Monday’s trainer workout was the first after a two-day layoff. I didn’t ride on Sunday because I expected to do a hard hill workout on Monday, but those plans were squashed. Instead, I hopped on the trainer for another pyramid workout. Not only was I able to make it through the hardest gear at the “top” of the pyramid before resting a moment to drink, but I managed to push through a total of five sprints over the usual three. Marked improvement! I popped in The Wedding Singer for motivation. It turned out to be a great movie to watch during my sufferfest. One part that I particularly enjoyed—and that had a beat that facilitated the perfect cadence—was the scene where he sings Love Stinks. … Read entire article »

Friday’s trainer workout was difficult. I had already ridden on Thursday, so my legs were feeling a little tired on Friday. Even so, I needed exercise. The weather was shitty. The trainer was my only option. I was going to do an hour-long workout of fairly steady spinning. Instead, I started off with a cadence of 90 rpm in a moderate-effort gear. I did that for 10 minutes. Then, I shifted into a harder gear and pedaled at a somewhat varying cadence of 88 to 100 rpm. That was hard. After the five-minute interval, I dropped it down into a really easy gear and kept the cadence around 70 or 80 rpm and spent the next five minutes regaining my … Read entire article »