Listening to Estela

I'm pretty well recovered from my cold. Started today with a short spin, mainly to get warmed up for the run. But I got sidetracked, and started listening to the bike and trainer. I made these assumptions:

• All gear teeth and chain links are evenly worn
• Lubricant and grit are evenly distributed on the chain and teeth
• The trainer tire is evenly worn and perfectly circular

At first there was a bit of a whir whir noise, and I was thinking that if a motor were driving the pedals the chain and trainer noise should be a steady whir. About the 5 minute mark I started to even it out to actually produce a steady whir. It's not as good as the computrainer graph, but if you pay attention it's pretty good. I planted my butt more firmly in the saddle, lightened my feet, and concentrated on feet going round and round smoothly and evenly. I felt like I was growing out of the bike. I was pedaling a steady 90 rpm in an easy gear, heart rate between 100 and 105, just beginning to sweat. I was listening so hard and trying to stay smooth I forgot to look at my watch. I was already past the planned 20 minutes, and was totally into the 90 rpm groove. I decided to stay on the bike a few minutes longer, and do some spin ups to get the muscles doing something different. I basically spun up to as fast as my legs would go and stay smooth, then backed down again. As soon as my heart rate recovered I'd do it again. I did about 5 of these, then had a few minutes of nice easy spin to get ready for the run. 30 minutes all together.

Outside it's just cold enough to see your breath on the air. I decided to run as fast as I could, provided I kept my mouth shut. That's right, breathing only through my nose. I wasn't more than a few minutes on the way when I had to blow my nose really badly, and lets just say that got messy. About halfway through the run I had to do it again. It didn't seem so bad. Emphasis on seem. 

This puts an effective cap on how fast I run, and firmly keeps my heart rate down. My feet and legs felt good, and I tried to stay relaxed. I got all the way around to 287 which will mean nothing to anyone else, but is a benchmark for me. Toward the end was getting tough pushing into the wind, and my heart rate was finally getting up a bit. I was very happy to open my mouth at 20 min and 1 second. My heart rate ended up at 132 bpm. 

Then, when I got home I discovered I'd been running with a huge booger stored in my moustashe for the world to see. I'm talking mega huge here, but fortunately I didn't meet any of my neighbours. No wonder my left nostril wasn't getting much air. It's a wonder I could see.

Then onto the core session I didn't do on Tuesday. Some of these are getting better, and I can feel myself getting stronger. This new strength is already showing up on the run, and in day to day activities like walking and going up stairs.