Good run, strong spin

I was still tired from staying up late on Sunday night, but it was be at work at about 6:30 or go for a run. The IGP™ called for 40 min 4r 1w. Oddly enough, that's almost exactly what I did.

5 m warm up
6 x 4r 1w
5m cooldown

Total time was 40:20, which was a bit of a surprise to me. You see, I park at the top of a big hill, and run down it near the start, and have to run up it near the end. I ran fairly hard on the way out, turned around exactly on 20 min, and pushed harder on the way back. Up the hill was part walk, part run, then a brisk walk to cool off.

And it was frigging cold in the valley!! Up top was nice, but along the creek had my glasses fogging up for the first time this winter. I ran south this time along the Nose Creek path, and turned around where the path makes a sharp jog to the left then right, between 8th Ave and Memorial. That's for those who know the city, or are really good with Google Maps.

The spin was an even bigger surprise. I kept looking at my gears, thinking I was somehow in an easier gear than what I normally do. But no, I was in a harder gear. I got on the bike feeling strong tonight and looking forward to a good ride. Greg gave us all kinds of crazy stuff tonight, several one legged drills, some cadence pyramids, some hill simulation, some high cadence work.

I can feel the improvements. It used to be I started bouncing under 100 rpm, now it starts about 110. The one legged drills started hard and got brutal quickly, now I can almost get through the sets. Gear and cadence combinations that sent my heart rate into the no-fly zone are now doable, at least for a little while. Progress is very nice.

It all worked out to a solid 1.5 hours for me. Let's hope this was enough to work off the cookies I nibbled today.