Sports-specific training...

Monday, August 8, 2011

Alaska Paul called last night which reminded me how close the next trip to the Adirondacks is. I’m planning on going up with the girls and some of their friends on September 11th (appropriate for me since I was in the mountains when the planes hit the towers) to climb Giant Mt. and Rocky Peak Ridge. I’ll return home in two days only to turn around and head back up with John and Alaska Paul, if he can swing the dates and get here, to climb three more peaks. Though I’m in very good shape at this time, I’ll feel better about all the climbing if I do some step-up and bleacher workouts with a backpack strapped on. Cycling is great and gives me the endurance I need to climb all day, but nothing beats sports-specific training…trying to mimic what you will actually be doing.

I boarded the bike after cutting the grass to a perfect riding evening. I can’t remember the last time it was so pleasant…maybe high 70’s at most. I decided to ride the course John and I did the day before and maybe hit it a little faster. I tend to want to talk when John and I ride, which keeps me from pushing as hard as I might. After about 30 minutes of riding though, I realized it wouldn’t be a particularly fast ride as I was feeling the fatigue of riding long two days in a row. The effort was there…but the speed was down. It was such a pretty evening that I just tried to enjoy the scenery though I still pushed hard up the hills. The ride ended up taking me about 5 minutes less than we’d done the day before, which pleased me since I was pretty sure I was going slower.

Later that evening, Holly asked me to walk the block with here. I agreed, but noticed the fatigue in my legs immediately. Exercise can humble you. With all the biking I’ve been doing, I’ve ignored weight-bearing aerobic exercise and really need to take a couple of runs and long hikes. I’ve been avoiding that kind of work for a good reason…keep the knee healthy until after the mountains…but the mountains won’t care about my reason for not training correctly…they’ll just humble me.

Bike workout: One hour and 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,500.