The past two months have been pretty rough as far as training goes. I took almost a month off on vacation with only a couple meaningful rides during that time, and then the weather in Taiwan became too unstable upon my return to really build back into my regular training routine. It seemed every evening I could potentially get out on one of my routes, the rains would start immediately after work. Talk about depressing... I would see clear, blue skies all day--until 5:00pm when the rain would start up.
In the mean time I made some minor adjustments to my diet and lost 6lbs. in 4 weeks. I replaced my morning Cheerios and yogurt with broccoli based smoothies. Now going down in the drops feels so much better.
Lemme see.... We then had the typhoon eliminate another weekend. I was sick last week. It can all seem like it just starts piling on-- and it sucks.
Finally, FINALLY!!! Last night I went out for a real training ride. I did my 30 mile loop from Taichung to Caotun and back through Fen Yuan and Dapu on the Changhua side of the river.
Distance: 32mi./51km.
Max Speed: 32mph./51kph
Average Speed: 18.89mph./30kph
I felt loose and performed much better than I had presumed, but I can tell my ability to keep the heat on has taken a bit of a hit. I was also feeling some of chest congestion from the cold.
Regardless... getting out on the road like that couldn't feel any more right.
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- Part III of Joe Friel's valuable study on the effects of aging on cycling performance.
