Someone pushed the level up button when I wasn't looking

[krobinson103]

For the last three months I've been running short (30km) slow (25 km/h) fat burning runs supplemented with 50-60km runs in the weekends. Today I figured I'd go for 80km and I did... in 3 1/2 hours at a cruising speed of 30-36 km/h. I was reeling in pace lines of hybrid/road bikes like it was nothing. I'm guessing the group was travelling slowly but still this is a $500 hard tail with offroad tyres. Makes we wonder how fast I could do it on a road bike.

The time differential comes in becasuse I have to wend my way through parks and busy trails at points. I needed 3 bottles of water and a refueling stop in the middle. The strange thing? I just got home and I swear I could out again right now and do exactly the same thing. No tiredness at all, no painful muscles. Next week its 110 km on Sunday.

I really do like this new improved body of mine. Only 3 months ago 20km was difficult. Someone pushed the level up button while I wasn't looking.

[chefisaac]

Sounds like your improving. Thats awesome. Remember not to push it too much. Each day is a different day on how you feel and perhaps you are learning your body and what you can do. Great job!

[Mr. Beanz]

Something aint adding up here.

80km / 50 miles..........cruising at 18.6-22.3 mph........3 1/2 hours

50 miles divided by 3 1/2 equals a 14. 2 average (not exactly cruising speeds of 18-22)

Those pacelines must have been on a coffee break.

Your slow 25 km/h rides are faster than your fast speed claims of today. 25 km/15.5 mph.

Maybe my math is wrong?

[krobinson103]

Very amateur looking bunch they were. But the time doesn't add up because I had to get through t*^&^ park which is full of trikes and kids and walkers. Once you get clear of that bunch there is about 40km of really nice trail that you can ride as fast your legs will allow. Then it gets into a horrible little urban area that limited me to 17km/h at best. If there were no sloooowww obstacles or ancient cobbled surfaces that gave my suspension a heck of a work out 35km/h the whole way would have been easy.

In fact I had fun pacing the cars stuck in traffic on the long bridge. They were only traveling about 40km/h so I just kept up for as long as I safely could. Then my knee started to twinge reminding me that I'm closer to 40 not 20 and maybe pushing that hard would be a bad idea. Age can be such a spoilsport.

[Mr. Beanz]

Ah I see. Same with my ride yesterday, I did decent pace but once I hit the beach path, sheesh, dodging rollerbladers and beach cruisers.

[digibud]

congrats. every so often I realize my aerobic threshold is higher...and I hit a new max heart rate. yesterday I passed a 20 something gal on a bike that was moving along nicely and smiled to myself. then a 20 something guy passed me like I was standing still and I laughed to myself. there's always somebody faster but happily the new me is faster than the old me and I continue to remake myself and kick my own ass as I compare myself to a few months ago.

[IBOHUNT]

congrats. every so often I realize my aerobic threshold is higher...and I hit a new max heart rate. yesterday I passed a 20 something gal on a bike that was moving along nicely and smiled to myself. then a 20 something guy passed me like I was standing still and I laughed to myself. there's always somebody faster but happily the new me is faster than the old me and I continue to remake myself and kick my own ass as I compare myself to a few months ago.

Sometimes your the windshield and sometimes the bug syndrome. Keep kicking your ass and get up and kick it again.

I keep an excel record of my rides dating back to last June. Look back at last year to think about what folks must have seen when they saw an old fat guy riding his arse off going 10 miles in 68 minutes on a flat canal. Today I laugh at that especially after I just got back from a 17.8 mile solo ride in 57 min 56 seconds with a cadence of 95 with 850' of elevation gain.