Was still aching in the morning and in the evening as well. But made it to ENR session. The usual guys were there but the fast blokes were missing. I had put on the disc wheel to help me go along in case my legs disappoint me again.
As it turned out, legs were pumping up pretty well. By the end of the 1st half of the loop, it was just me and Mervyn! Started the 2nd loop and another group of roadies (probably the Rodalink folks) overtook us. We pushed to catch up but could not get to them. Pack of 10 or more. Mervyn said that we did more work than that pack since it was only 2 of us. Marvellous thing was that I did most of the pulling between the 2 of us. Maintained speed of 38 and above. According to my partner, it was 40 constant. So that was good! (My speedo was not attached last night so could not keep track of the speed... Maybe thats a good thing too? So that I wont keep looking at the speedo while riding...)
It simply amazes me how the pros at IM do their bike with average speed of 40kph when I was struggling and pushing like hell to maintain high 30s? Lungs seemed to be on fire already for the short 30km while they have to do it for 180km??? Wow!!!
It simply amazes me how the pros at IM do their bike with average speed of 40kph when I was struggling and pushing like hell to maintain high 30s? Lungs seemed to be on fire already for the short 30km while they have to do it for 180km??? Wow!!!
Coach reminded me that when I first started out with the ENR guys last year, I was always in the middle pack. The fast guys were always zooming ahead. It had taken me 1 year to be on par with a few of them. As Mervyn said, I have come a looooonnnng way. So it was a good achievement for myself.
On hindsight, I hardly train for speed in ironman. Most of my rides are just plain long. And from the start of this year, I had been training hills. Perhaps the luxury of such time and fantastic family support, I was able to slot in these long rides. I believe the long rides and the hills had been beneficial some how. Old school it may be, but long rides do work wonders. At least for me? With my age, I dont think I have fast twitching muscles to help me along now but I can try to train to jumpstart them to life again. Matt Fitzgerald in his article in Triathlete, mentioned that men above 40 will start to lose a lot of their athletic abilities, although he did clarify that all battle is not lost as long as we keep on training, stretching and recovering. And I will probably have to start incorporating strengthening and core exercises soon.
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