Chaotic Adjustments = Workout Stickiness

I bailed on the social ride today because I couldn't get home in time to change clothes and to meet up with everyone. Just so you know, the Tuesday social ride I speak of is actually NOT a club ride. It's just a ride that I've volunteered to lead for my friends and their families. We ride a local Rails-to-Trails route (Huckleberry Trail) and the average pace is 8mph on a "fast" day. :) Literally, it's an active rest ride for me, but I get a handful of women coming to this ride. They're interested in cycling, but are afraid to start (and confused by all the different options and "rules" of riding). I'm trying to help them out and get them comfortable and interested in road cycling. My goal is to one day incorporate them all into the local club social rides that happen on Wednesday and Saturdays around here. I'm sure it will be a while before that happens, though! The average pace for those rides tends to be 15 mph on hilly terrain (3000+ ft of climbing over 20-30 miles).

Anyway, I canceled today's social ride when I realized that I wouldn't be able to start it at the regular 6pm time. My normal carpool ride home couldn't leave work by 5pm and the bus wasn't going to arrive until 5:15pm (and then it took the LONG way home). By the time I stepped off the bus, it was 5:45pm an I still had a 20 minute walk home in my heels while carrying a laptop bag. Trust me, at this moment all I was thinking about was how I wished I had put together my commuter bike and rode it to work that day!

By the time I got home, it was already past 6pm. I took the dog out for a quick 20 minute walk, came home and suited up in spandex, and at nearly 7pm I headed out for a tempo ride with 30 seconds intervals of big chain (hard gear) followed by 2 minutes easy and then another interval of 30 seconds medium gear spinning as fast as I could go, followed by another 2 minutes of easy. I did this for 15 miles (less than 500 ft. climbing) for ~1 hour. It was tougher than I thought it would be, but I completed it. That's all that matters!


As soon as I get my new commuter/touring bike put together, I think I'm going to try to start commuting to work. I only have 10 minutes to ride. It's sad. I usually either take the bus or get a ride from my boyfriend because I don't like being all sweaty for just 10 minutes of riding. I'm thinking about actively riding out of my way as part of my "commute" and then just shower at the gym that is only 3 blocks away from my office. The thing is ... I really like being able to get ready at home in the mornings. Damn, convenience! :) I almost wished I lived 15-20 miles away from work so that I really would have a good excuse to start commuting again (like I did in CA). Adding 15 miles to 3 miles every morning just seems a little ridiculous when I know I can skip it and sleep in for an extra hour. You know what I'm saying? I really do like my sleep.

I also need to remember to take it easy on the runs! I started out feeling really strong with them and then--WHAM!--the next day I feel shot! I have been more fatigued than I thought I'd be. I feel strong when doing it, but it's taking longer for my body to recover. I'm still working on finding the right number of recovery days and balancing when I should be doing what. So far, it's just chaos: I do the exercises/training as I can, and there's been 0% swimming done so far. That's okay ... I'm not the least bit worried. June was just getting started on routinely working out. (So far, very good. I'm averaging 4+ times a week!) I think I'm going to make July the month that I actually try to stick to the workout plan. We'll see what August may bring ...

How about you? How has your "workout stickiness" been?