Perfect Day for a long ride

So what makes a perfect day for a long ride? Good weather is a must, this past Saturday was pretty good, starting out a bit on the chilly side but warming up quickly into the lower 80s by mid day. A few Tri buds and I decided to put in some serious miles doing 120 miles on a moderate to hilly course. After about 6 hours in the saddle you certainly know you got a good workout. Wearing my GPS Garmin 305 gave me some nice stats for the route such as distance, average speed, elevation but more importantly showed I was working almost all day in the right zones for good IM training. The bulk of the ride I spent in zones 1 and 2 with probably 70 minutes of moderate to hard work in zone 4. It really does not get much better than that for a training ride. Many times riding with my roadie friends, the ride turns into a hammer fest and I am forced to simply let them ride away if I want to train correctly. It was nice to ride with other people training for CDA IM that were interested in keeping a steady and smooth tempo ride, not pushing too hard, thus not going anaerobic; gradually building speed down the hills, again keeping heart rate within check. Flats is where you can just tuck down on your bars and ride a steady or upper steady pace. Do one of those a week for a while and you will be bike ready for IM!

Open Water Swims

Finally the water is getting warmer and I have been able to get out and do some open water swimming. Still need a wet suit, but that will not last much longer since the days are getting warmer now. What do I like about open water? No flip turns, just cruise along, get in a steady rhythm and work in some stronger ME intervals within the swim. Swimming with a new group of people this year on lake Jordon a well protected cove with little or no boat traffic and a loop measuring about 1400 yards. Do about 3 laps of that and you have a nice long swim workout. Should work well for getting me ready for Louisville in August.