Was supposed to do mile repeats up the canyon this morning. Wind was blowing down the canyon at 15-20 MPH with micro bursts around 25-30 MPH. Was affecting my ability to hold a line and not go off the shoulder or into the lane. Did 1 and a half repeats before bagging the repeats and heading home to the trainer.
Now racked with guilt and disappointment. This is one of the key Bike workouts my coach has me do every 14 days.
Should I make another attempt at this ride later today or this week? Or, just accept defeat and move on?
Yea, a lot of high winds over here in the Lake Mead area. The good news is that it is bringing in a cold front for the next couple of days. So the temps are going to drop from the low hundreds to the low nineties!!! Awesome training weather!
I think you should chalk it up as a lesson learned. If you try to make up for this workout, you will likely negatively affect your future workouts.
Almost any time you are doing a hard workout, there is going to be a voice in your head looking for reasons why you should wuss out by either doing them at a lower intensity or cutting the session short. You stayed up late last night…the weather is crappy…you had/have a hard workout yesterday/tomorrow…I’ll do the second to last one extra hard and call it a day…
That voice in your head is the insurgents trying to weaken your Will. Like the real Jack Bauer, you must learn to never negotiate with these voices. As a matter of fact, you must punish them.
To a certain extent, the tough workouts one does when nobody is watching reveal a lot about a person’s mental state.
Good. You deserve it. Wind is your friend. Ride into it whenever possible. Sometimes you have to forget your plan and adapt to the situation.
I’m hammering you 'cause I also feel guilty about my ride this morning:
I’m out toolin’ around, as usual, for an hour before work. Just a quick ride down to the beach and back with a few park loops thrown in until the hours’ up. It’s windy here as well and I’m just chillin’ at 18-20 mph. Along comes Mr. Roady-Racer dude who I see here from time to time and of course we’re now doing the 1 mile loops at 23-25 per. I’m suffering to take my pulls and just barely holding on to dear life…
Then it happens…that insidious thought: “You can’t keep up this pace 'cause you have to run later at lunch time. Besides, you have to get home and shower to make it to work on time.”
What bullshit. I easily could have gone a few more laps, especially at that pace, and made it to work. And the run? Puhleeeaase. It’s not like my legs were going to fall off.
That’s exactly the kind of riding I need to be doing, and I know it. Next time, I stay longer…no matter how much it hurts.
Don’t be a head case. Part of bike riding is the fitness you gain from hard workouts. another part of bike riding is being able to stay on your bike when the conditions go to crap. You might not have hit the targets you wanted to for the workout, but it was still a Good Hard Workout and you had to practice your handling skills. Next time you are at a windy race you will have that much more competitive advantage. There is a really big triathlon they hold in Hawaii every fall that is windy a lot, so this workout was great practice for that.
Have a cup of coffee - actually, make that decaf - and chill out. It was still a good workout even though it didn’t go exactly as you planned.
It’s okay, I often ride in northern England and Scotland, and the winds up here are as oppressive as a Stalinist regime. I remember a relatively flat 3 hour ride last year where I averaged around 14mph going out and 27 coming back.
“You might not have hit the targets you wanted to for the workout, but it was still a Good Hard Workout and you had to practice your handling skills”
How did he practice his handling skills again? He bagged the workout and went home…
I respect that he hit the trainer when we got home, but not all rides are going to go well…you have to suck it up and do it though. once you make the first excuse, the rest will come much easier.
Good point. Still 1 1/2 repeats are better than none at all. My workouts hardly ever consist of more than 2 or 3 repeats of anything so I may have been projecting my experience. Also (speaking as someone who only this spring learned to ride my tri bike in windy conditions) any little bit of practice helps
I agree though, better to stay out there and teach yourself how to perform in unfavorable conditions most of the time. Sometimes the trainer will be a more effective means of eliciting the desired physiological response, but most of the time you ought to be out on the road if you can be.
I agree with most of the comments. Here’s the detail on the canyon I was climbing this morning…I agree that 15-20 MPH winds are not much when out on the flats, but going up a 7% grade it is a little different. However, I now have my tail between my legs and I’m regretting that I didn’t at least put in 4-5 repeats (I usually do 10). Last week was a recovery week and I’ve been in a bit of a funk with my Bike/Run workouts for a few days. Trying to figure out what’s wrong with me.
Little Cottonwood Canyon (Utah) 1250m gain 17.0 km 7.4%
The Snowbird Hillclimb race covers the steepest part of
Little Cottonwood Canyon. The record was set by Levi Leipheimer,
at 43:06 for the 10-mile 3500’ race route.
There’s nothing wrong with you. I think we have been a bit hard on you for bagging a workout. It is ok to do this from time to time, don’t let it get to you, don’t dwell on it, and DON’T TRY TO MAKE IT UP LATER. Let it go and look to the next one.
Now I’m going to tell you again: get yourself a cup of DECAF coffee, and go read a book that’s got nothing to do with triathlon You’ll feel better tomorrow.
That said, I will see your 20mph wind and raise you an 80mph gust that blew me off the road and clear down an embankment just outside of Boulder a couple of seasons ago. Want to know what I did? I crawled back up the embankment and went home. Would I have kept going in a race? Probably. Not every workout is a race though, and it pays to keep some of that tenacity in reserve for race day.
You’ll feel better tomorrow.