Another day, another hour at recovery pace. Some small variations to this one, but ultimately the results weren’t great.
One advantage of this kind of ride pace is I’m more than able to partake in other activities. This can be watching a Youtube video or doing lessons on Duolingo. Or today, I decided what the heck, I’ll read my Kindle.
Entirely unrelated to cycling, I have been doing my best to add a little culture to my life by reading various classic literary works. My high school education enforced upon me the reading of Of Mice and Men. And frankly, I didn’t enjoy it at the time. I figure as a kid, whenever you’re told what to read, it’s easy to resent it on principle. Then as you get a bit older you realise teenage you was a jerk. Anyway, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the original Bridget Jones diary – Pride and Prejudice. So I managed to get through a good few chapters on today’s ride. Almost done now, and with a capital appreciation of Mr. Darcy’s countenance as a result.
So that killed off the first 40 minutes of the ride anyway. And after that I decided to bump up the wattage from 115w to 125w by using the +10% feature in the companion app. Things felt initially noticeable. But after about 5 minutes I’d settled into the new rhythm. I’m definitely a long way off not being breathless, but it wasn’t anything to prompt major concern. I finished the ride at that pace.
After the workout was done, I figured that I’d adjusted well enough to the higher pace and should maybe try around 140w for a short stint. Unfortunately I ended the workout on a down hill segment so found spinning up more trouble than it was worth. I managed to push a small amount and thought yeah, I don’t feel so bad.
And then the coughing fit started. So there endeth the workout.
As it is, I’m more than happy enough to be able to do something for an hour. It’s not a lot and I’m barely breaking a sweat but it feels good. Better than doing nothing, and light enough to be achievable without, I hope, risking making things worse. This illness seems to come in waves and can lull me into a false sense of security, as I succumbed to tonight. I never learn.
