Century Training - Week 6; Day 7

Week: 6
Day: 7
Ride: Pace Off-Day
Scheduled Mileage: 16
Actual Mileage: 0

Rain, rain, go away! On a sunnier note, this was the first time I had a decent "night's rest" between 5am and 1pm on a Sunday after a Saturday night at job #2.

Century Training - Week 6; Day 6

Week: 6

Day: 6

Ride: Pace

Route: Combination of hills, flats and city traffic

Scheduled Mileage: 53

Actual Mileage: 54.86

Average Speed: 12.7 mph

Max Speed: 26.7 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 143

Max BPM: 174

Calories: 1889

Central Park at nine o'clock in the morning was full of wonderful sounds. A beautiful wailing violin when I passed the East Drive entrance to The Mall on each lap. The cheer from Little League baseball games in the North Meadows. The brief chime of pedicab bells. The clip clop of horseshoes, followed by the rickety scrape of carriages on the pavement. The hum of light, breathy conversations between joggers and other cyclists.

After three laps, I exited the park on West 59th Street and pedaled north on the Hudson River. I reached the 25-mile mark under the George Washington Bridge so I took a break next to the little red lighthouse that inspired this children's book. There are two short hills near the George Washington Bridge that deserve mention because the sharp incline will kick your ass and shoot your heartrate up to the 170s within seconds. After eating a Clif Bar energy bar, I continued north for another mile, attacking those hills, before turning around and heading toward Battery Park and the South Street Seaport at the bottom of Manhattan. The diversity of my first half-century might best and most easily be depicted by the following photos.

Central Park in the morning

Riverside Park on the Upper West Side

West Harlem

 

Along the Amtrak lines to Penn Station

Jeffrey's Hook Light under the George Washington Bridge

Looking south on the Hudson River under the GW Bridge

Along the Hudson River in Inwood

Little League baseball in the shadow of the West Side Highway

Ground Zero

Financial District

Chinatown

Cruising up Third Avenue in Gramercy Flatiron

Hit a street fair at East 23rd Street and cut over to First Avenue

Central Park in the afternoon

 

It's still incredible to me that all the above photos were taken with twelve miles of each other.

For the sake of pace, target heart rate and maximum calorie burn, I could have finished my first half-century in a lot less time if I hadn't gone all Dora The Explorer on mi bicicleta in Downtown Manhattan. But I found a second wind while heading north on First Avenue, keeping speed with the traffic and weaving in and out of lanes when necessary. I meant to pause along 34th and 42nd Streets and take photos looking west toward the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, but the next time I peeked at the street signs passing overhead, I was suddenly at East 70th Street.

Though the Upper East Side is generally more posh than other neighborhoods, I'm always surprised when the streets aren't paved in gold - considering how the cast members of reality TV shows like The Real Housewives of New York City and High Society make their tiny world, which virtually exists within less than a 20-block radius, seem larger than life. I often wonder if these masters of the universe ever realize how small their world really is and how little it truly impacts the deeper, diverse and more culturally rich nature of New York City, dwindling though it may be at the hands of inflated real estate value and of the trite and contrived. Do the people in those worlds ever form genuine relationships or are all of the "friendships" simply networking opportunities with agendas? But I digress.

I was shocked at how good I felt when I re-entered Central Park at West 90th Street along the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I tackled the Harlem Hill for a fourth time just to feel like I was rounding out my 53 miles with a real workout - since I had broken pace for so many photo opportunities throughout the morning. Exiting the park at Columbus Circle, I cruised down Broadway through Times Square, made a right and I was home.

Century Training - Week 6, Day 5

Week: 6
Day: 5
Ride: Pace Off-Day
Scheduled Mileage: 15
Actual Mileage: 0

I was supposed to cycle 15 miles this evening after work [job #1].

I did not.

I chose instead to order Pad See Ew from my favorite Thai restaurant in Midtown, Pam Real Thai, because:

Excuse #1: You know when you mess up your diet one day and say to yourself, "Self, I've already eaten this many calories today, I might as well eat everything else I see" ... ? Well, that's how I feel about my training - or lack thereof - in Weeks 5 and 6.

Excuse #2: I have to ride 53 miles tomorrow and I want my legs to be fresh [I'm sure if that were actually true, America by Bicycle's Century Challenge & Endurance Cycling Training Guide (reproduced with permission by Rodale Press) would assign off-days just prior to long-ride days ... and they don't].

