Friday, April 10, 2009

Yes I'm A Radiohead Whore, No I Don't Care.

Thursday: PM: Trainer Workout 10 X 1 Min Hard/Easy, 55 min Total

Traffic on the way home from work put paid to my planned hill session that the guru of all things 2 wheels JMACK gave me. So since I planned on doing a hill that was about one minute long I just did the minute efforts in a hard gear on my trainer getting my HR up to 180 on the efforts. It was actually a fantastic workout although a little short as I like to get in over an hour on every session. Time was against me, just as it is in life.

There were some nice comments regarding the conversion or relationship between time in the saddle versus running. I have heard about the 3-1 ratio etc. Again I disagree with all of this. It is sport specific and the better you are at one of the disciplines the more skewed the ratio becomes. Reading comments by GZ and JMAck they both say they have heard the ratio between 3-1 and 5-1. There is no way this is the case for a runner using the bike for XT. First off, Runners are impetuous so we do not ride easy, we tend to push hard. We are not used to eating and drinking during exercise so this is another aspect that separates us. And if the ratio is as they say why can I, a very fit runner, JOG 10 miles in under 60 minutes but feel completely exhausted after a steady 40 mile ride. It is because my muscles are not used to riding so therefore the 40 mile ride or 2 hours in the saddle is equivalent to a long run, if not harder, for right now. Last Saturday I did a solo 45 mile ride in the strong spring wind and when I got done I was completely wiped. Much more so than I would have been had I did a track session or tempo run. I am sure once I get used to the bike the ratio will change but for right now my heart and lungs don't know the difference between the exercise I'm doing and my heard trainer rides for 75 minutes feel like hard runs for 75 minutes, not 5 mile runs like the ratios would suggest. Comments are welcome but I doubt anyone will convience me otherwise. Take a pro cyclist who routinely trains 4+ hours a day and ask them to go for a hard 90 minute run and I guarantee they will tell you the 90 minute run was significantly harder than their 4-5 hour ride. Its what your used to.

Right now, writing this post I am listening to a German band named Diego. I never heard of these guys but they sound very like Interpol and Editors, two of my favorite bands and since I need a fix of this dark, 80's tinged rock, Diego has come into my world at a perfect time. Check them out at their myspace. I know its almost a rip off of the two bands I mentioned but they do it well so I can forgive them and in fact encourage more. The youtube below is one of their songs so have a listen and let me know what you think.

Signing off to go and get a Synvisk injection in my knee. Training today is an easy spin before hell tomorrow. I am going to put myself under tomorrow and I can't wait. The burning lactic in the legs and the taste of blood in back of my throat........lovely.

Hope everyone is feeling fitter, happier, and much more productive............At Ease.

Peace and Love,
Kel

PS Dont mind the intro!

5 comments:

  1. camera obscura, check it!

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  2. K^2

    I agree with what you are saying.

    But as runners we are often making such comparisons. You do a workout and think, well, let's see ... 6 x 800 in trainers with 1 minute rest ... that ought to be equivalent to such and such for 5K.

    Your point - which is perfectly valid is - it does not compare to crap. If you do that workout - THAT is what it is.

    But we compare. If I go for a 2 hour run on steep trails in the mountains that turns out to be 8 miles, I wonder what that is equivalent to if I ran the roads. To your point - it was a 2 hour run in the mountains. But my mind still wanders and wonders.

    And so I wonder the same thing with the bike. It is, as you say, just biking.

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  3. geez man id ove to be able to jog 10 mile in an hour ,enjoying the blog its inspiring stuff ,done my 1st 55 mile week thanks to reading your blog keep it up

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  4. This is one of the worst songs I have heard in years, what is wrong with you?

    Embarrassing, you are letting Jonesy down.

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  5. I'm backing Tom on this one. If you like these guys, you'd like "She wants revenge" they also suck.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete