Day 7 of the challenge - a full week down! Woo Hoo!!!!!! I'm feeling the cumulative effect of the week - I'm tired. I've been getting a good sleep at night which is great, but I am most definitely tired. Today I took a vacation day to get some Xmas shopping taken care of, which meant I could sleep in a bit and that helped a lot. We had one of the virtual training rides on the schedule today, one that I've actually done for real! Gates Pass in Tucson AZ,which is an AMAZING ride. I was looking forward to the re-creation today. The virtual rides follow Coach Troy as he rides the route with a camera van following along behind him. We get to see the ride from Troy's helmet cam as well as from the van camera - we really get the simulation of riding along with Troy. As always, the workout tells you your gearing, cadence and perceived exertion, so we can feel how we'd be feeling if we were really there.
This was particularly fun because as I mentioned, I've ridden this route before, a number of years ago, when I attended Coach Troy's March training camp. It was an INCREDIBLE experience and I can't wait to go to another camp soon. The Gates Pass ride was my favorite of the trip, although the back side of the pass is a brutality that is impossible to describe. Granted, I was a VERY new rider and really had no business attending camp at that time, but I'd venture to guess that this climb would still be brutal for me today. The workout did a great job of simulating both the rollers of the McCain loop (my absolute favorite part of the route - this is so much fun in real life - roller after roller after roller, through an amazing Saguaro forest) and the back side climb out to finish the ride. Troy happened to point out the parking area at the base of the backside of the pass where I pulled over to contemplate the climb. I still distinctly remember stopping (big mistake!) and just looking at it thinking "No Freaking Way." Thankfully a passing rider yelled out some encouragement which helped me get my head right and get moving, but it was ugly. I want to go back to show it that this time I won't be scared and will kick its ass. :)This was my kind of workout - mostly a tempo workout which I like, with some hard climbing sections mixed in. I felt really good throughout and had a lot of fun. Thumbs up!
After the 1:15 bike workout, I tacked on today's Squat/Plank Challenge: 50/1:30 - after the tempo/climbing my legs were toast so this was tough today. I split up the squats - 25 wide stance / 1:30 plank hold / 25 narrow stance which helped a lot.
Tomorrow is a 3 hour aerobic ride. Some folks are doing Tough Love, but that's on the schedule for next week and I can't stomach the thought of doing it two weekends in a row! I need to build up to that beast. :)
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