She's a keeper

I christened my new bike today. I love her. It was my best ride on a trainer I dare say. She is just awesome. I don't have a name for her yet but I'm working on it. She is so smooth and quiet and FAST!!!! My ave speed was a good 3mph faster today. Mind over matter? I'm not sure. I know there has to be some gain even before I reap her aerodynamic benefits on the open road. What a thrill. It was fun to feel so cool.....

Things are coming together. I am starting to see improvements and that is rewarding. I did a run the other day that was 5 x 3 minutes POE (parcelled out effort.) In other words, your effort and therefore speed should be greater with each 3" period. This was embedded in a 45" run. It a so smooth. I was able to keep my heartrate in the Aerobic zone until my pace was just under 7:00/mile. How can that be? I ended the effort on a 3" at 6:30 pace. Then I slowed down to a 6:58 pace to finish the run. It just felt easy.

I am also finally seeing some gains in the water. I have my stroke back. I feel strong again. I am able to repeat 200s and bring the time down a lot faster than last year. I have been trying to keep myself strong in the water for my big workout next week. 100x100. I am looking forward to it in an odd sort of way. I do think it'll be fun. I like big challenges like this and what better challenge than one in the water?

Here's an interesting experiment I've been playing with. I can run along at a steady pace in my Aerobic zone and feel very consistent. However, if I start daydreaming and imagining myself finishing a race next to a competitor for example, I find that my heart rate has gone up a good 10 beats even though my speed is the same. If I lower my arms and focus on an easy pace my heartrate goes down again. I feel that if I can gain some good mental focus and learn to control my emotions during a race, I could really keep my heartrate in check. Yeah, that would be nice. It'll never happen. But I can keep experimenting during training and who knows...maybe I'll get there.

Forecast for tonight: Ice storm in the foothills of Maine. Hmmm....sounds interesting. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Right now, it's a glorious springlike 54 degrees!!! I know I know, but it's all relative.