Centaurian Time; A Standard Thirty-Seven Hour Day.

By its nature, my job can be overly demanding.  That is one reason I bought my E-Go.  On a good day there are no surprises.  On an average day, there are very few unexpected issues, and just a drive to keep up with the documentation.  A bad day can go on for as long as 72 hours.

Any day I have to do a removal of a child from a family is a bad day.  It never feels “good” emotionally, psychologically you have to suck it up and be strong.  Physically is exhausting, and intellectually it is a process that has a series of multi-tasking steps, ending in court.  Bad days start late and keeps you out late.  It makes you come in early the next day, stay late again, then early again as you get things ready for court.  You do not eat well, just what is “There” because you have no time to plan anything.  Sleep is fleeting. 

The only thing that makes it worse is when there is more than one going on at one time.

That being said, my job got in the way of my training.

•  I was not able to cross-train on Wednesday. 
• I was not able to do my Tempo Ride on Thursday.
• There was no time to do even the short ride on Friday.
• I was not even doing my PT exercises.

I was so glad when the day ended on Friday, and for the first time in 3 nights I slept. 

Saturday was the first day I could think about me during daylight hours.  It was more humid than hot, but that was not my concern.  I needed to do a 25 mile ride.  Having missed my rides on Thursday and Friday, I had not conditioned, and was ill prepared.  I decided that I am not doing the same course as last week as the hills were so intense, and I was not able to condition for it.  I left in the late afternoon.  I would have liked to go out later but BAD weather was coming, and I needed to be done before it arrived.  Otherwise, I doubt I would have done the ride at all.

I did my ride, and it was a killer. The hills were not as intense, but there were longer grades.  Humidity, wind, and my lack of condition worked against me. It actually made me ache as I rode (ache, not hurt) and at the end I was completely spent. My stomach was cramping, along with my legs.

Today I did my regular ride.  It was good, not painful.  However I now see the importance of every training session, and the PT exercises I am supposed to be doing.

He Blinded Me With Science!!!

This morning, when I got out of bed, I found my legs were a bit achy. This did not feel like joint ach, or the pain of pulled, strained muscles, but the ache of "worked" muscles. It is my understanding that it was due to a buildup of lactic acid in my muscles. This has caused me to look up Lactic Acid, where it comes from, and what it’s purpose is.  I found a really good article on the subject, in Scientific American, written by Stephen M. Roth

Why Does Lactic Acid Build Up In Muscles?  And Why Does It Cause Soreness?

While the article is a very well written, it is still very technical.  This meant I had to read it several times to gain the full scope of the bio-physical actions. (I am a Social Worker, Jim, not a Physicist).

Tonight I did a Recovery Ride on my E-Go. I focused on maintaining a steady yet easy pace. I call it Zen Pace. 7.26mi in 36min (4:59min/mi), 12.04mph

Measured Success

I went on a 20.6 mile E-Go workout ride today. My route took me from home to Richwood, Pitman, Washington Township, Clayton and Elk Township. Weather was mostly favorable.  It was not too hot, but it did rain.  My Time: 01:41:20, Speed: 12.20mi/h. 


When I got home, the house is locked up. My husband had gone out on errands, and I did not have my key.  I took out my Frog-Tog, drank what was left of my water, and waited.  Later we went to Olive Garden for Dinner, and Chick-Fil-Ah for dessert.

Hands-On Learning

I was doing a light ride on my E-Go and blew my rear tire while going over RR tracks. This never happened before.  My husband came with the truck to pick me up, and I spent the rest of the evening educating myself on how to remove the rear wheel and replace the tube.  This was a bit intimidating as the owners manual has little pictures and minimal explanation, but I got through it.  I was advised by a FaceBook friend that there is a support video that demonstrates the process on the ElliptiGo web sight.

Keeping Tempo

This week I started training for metric century ride, which is 100 Kilometers.  This translates to 62 + standard miles.  My plan is to this at the end of the training program, which is 14 weeks.  Tonight was the Tempo-ride workout.  I found this to be the the biggest challenge so far.  A tempo ride race pace plus 2 miles per hour, for 30 minutes.  My average pace is about 12 miles per hour.  By my calculations, I should be able to do 7 miles in 30 minutes (race pace of 12 miles per hour plus 2 divided by 1 half hour).  ElliptiGo (who developed the training program) suggested that the course taken should be as flat as possible, or with mild inclines. For this reason, I used the bike path.

The outcome was that I maintained a 12.5 MPH. That was with me pushing it. I am hoping that I can improve my time as I move forward with the program.

How Time Flies...

Wow.  Have you ever unintentionally let something go, and then avoided getting back to it because you did not know where to begin?  That is where I have been in the last 10 days.  I have been out riding, and working, and resting, and doing physical therapy for my knee, and these things have giving me little time for anything else…except 2  of my favorite shows on TV.  Fact if, work has been really intense recently ( I work in Child Protective Services), and I have to document all of it.  The current heat wave in the North Eastern states has also forced me to ride at late hours.   The idea of typing anything has been a chore.  I have even let down 7 people on Words-With-Friends (which includes my husband).

So. Since my last post (6/26/12), I have increased my area significantly.  One night I got to my planed turn-around point, and saw a hill just a little further, so I went to that; then the next; and the next.  Before I knew it I was 3 miles out of my usual range, and needed to ride back.  I got home after dark but I did 12 miles in just under an hours. 

I am still seeking hills.  I noticed on 6/30 that the hills I was crawling up in 1^st gear a few weeks prior, I was sweating out in 3^rd gear.

My last long ride was on 4/2, and I went 15 miles.  I have a ride planned for later this evening (just before sunset, when the temp drops below 90degrees) that will take me 17 miles.  There will be no riding tomorrow as the heat and humidity will be very back.  Thankfully a break in the heat is coming.

One very important word to live by – HYDRATE!