Hello Bike, Remember Me?

August 21st, 2011.
The Lake Marion Triathlon.
Over 6 months ago....

....that's the last day I touched my bike.

So I FINALLY hit the trainer on Saturday night.

I posted what I used for my warm-up on Facebook. This is 100% true:

Here's a photo Pharmie snapped pretty early-on in my workout:

Oh hi there, "vein of approval" on my forehead!

After 30:00 of my "COPS" workout warm-up, I hopped off my bike and started doing lunges, hammy curls on the balance ball, and body-weight squats. I did a "Bike Trainer Strength Workout" that I did last year when I read about it in Triathlete Mag a year ago. Here's a link to when I first did the workout a year ago, and here's the gist of the workout from Triathlete Mag:

20 MINUTE WARM-UP: 20 minutes of gradual building: 5 minutes EASY, 5 minutes building, and then 10 minutes of drills. They recommended some fast spinning 1-legged drills for 30 second intervals.

FIRST 10 MINUTE INTERVAL: Off the bike, do the following (25-30 reps) with as little rest as possible:

- Walking lunge
- Hamstring curl with heels on a balance ball
- Jumping squat
- Eccentric calf raises (meaning focus on long, slow downward motion: 3 secs down, 1 sec up)

Then finish out the 10 minute interval (meaning if the exercises took 4 minutes, you'll have 6 minutes to go) on the bike with HR in low Zone 2, and a cadence of 85-95.

SECOND 10 MINUTE INTERVAL: Same strength exercises off the bike, then finish out the 10 minutes with HR in high Zone 2 and a lower cadence: 75-80.

THIRD 10 MINUTE INTERVAL: Same strength exercises off the bike, then finish out the 10 minutes with HR in Zone 3 with a cadence of 80-85.

10 MINUTE COOL-DOWN: Easy spinning.

My modifications:
- 30 minute "COPS" WU as mentioned above instead of 20 minutes.
- No jumping squats because I'd nail our basement ceiling (REPLACED with body-weight squats).
- No calf raises because of my always injured heel.
- No CD, just some stretching.

So that was a 60:00 workout total, and that was about 15:00 off my bike and 45:00 of spinning. For more details on this workout, CLICK HERE to see my first post about it a year ago.

I had left a sweaty patch on the rubber mat where I laid to do my balance ball hammy curls:

So the verdict is: I still do NOT like biking. You know that dull ache in your legs as your ride? I HATE that feeling. But that lungs-burning, chest-about-to-explode, legs-about-to-die feeling on a long run is something I LOVE! So I'll try to hit the trainer now-and-then (MORE than once every 6 months... sheesh), but I'll just keep up with the running.

I celebrated my first bike workout in 6 months by going out for pizza with my sister's family:

Henry and I reading a quick book while waiting for pizza!

3 HELPFUL LINKS:

- More details on this "bike trainer strength workout."

- Have you entered my "1BandID" giveaway yet? Do it in the next 2 days!

- Did you know you can buy a 55 gallon drum of sex lube on Amazon for $1495? Make sure to read the reviews! Seriously, do this. One of the reviews ends with "They had to use caterpillar bulldozers in order to get enough traction." Don't you want to know how that story starts?...