twickenham, all using my Edge 705 to give me "bike sat-nav" for the first time, as well as logging all my stats.
I've popped both the Motion Based and the (now working again) Garmin Connect stats below, as they give you slightly different analysis of the information, and it can't hurt.
Twickenham-Chobham-Twickenham Stats (Motion Based)
Conditioning: Twickenham - Chobham - Twickenham 40 Miles (Garmin Connect)
So those are the basic facts and figures. The reality was that I had a good morning. I guess in my heart of hearts, I felt like I wanted to do a ride with a good chunk of mileage so that I felt like the Etape would at least be a possibility.
I'd planned to do the ride at a quite leisurely pace, because I was also getting to grips with the sat-nav side of my Edge 705. I chose the route by doing a quick search on Bikely - a site which enables riders to share their routes. Once I'd found a route that looked promising, in terms of mileage and scenery, I used the option to download it as a GPX file. It's then a simple matter of copying the file to the GPS folder on the Edge by dragging and dropping - the route then turns up in the list of "Saved Routes" on the unit.
After fitting my newly arrived Look Keo Sprint pedals, and attaching the cleats to my new Pearl Izumi Attack Road Shoes, I was ready to go. At first, I wasn't very confident about the routing the Edge was taking - I didn't seem to be going in the right direction at all, and this meant that I spent more time looking at the mapping screen than I did at the road at some points. However, about 15 mins of winding around the back roads of Hampton, I figured out what the problem was.
The route was a big loop, and without thinking, I'd just assumed that the loop went in a clockwise direction, and had started out. What became clear was that the route was actually plotted anti-clockwise, and so the Edge was doing its best to get me back "on track". Once I'd worked that out, it became clear that the Edge had actually done a really good job of getting me back to the proper route, by using cyclist-friendly roads with very little traffic.
It works almost exactly like a car sat-nav, giving you a warning (in both time and distance), of your next turning, and then giving you a reminder of the turning when you're just about to reach it - counting down from ten seconds on a few occasions.
Having said that, there were a couple of points on the ride when the Edge did get lost without any rider assistance.On one of these occasions it got me back to the proper route after a bit of thinking, but the second time I had to figure it out myself. The best way of doing this is to zoom out the map display, so that you can see the pink line marking your route, and then work your way back towards that line, until eventually the Edge picks it up.
Overall though, it was clearly a much better solution than constantly pulling a sweaty map out of my back pocket, and meant I could concentrate on my cycling, rather than always being worried about where I was.
The jury's still out on the pedals I think. I'm used to double sided Shimano SPD cleats/pedals for commuting, so I think it's going to take me a little while to get used to the engagement process for these Look single-sided ones. When they're engaged, the connection feels very secure, and there seems to be just the right amount of 'play' so that your knees don't feel like they're waggling around all the time, but they never get sore from being in the same position too much.
The shoes felt good though. They seem to fit well, and although there was an occasional twinge around the instep area, I think that's just a natural part of the adjustment process. Again, they felt secure without ever feeling tight and restrictive.
On the way 'out' the blustery wind was pretty much dead against me all the way, but I still managed to keep up a 17-18mph pace, without feeling tired. In fact, that was the encouraging thing about the ride as a whole. My legs and lungs never felt particularly stressed, which is a good sign on the endurance side of things. The ride was pretty flat, but on what 'hills' there were, I managed generally to keep it on the big chainring.
I had a 5 minute stop at a pub in Chobham, to refuel with drinks and an energy bar, but again I was encouraged that I didn't feel like I needed more of a rest. I did need to stretch out my back though, because it was starting to feel a bit sore from bending over in the 'tuck' position. In fact, whenever I felt a bit 'tired' I could generally narrow it down to my back feeling a bit sore, but again I'm hoping this is just part of the adjustment process.
Something that'll be easier to adjust to is feeling part of the camaraderie of the road. It's a small thing I know, but it was nice to exchange a nod and a smile with other cyclists out on the road training. Just makes you feel that you're not out there suffering on your own, and I guess on a deeper level it reminds you that you're a part of a a self-selecting group of slightly twisted loners. For some that might seem depressing - I find it strangely liberating!
By the time I got home, my quads were starting to feel slightly achey, but I had enough energy to manage a sprint to the doorway. I still need to refine my saddle position I think, as that obviously has an effect on which muscles you use. I've gradually been raising the saddle over the last week or so, in an effort to get a more 'powerful' position, but now that I've got my new pedals, I think I might need to move the saddle back slightly on the fore/aft plane, to get the most out of my legs. Will have a go at that the next time I get back on the turbo I think.
As far as the overall training plan's going, I've done almost six hours this week, which is the recommended amount according to my training plan. Although at the beginning of this week I think I said I'd like to try and get eight hours in, the more I read the more I think I should try and stick to the recommendations, in order to avoid 'overtraining', particularly at the start.
I also feel slightly guilty, because although I'd planned to do today's ride mostly in the "endurance" heart rate zone, (Zone 3, in yellow, on the chart) my Motion Based stats show me that I did a significant proportion in the Mixed Muscle Zone ( Zone 4, in orange, on the chart) above that.
This is pretty firmly discouraged in my training book, because it's not particularly useful in conditioning, and stresses two different types of muscle fibre, meaning that it's more difficult to target an individual kind of fibre on your next day of training.
I'm going to put that down as a learning experience though, and remember to drop my gearing and raise my cadence on uphill sections, so that my heart rate doesn't get too high.
I still need to do a 'strength' session from my menu of training activities, and also practice some of my 'skills', so I think I'll do an interval session on the turbo trainer on Friday, and then maybe a short, easy skills ride on Saturday.
I'm going to try myself out on the Twickenham Cycling Club Sunday morning run this weekend, because I need to get some experience of cycling in groups, and that'll give me a big jump on my training requirements for next week.
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