Oh, the trainer

Kayle is always talking about how much she loves her trainer. And while I love the benefit of it -- time on my bike, not exposed to the elements, freedom to do it anytime -- I can't say I love it. My favorite part about riding my bike is being outside and enjoying the day. And, it's harder to motivate to kill my legs by going really fast if I don't get the benefit of feeling the speed and the wind in my face!

But I came across this article in Triathlete. It was about "loving your trainer." It gave three workouts to do on it. One was a steady ride, which is pretty much what I've been doing. (My general routine has been 1 hour on the trainer once or twice a week.) But the other two -- a drill and an interval -- were new. I heard of similar rides, but I was glad to have that article because I've been wondering what to do with it. I took on the drill ride the other day. After a decent 10-minute or so warm up, you bike with just one leg for 30 seconds (taking the other out of the clips) and then switch, and then a two-minute recovery, repeat four times. I figured it would just work my individual leg more, but I had no idea. It was so hard to concentrate to keep a steady circular motion when I wasn't pressing down on my other foot! It took a lot of brain power and some coordination. I enjoyed the challenge. Then, after that, it's speed drills -- take 15 seconds to reach maximum speed without bouncing around, hold for 15 seconds, recover for two minutes. The interesting thing about this drill was that it wasn't hard during the speed...but it seemed like about a minute later, that's when my legs started hurting and struggling. It was interesting too. Finish with about 10 minutes of lighter cycling as a cool down.

All in all, it broke up the monotony of trainer rides for me, and I really enjoyed it. I don't expect to like the interval ride much because I think it will be really hard, but it's probably another good ride. I expect to rotate through the trainer rides each time I cycle to get a good balance. I may even bump up my "long ride" a bit to get a stronger foundation.

February is here and will be crazy for me at work, I expect. I plan to get as many workouts in as possible, but it may not be as much as I'd like. My first race (a 5k) is at the end of the month! Woo!

On a different note, I made this really yummy soup the other day. It's super lumpy and has a lot of beans in it -- totally not my thing generally -- but it's very good and fairly healthy. Love it.