out of the darkness
Last night, I was good and pissed off that Ken was diagnosed with cancer, so on the walk to the commuter boat, I called Coach Josh and told him tomorrow at work was going to be kind of slow so I wanted him to blow me up.
He obliged.
Rather than short intervals he prescribed, he bounced me up to a 3-hour ride with 4 intervals of 8 minutes each at tempo. During a tempo effort, I put out between 270 and 290 watts, which is enough to make me sweat, and breath hard. During the first interval, I can say, “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing BREATH.”
By interval two, I can get to "land of liberty."
By the last set, I’m more winded than I should be and I have no interest in talking aloud. The great thing about an interval workout is it focuses the mind and eliminates questions like why does cancer still exist 45 years after it killed my grandfather, a man I resemble, but never met?
One of the problems of riding before work this time of year is it’s so dark you can’t see the gauge that measures the watts, or the watch that measures the time. Rather than go by 8 minute intervals, I choose to repeat a 3 mile effort that was previously used as a time trial course. Since my maximum effort time for the time trial course is around 7:30 at an average effort 321 watts, a tempo effort should be more or less an 8 minute piece of work.
Up and down Jerusalem Road I sweat. But I do not sweat alone. There are joggers and walkers out for their morning Constitutional. It’s nice to have company, especially for the last half of the interval where there’s more pain than pleasure. Following the 8-minute effort, there’s an 8 minute recovery period where I pedal back to where I started and do it again.
Ideally, all of my efforts would be precisely the same. It’s hard to be so exacting. Usually, the first interval comes out a little hot, a little fast, and the last one starts to drag.
Since I can’t see the output on my handlebars, I have no idea what I’m doing. There are a few streetlights on the route, and if you look down at precisely the right instant, you can get a clue.
After an hour and a half of riding, it’s time to go back to the house to pick up the back pack and ride to work. Most days, I try to ride without the backpack for awhile, because it’s just no fun to wear. It raises your center of gravity, impedes your movement, and puts pressure on the lower back. But you have to change into something at work, so it’s mandatory.
The rest of the commute is totally pleasant. The endorphins are rushing and the bike is starting to feel like something I wear rather than something I sit on. The new saddle, which felt odd at first, is starting to become pliant.
Victor at the freight station and Brian the dockmaster greet me at the freights and I’m up the freight elevator and up to the agency locker room.
Usually, the towels that are provided by the agency are white or green. Today, there’s a special Hampton Beach towel waiting for me. It features a happy young woman in the smallest pink bikini in the history of mankind. How did such a politically incorrect towel find its way into the locker room? Perhaps there will be an investigation.
He obliged.
Rather than short intervals he prescribed, he bounced me up to a 3-hour ride with 4 intervals of 8 minutes each at tempo. During a tempo effort, I put out between 270 and 290 watts, which is enough to make me sweat, and breath hard. During the first interval, I can say, “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing BREATH.”
By interval two, I can get to "land of liberty."
By the last set, I’m more winded than I should be and I have no interest in talking aloud. The great thing about an interval workout is it focuses the mind and eliminates questions like why does cancer still exist 45 years after it killed my grandfather, a man I resemble, but never met?
One of the problems of riding before work this time of year is it’s so dark you can’t see the gauge that measures the watts, or the watch that measures the time. Rather than go by 8 minute intervals, I choose to repeat a 3 mile effort that was previously used as a time trial course. Since my maximum effort time for the time trial course is around 7:30 at an average effort 321 watts, a tempo effort should be more or less an 8 minute piece of work.
Up and down Jerusalem Road I sweat. But I do not sweat alone. There are joggers and walkers out for their morning Constitutional. It’s nice to have company, especially for the last half of the interval where there’s more pain than pleasure. Following the 8-minute effort, there’s an 8 minute recovery period where I pedal back to where I started and do it again.
Ideally, all of my efforts would be precisely the same. It’s hard to be so exacting. Usually, the first interval comes out a little hot, a little fast, and the last one starts to drag.
Since I can’t see the output on my handlebars, I have no idea what I’m doing. There are a few streetlights on the route, and if you look down at precisely the right instant, you can get a clue.
After an hour and a half of riding, it’s time to go back to the house to pick up the back pack and ride to work. Most days, I try to ride without the backpack for awhile, because it’s just no fun to wear. It raises your center of gravity, impedes your movement, and puts pressure on the lower back. But you have to change into something at work, so it’s mandatory.
The rest of the commute is totally pleasant. The endorphins are rushing and the bike is starting to feel like something I wear rather than something I sit on. The new saddle, which felt odd at first, is starting to become pliant.
Victor at the freight station and Brian the dockmaster greet me at the freights and I’m up the freight elevator and up to the agency locker room.
Usually, the towels that are provided by the agency are white or green. Today, there’s a special Hampton Beach towel waiting for me. It features a happy young woman in the smallest pink bikini in the history of mankind. How did such a politically incorrect towel find its way into the locker room? Perhaps there will be an investigation.
posted by joe berkeley at 7:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home