Training Log Archive: iansmith

Morning ride. It was already a toasty 20 C, with the temperature set to climbing to 27 today. I clearly need to start earlier, as traffic was challenging in places. I saw a fox cross the street at one point, and I threw a spoke from my front wheel about 1 km from the end. I must learn to replace a broken spoke.

C • spoke 1

Today's objective was to go hard and fast on a long ride, but my choice of distance was a more reasonable 120 km to Burlington and Spencer Smith Park. It's been a bit of a rough week for me, and it was a glorious morning to be out. I set an apparently unsustainable pace on the out phase and was somewhat burned out on the return.

I set out at 5a in the predawn darkness. Getting from my apartment to the lake shore is not trivial, and there were numerous stoplights. A coyote ran across the street perhaps 30m in front of me into High Park while I was on Parkside.

Once I got to the lake, as traffic was quite light so early, I pushed hard - biking 30 km (from 10 to 40) in 1:00:23 even with a number of stoplights, and 50 km (10 to 60) in 1:40:36. I felt ok to start out. Pushing as hard as I was, it's disappointing that I was not moving faster.

I faded a bit on the return journey - perhaps also inhibited by a light ~10 kph wind blowing from the northeast. There was also considerably more traffic and traffic lights as people started to get up. The last 8 km were necessarily glacial due to Toronto traffic; the effort part of this ride was about 108 km in 3:52. A good effort, but an unremarkable result.

I stopped roughly once per hour - at 0:53 (when I got lost), 2:04, 3:13, and 4:00. I probably should stop more often, but I'm trying to push my endurance. I drank about 2L of gatorade mix at intervals throughout the ride, and I ate a brownie and a candy bar over the course of the stops. No M&Ms today, which surely penalized my performance.

C • Endurance Cycling 3

Very easy effort and my second ride on the York Mills - Victoria Park - O'Connor loop. Between lights and my relaxed effort, I went through the first 5k in a laughable 15:05. But I loosened up quickly, and even while I stayed relaxed, I cruised at 30 kph in places. O'Connor is particularly nice, as it's a quiet road but has long stretches between lights.

Intervals at Memorial Park, a public park with a track that is 2.7 km from my apartment. It is an excellent distance for a good warm up and cool down.

I haven't done track intervals in a while, so I set a conservative workout of 4x200m, 2x400m, 2x200m. I planned to run at a "Repeats" effort from Daniels' Running Formula, with emphasis on running form and kinetics. The bouts would likely be too short to get my heart rate up, and I gave myself long recoveries. The recovery was untimed; for the 200s, I just jogged back to the start of the track, and for the 400s, I had a short little jog along the curve of the track before returning. In all cases, my recoveries worked out to be about 90-100s.

I was ludicrously slow, but that's to be expected given my current fitness. The effort was pleasant. Unfortunately, my relatively new shoes irritated my left achilles somewhat. My splits got a little faster during the workout, which I take as a good sign.

Splits:
200s: 47.9, 42.4, 43.5, 44.7; 41.4, 43.1
400s: 1:39, 1:33

My body is calling a vote of no-confidence in my brain's judgment.

I feel mostly tired, and I felt considerably worse 4-5 hr after finishing yesterday than I did when I finished. This is certainly something to keep in mind when I try to add a third 100 km lap in a day. The strategy of breaking a truly epic ride into 3 hr bouts still seems sound to me, but I need to figure out my physiological limits as I determine my target pace.

I think I could bike again today, but I figured I would give it a day's rest to recover more fully. My legs and lower back are definitely a bit stiff.

C • no confidence 7

Bike adventures, part 2: I did a double metric century, solo.

Flush with the success from May 2, I was eager to attempt another grand adventure. The weather last weekend was lackluster, but today had clear skies and only a weak wind. My route along Lake Ontario was much flatter, and in general I felt good and strong for most of the ride. Including breaks, the total time was about 9:30; this is satisfactory, but not great.

