Interval Training

After my shitty ride last Wednesday I was pretty bummed, but I think I was suffering from dehydration, combined with too much beer and chicken the night before. I was bloated and slow.

Friday I did my first interval session, followed by another on Sunday -- in an attempt to pick up my fitness. I do them out by the docks on Commissoner St. where there is a 6.5 km loop.



The good thing is it's a quick and dirty workout, good if you are strapped for time. Warm-up on the ride out, three laps at time-trial pace (about 25 mins) and ride home. One hour, but it's draining. You can only handle this twice a week.

The good thing is that you see a boost in fitness almost immediately, the bad thing is you can't do too many hours of this, so it's not a good way to say lose weight or waste time.

Also the sad reality is that to enjoy biking you have to be decently fit, and to get fit you have to kind of watch what you eat/drink. Not so much that that you can't eat or drink stuff that's supposedly bad for you, but you have to watch for things like dehydration or having a heavy meal at the wrong time.

So instead of trying to down a bunch of coffee and water and breakfast before a ride I have a tall glass of gatorade, and a little sumpin' like a piece of bread or a bagel. Then I sip gatorade and (salted) water on the ride. You might feel kinda hungry, but it'll keep you firing.

With the interval training and better feeding, even today, just a week after my abyssmal collapse - I cruised for three hours and still felt fresh.