Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Time on the trainer

Uh-oh, that time of year is coming - when the light wanes shortly after (or as it has tonight) before I leave lab for the day and I wind up half-heartedly spinning on the trainer in the basement instead of getting fresh air under my legs.  I'm hoping to keep these sessions to a minimum this fall - especially as I finally have a dedicated road bike built, so none of this switching wheels stuff to ride my cross race bike on the tarmac.  Shea just built up the road bike today - I'm wondering what color bar tape I've got...

As I find my way into trainer-land, I will note a few things:

1.  It's really windy out there tonight.  My lack of dedication for leaving lab early for a ride might be tied to that.

2.  One of my main goals for the next 6 months is to maintain some cycling fitness through until March.  I failed miserably at this last year, failing to ride a bike _at all_ from mid-December until the day before my first race at Rockburn in late March.  I hope to sneak in some mid-afternoon rides followed by evenings at work.  And, because I'm a bit of a wimp about the cold, it also means trainer time.  Weekends are out from December through March... gotta ski during ski season.  The possibility of night mountain bike rides is intriguing, but limited in terms of a true workout while taking up a lot of time, so I'm not sure that's going to be part of the plan.

3.  I have to figure out how to make trainer time more fun.  Options include bad beach books to read, girly movies, abysmal but addictive reality TV, and perhaps sports highlights or upbeat music.  As much as I would like to think that I can read science papers and spin at the same time, it's probably unrealistic to think I can be that productive.

4.  I have to be more effective/less lazy while on the trainer.  Not sure how to acheive this, but I think item 3 is probably important.  Can't make it too much fun, though. Last fall I found myself sitting there without spinning, watching terrible reality tv without realizing I'd stopped pedaling.  Oops.  That just doesn't happen when you're out on the road. 

Best trainer workout ever so far - reliving the steelers last minute superbowl victory while watching the highlights.  Too bad they don't play that well all the time.

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