My key lessons from Part 1 were (1) bring more calories, (2) take more frequent, short stops to get off my bike and eat a little, (3) take a longer break halfway to recharge somewhat. I wore a bright yellow long sleeve, knee length tights, gloves, sunglasses (key), and an undershirt, and I wore a jacket for the first forty minutes that I stashed. I carried a pump, spare tube, patch kit, set of allen wrenches, flip flops if I had to walk a long way, 400g of M&Ms, 2.7 L of diluted gatorade, cash, and my Presto (transit) card.

One mistake was not bringing and applying sunscreen; my lower calves, right wrist, and neck are all burned to various degrees.

I started at 5:45, which was not really early enough. I had not necessarily resolved to go the full 100 km, and I had several earlier turnarounds considered. When I passed through the elbow in Burlington at 2:18, I was feeling great, so I decided to keep going until I hit 100 km. I took a 5-10 minute break about every 45 minutes, though the last leg on my outbound was 90 minutes.

Once I hit 100 km (10 am), I stopped for 40 minutes and ate a cheeseburger from A&W, which was delightful. I then biked back via the same route. The return had some key differences - it was a bit sunnier, and the recreational routes had much more traffic. The Waterfront Trail traffic had increased five or tenfold between 9a and 11:40a. Even Lake Shore blvd, a thoroughly delightful route for biking from Burlington nearly to Toronto, had much more car and bike traffic. I should start earlier if only to maximize how long I am alone and unimpeded. A 5 km stretch at 3:09, near Humber Bay, was basically gridlock. Fortunately, the eastbound lanes of Lake Shore Blvd from High Park to Coronation Park had been closed off to cars by barriers to give bikes a place to ride, and I blasted through just shy of 30 kph. But the city itself was quite slow.

Amusingly, I fell over clipped in twice - once while maneuvering slowly in the A&W parking lot at the halfway point, and once at a red light at around 170 km. I was slightly shaken, and the first fall seems to have bent my left brake handle a little, though things seemed functional.

I was almost run over by a Porsche on Lake Shore Blvd; there certainly seems to be a weak negative correlation between how expensive a car is and how much room they give me. Though shortly afterward, I was nearly swiped by a Jeep Wrangler. Night time and early morning riding is clearly the best time to be doing these things safely and quickly in a major city.

Conditions were more favorable for speed, especially with the less climb. I had 3 5k auto splits on the outbound part over 30 kph, and Lake shore is magnificently quick. Even on the return leg, I managed one 5k split at 30.5 kph. My total time includes traffic lights, waiting for cars, and some minor route hesitation. I feel like a 30 kph average for at least the first 100 km is attainable, but 30 kph isn't particularly fast.

I have grander plans in the future; an out-and-back to Niagara Falls is only 80-90 km more than this. There were some intriguing highlands in Hamilton, and maybe Ridge road is bike friendly. On my bike, I need to upgrade my seat (ouch), clothes, lights, bike bags (currently have 0); my brakes could use new pads and maintenance, and I need to get a camelbak, as my old bladder ripped.

I'm forced to wonder how far I could go in a day (e.g.). Say this took 10 hours, allotting some time for more cheeseburger. I felt generally ok; my limiting factor today was my muscles and general soreness. Energy and fitness were fine, and my fueling solution was far better this outing. Is 400 km unattainable? In any case, it's time for some proper training.

C • Cars and drivers 3

Easy run.

In the past, I have identified three limiting factors in exertions: overall fitness, energy level - whether due to food or illness, and structure - muscles, conditioning, perhaps joints or flexibility. This is not scientific and based purely on my perception. Today, I left limited mostly by structure, but also somewhat by fitness.

A comfortable effort on a new route on major roads. There were frequent stops at traffic lights, and I did fall over clipped into my bike once. I had a one minute stop crossing Don Mills, and a two minute stop at St. Clair and O'Connor. The total impact of the red lights and stops was perhaps 10 minutes, so I'm not displeased with my pace. I think I could sustain 32 kph on a long, uninterrupted flat.

Calves felt weak.

2x1 minute plank.

I ran in my Saucony Cohesions, a pair of white and blue sneakers that are old enough that they have shredded uppers. A slow run, but a fun run.

