Week 1 on my quest to be a cyclist

My coach Melissa sent me my schedule at the end of January. I had probably been riding about 2-3 times a week on the trainer but when the weather permitted, I was out on the road.

For week one, the schedule called for 4 days of riding, some spinning, some lower RPM pushing, some hill repeats, and more spinning. Interspersed in there somewhere was core work and stretching. I gotta admit, I didn't do as much stretching as I should have done on the prescribed days but I do try and stretch certain muscle groups all the time.

My HR zone was 131-152, which I kept to for the most part. I say the for the most part because on the hill repeats/standing intervals, I could not keep the damn thing below 166. I would stand up, slowly turn the cranks, watching my HR rise. It would hover close to 152, then when I looked again, it was up past 160 so I would sit down and spin my HR down. I was amazed at how the rate would go down when I was climbing a hill but then again, I don't think I concentrated on lowering my HR before, hill or no hill.

Energy level was pretty good. I expected to be tired but I was not. My first spinning session after my rest day was awesome. 90RPM for 2 hours and HR ave 142.

Soreness. I feel no more sore than if I was training for IM. My glutes are tight and my calf has cramped a little while sitting, but overall, I'm feeling no pain.

I tried out a friend's track bike the other day but alas, it is a little too short. When the saddle is up at the proper level, the drop to the bars is quite low, like more than 10cm and that will be way too uncomfortable. I'm thinking about buying one cheap and if it doesn't work out that I am on the track very much, I can sell it for what I paid for it or more.

I'm on week two now, we go Sunday through Saturday, and so far, I have gone 33 miles in 2 hrs and change. Tonight's ride will be on the trainer but two hours on the trainer doesn't sound like much fun.