Excuse #3: I wanted to order take-out, catch up on TiVoed episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show - that I have not been able to watch because of my busy schedule - and be in bed early, reading Life of Pi until I fell asleep. And I couldn't do all those things (and compose this blog post) in one evening if I spent over an hour cycling 15 miles in Central Park.

So the decision to not ride my bicycle in preparation for a 50-day cycling tour that averages more than 60 miles a day and begins in less than nine weeks seemed only natural. And you know what I discovered?

Random Topic of the Impromptu Off-Day:
Thanks to Ellen, I've learned that Shemar Moore and I have something in common - other than taking this photo together in Miami after my friends and I chased him half a block down Ocean Drive back in 2007 - and other than the fact that we both celebrated a Big 0 in 2010 (as in the Big 3-0 and Big 4-0) - Shemar Moore is also a cyclist. He wears padded tights just like I do!

Also, Ellen has been giving away a lot of bicycles lately. Click here if you often win free giveaways and raffles. I often don't so I won't. But ... Shemar Moore wears padded tights, too!

Century Training - Week 6; Days 1, 2, 3 & 4

It's rounding out to be another sad cycling week in the world of Blog-By-Bike.
 
Week: 6
Day: 1
Ride: Easy Off-Day
Scheduled Mileage: 11
Actual Mileage: 0 

Week: 6
Day: 2
Ride: Pace
Route: Flat
Scheduled Mileage: 15
Actual Mileage: 16.53
Average Speed: 14.7 mph
Max Speed: 20.1 mph
*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 142
Max BPM: 173
Calories: 486

Week: 6
Day: 3
Ride: Brisk Off-Day
Scheduled Mileage: 21
Actual Mileage: 0

Week: 6
Day: 4
Ride: Off-Day Brisk
Route: Hilly
Scheduled Mileage: 21
Actual Mileage: 22.04
Average Speed: 15.2 mph
Max Speed: 24.3 mph
*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 149
Max BPM: 175
Calories: 714

Due to continued commitments at the office [job #1] when my temporary assignment to assist the Executive Chairman was extended through Monday, I didn't finish my workday until nearly 9pm since the workloads under the two women I primarily assist still need to be handled when I've covering for the Executive Chairman's assistant. Though I hated to miss another evening of cycling, the professional in me enjoys the challenges and demands in the corporate New York City environment.

I did breeze through 15 miles on Tuesday evening, thanks to some nice tailwinds on the Hudson River (though I did have to deal with some uncomfortable headwinds when I retraced my pedal strokes back to my Midtown Manhattan apartment).

And Wednesday, due to a colleague's ambitious motivation to pursue new professional opportunities (thanks, Vanessa) and further solidified by evening rain showers (thanks, God), I forewent cycling in order to consume voluminous bar food calories at The Half King in honor of Vanessa's new job. We'll miss her and her contagious laugh in the office, but my expanded waistline and idle legs are not feeling quite as sentimental.

Thursday was no longer a regularly scheduled off-day. 21 miles!

Century Training - Week 6

Total Miles Cycled in Week 5: 75.55

Mon: Upper Body Strength Routine #1; 11 miles (easy)
Tues: Lower Body Strength Routine #1; 15 miles (pace)
Wed: Upper Body Strength Routine #2; 21 miles (brisk)
Thurs: Lower Body Strength Routine #2; Off 21 miles (brisk)
Fri: Upper Body Strength Routine #3; 15 miles (pace)
Sat: 53 miles (pace)
Sun: 16 miles (pace)

Week 6 Scheduled Mileage: 131

Strength training routines at the gym: M-F, 6am
Century training rides: M-W, F, 7pm; Sat, 9am; Sun, 7:30am
Core-specific exercise routine: M, W, F after evening rides (3x per week)

Random Notes to Self:

• Since I was able to pedal 47 miles relatively comfortably on Saturday after four consecutive days off the bicycle last week, I've decided to move on to the scheduled mileage in Week 6 instead of repeating Week 5.
• Don't forget the chamois cream!
• Need to purchase real cycling sunglasses; the $5 immitations I purchased from a street vendor in Midtown are not going to hold up much longer. Considering transitions lenses.
• iPhone or Droid? My Verizon contract ends in May and - while I could wait for Verizon's version of the iPhone to be released later this fall rather than switch to AT&T - I'd like a Smartphone for my big cycle adventure. Comments?

"'Easy' means taking a leisurely ride, 'pace' means matching the speed you plan to maintain for the century, and 'brisk' means cycling faster than your century pace."
- America by Bicycle's Century Challenge & Endurance Cycling Training Guide, reproduced with permission by Rodale Press