Monday, April 20, 2009

So this weekend is in the bag and I got to mix things up a bit and actually ride my bike.

Over the past 3 weeks I have spent the majority of my time on stationary bikes at Texas Christian University. I volunteered to be part of a trial studying the affects of a high intensity training regimen on a couple different factors--VO2 Max, Lactate Threshold, blood pH buffering...maybe a couple other things that escape me, more on that when the results are in.

I was one of the people selected for the intervention group (yeah, there is probably a joke in there somewhere) which meant I was subjected to laboratory torture sessions 3x a week for two weeks. Sandwiched between a pair of VO2 max/25k TT/Threshold days, I have lived about 3 weeks of not much more than high intensity training. Sundays were the off days when I could go out for the long, slow ride, usually into a 2o+ mph headwind for the entire duration, or so it seemed.

At this point I have entered the final two week period of normal endurance training, so I made up for lost time and spent Saturday and Sunday on the road, as it should be. It was good. Weather started a little cool and wet Saturday but steadily improved, and miraculously, the wind managed to stay below tropical storm force the entire time.

In about a week and a half I will return for the final round of testing, at which point I'll start to get results...I'll share in some form.