Evening bike ride. I felt physically well enough to get out on Monday, but life got in the way; I prioritized poorly. I set out today planning to check out the western limits of Lawrence Ave. I will eventually get to a more disciplined training regimen, but for now, I am content to spend time on my bike in a completely unstructured way.

I overshot my target of Lawrence and Islington, but I had a delightful time on Lawrence - which is just large enough to be fast but small enough to not be deluged in traffic. I had planned to return via Wilson Ave, but I got lost in HereBeDragons, picked up Dixon, and accidentally returned to Lawrence. At this point, it made more sense to return via Lawrence.

It's tricky to find good places to bike in a city as vast as Toronto, and there are far too many stop lights and stop signs. There is an argument to be made for extremely late night rides, as few people are on the road then.

I really wanted to hit 30 kph average once I picked up Lawrence, from 17:00 to 50:00; I managed a paltry 26.7. Disappointing; there is not enough fitness.

Oddly enough, the sorest parts of me are my butt (from the seat) and my trapezius, presumably from riding in the drop position for so long.

I have some ambitions for longer bike rides, and this was my first foray of the season. Lake Simcoe is an obvious destination, and I had checked out a few route options on google maps in the past.

I carried my 18L backpack with 2L of weak gatorade, 6 granola bars, a windbreaker, hat, gloves, sneakers, allen wrenches, tire levers, pump, patch kit, CO2 cartridge, my Presto commuter rail card, and $30. Unfortunately, I didn't have any spare tubes, so if I had a mechanical problem I was unable to fix, my plan was to hop on the commuter rail train.

My previous foray with relatively long distance day rides was the adventure to the 2018 department retreat. My trip home was to be a long solo journey, but it was cut short by a mechanical failure. This would then be my most ambitious solo trip.

My vision is fast touring - I have no interest in a plodding, meanindering trip traveling a pedestrian distance each day; my goal is to travel light, fast, and hard.

I set out a little later than planned - I was on the road by about 5:30 AM, which left me plenty of twilight to make progress without traffic, which is further reduced by the quarantine. Naturally, I have front and rear lights on my bike, and I wore a bright yellow long-sleeve shirt. I had planned the route, and I proceeded steadily up Bayview. At 2:09, I stopped at a gas station near the intersection of routes 12 and 45 for ten minutes to drink fluids and eat two granola bars. The biking was quite pleasant between East Gwillimbury and the lake. I felt good, so I biked the longer option, to Eastbourne. I stopped at a park, again replenished my fluids, and chatted briefly with a local on his morning walk. I arrived at the northern terminus of my trip at about 9 AM.

Riding back on route 8 was more difficult; the road had a rougher and smaller shoulder than route 12, there was more traffic as people were waking up, and my legs and coccyx were starting to suffer. Four hours into my ride, I reached the rest stop gas station again, and I purchased a small bag of chips and a coke for a longer break. My butt was really aching from the punishment from my saddle; by the end, I had ridden for 3:55 with a 12 minute break, an 8 minute break, and this 32 minute break.

The rest of the trip was a bit arduous, but I made it in a single push. In addition to my seat, my hands and arms were getting sore from the pressure of the drop handlebars, and the rolling hills were starting to tell on my legs. As I crested the hill at Bayview and Route 14 (split 5), I beheld the CN Tower in the distance for the first time. Majestic. The traffic after route 14 around noon was more substantial, but I finished without incident.

It is satisfying to know that an impromptu 150 km solo ride is well within my abilities. I'm disappointed at my pace; I had hoped to exceed 25 kph, and I aspire to 30 kph on these longer rides. I have more ambitious rides planned, including a day circumnavigation of Lake Simcoe from Toronto and a trip to Niagara Falls. I definitely need to stock up on inner tubes, I should replace my saddle, and I need a bike bag rather than a small backpack. My bike - a $900 road bike with Shimano 105 parts - is more than up to these challenges.

It was a small epic journey, and I am satisfied. It feels fantastically empowering to roll away from your home and traverse great distance to a remote destination entirely on your own power.

C • Impressive 11