Never Thought the CompuTrainer Would Feel so Good

I finally woke up feeling ready to go!!! How the heck did that happen? Although, I will admit that I got a little more fatigued as the day wore one and I've got terrible dark circles under my eyes (I noticed them sitting on the trainer looking in the mirror).

Anyways. Good day. Decided to quit waffling and book the clinic with Giana in Spain. Too bad I waited so long to decide -- flights weren't cheap. Will be busy getting ready, but it will be fabulous for me.

Today I was to ride an hour in a half in zone 2. I spent so much time with work and booking flights this morning, and I had to go into Summit (since I blew it off yesterday), that I decided just to ride the trainer tonight.

So, home from work and set up the CompuTrainer. I was actually looking forward to it because I like to see how the function in my left leg is returning (although it takes so long to set it up that it's a pain in the butt). Was pleased to see that my left leg seems to be stabilizing and that almost all function has returned (at least that's what my spinscan looks like). And I'm shocked that I'm still able to produce so many watts, even though I haven't been training. Will be interesting to do my AT test on Tuesday.

So, 50 minutes was all I could do. Zone 1 & 2 with a handful of accelerations just to wake up my legs. Finished up with about 10 minutes of stretching & 15 minutes of abs. The good news is that I've regained lots of flexibility. I can now reach my toes again!!! My legs were a bit fatigued & achy today, so I'm hoping I've worked that out and I feel refreshed for tomorrow.

Tonight's training was just what I really needed to help me recover for tomorrow's crit. I'm feeling confident that if I don't psych myself out, I can hang with the pack tomorrow. Too bad I probably can't contribute to team tactics, since it's just Tracey and Susan, but I've got a good plan for them anyways.

So, tonight I decided to do something I never do. I got ready for tomorrow's race. Packed my pump & spare wheel & clothes in the car. Prepared my bottles (accelerade & endurox) and food. And cleaned my bike. I'm torn about replacing my tires. I think they look fine, although they do have about 1,400 miles on them, but Cathy Wong had commented at one of the EBs that they're history. I think she's wrong.

Anyways, I'm ready to go. Instead of my usual plan of getting up super-early and then trying to remember & pack everything, I decided to get it all done tonight and relieve some stress in the morning.

Had a JogMate & Endurox for recovery and then some whole wheat pasta, a chicken breast, and tomatoes. Found rice pasta in the grocery tonight, so I'll try that soon (Giana said eliminate wheat from my diet).

I'm excited about tomorrow. My only other crit experience (a SJBC training crit a couple of summers ago) wasn't so hot. It was only 6 weeks after I was hit by a car and I wasn't comfortable with the situation. But I've been working on my visualization and I feel good. My cardio is strong. Not much strength in my legs, but I think I can hang for a 40 minute crit. Guess we'll see tomorrow.

Ride stats -- 51 minutes -- 14.86 miles -- 17.5 average -- 25.9 max -- average HR = 122 -- max HR = 136.

Lorri