Hill repeats and 10 second spins

June 16, 2009
Tonight’s workout was tough. I really had to push on the last set. I did a long 45 minute warm-up which put me at the base of my usual training climb. I had to do 3 x 12 minute sets at LT. The last LT day I did 2 of these sets. Basically, I was going to do hill repeats at LT. I was fired up and ready because there was a group of riders on a regular Tuesday night ride up the road. They were the carrot dangling in front of me. I had no problem maintaining my watts on the first set. I passed all of the riders ahead of me. I turned and headed back to the bottom to do my 10 minutes of recovery. The next set proved a little harder to maintain at first, but I got into a steady, high cadence and just tapped out the 12 minutes. Set 3 however was a different animal. I struggled to keep my power level up to LT for the first few minutes. It got even harder as the minutes ticked by. I was, in the end, able to stick the set with a spot on average at LT. I limped home, dreading the daunting climb I had to get back home. The road I live on is a steady climb with a kicker ¾ of the way in at around 18% or more. I always have to remember to save a little juice to make it up that hill. I refuse to walk!

June 15, 2009
Spin ups were on the agenda tonight. They take more effort than one would think. I usually max out around 150 rpms during the efforts. I did 10 sets @ 10 seconds each with a 2-3 minute recovery between efforts. I was, once again, trying to beat the weather coming into the area. I got home rolled the bike inside and the rain started. PERFECT timing. I got in 1 hour, 11 minutes of training.