I’d been thinking for some time that maybe my new style push-ups were coming too easily. I place my feet on the top rail of a fence or a picnic table top and in this inverted position, I begin. I started noticing early on that if I kept my body rigid…as I do when doing a standard push-up…I tend to slip off whatever I have my feet perched on. To avoid this and smashing my nose into the ground, I started bending at the knees…and my number started climbing quickly. I hit 84 the other day and knew that 100 was close at hand.
So I decided to return to the more perfect plank-like form and see what I could do. The result was disappointing. Fifty-seven. But it’s an honest 57 and now this time I’ll keep that form. It’s going to take some time though before I see 100.
I hurried through the Survival Workout so I could get home with enough daylight to do my Gates Mills route on the bike. I had it in my mind that I was going to push hard…start to finish…and attempt to beat my 1 hour-43 minute pr for the course. I headed out with a wind at my back and knew it was a dumb idea because it meant that over the final 40 minutes of the course, I’d be riding into the teeth of a very tough wind.
I reached the top of Sperry Road Hill in 53 minutes…a couple of minutes faster than I’d ever gotten there before. That was with some help from the wind though so I knew it would be practically impossible to shave any time off my best unless I was ready to ride hard…and then puke. I asked myself, ‘what would Lance do?’ Well…first of all, he’d be done and having a cool one when I was asking myself the question…but he’d ride and puke. So I pushed.
The wind knew what I was up to and pushed back harder. I found myself off the saddle and working every little…and big…hill as I struggled home. The final stretch down Wilson Mills, which is completely open to the wind, was extremely difficult, but as I pulled into the drive in 1:40:30, having shaved two and a half minutes off my best time ever, I was quite pleased. It’s unusual to be in good shape so early in the biking season.
Now…I was tired. So when Holly asked me if I’d like to go to the park so we could hike the hills, I was thrilled. We put in a little more than an hour and I felt every step going up…walking level...and coming down. I was ahead of her though, so it didn’t matter.
Survival Workout: 60 minutes. Hike duration: 70 minutes. Bike duration: One hour and 40 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150 for the SW, 75 for the hike and 130 for the bike.
Calories burned: 600 for SW, 350 for the hike and 1500 for the bike.
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