5x5's

Today marks the first Wednesday of the year I've done intervals. Today's prescription was a 5x5 workout, with 4 minutes of rest between the five intervals of five minutes. It was downright cold this morning. As usual, I watched the temperature drop from 32 at 6:30 this morning to 29 when I left at 7:30. I still haven't completely figured that one out... since sunrise is a bit before 6:30 these days. The high winds skewed the tems even more... with a frigid windchill.

I tooled around town a bit, just warming up before heading over to the Hanging Rock area. Kessler's Mill Rd. and Rt. 311 were to be the battlefield for the intervals. The first two were directly into the wind. The wind definately made things frustrating, as I was in my 39t cog, going 16-19mph at 330 watts. It almost made me laugh. As I reached the approach up Catawba mountain, it was time to ride with the wind. What a difference a friendly breeze makes, I was flying... much much faster. It felt pretty good, although it was definately chilly!

At the end of the 3rd interval, I almost witnessed a horrible accident. Traffic was stopped on 311 (a two lane road) for a turning vehicle. A huge pickup truck didn't see the brake lights and stopped cars, forcing him to thread the needle. He slammed on the brakes, swung off the road, onto the shoulder (skidding a bit), and then continued on past the stopped cares on the shoulder. Quite the impressive display of last second handling, but something a littlle bit of attention would have prevented the situation entirely. After some hindsight, I am glad I am not one of those riders that squeezes past stopped cars on the shoulder... had I continued on the shoulder this morning, I would've been lucky to be in Intensive Care. A little courtesy and patience on the road goes a long way.

The final two intervals were tough, but completed nontheless. No big drama, no excitement, just a lot of focus and some minor drooling. Today I eschewed monitoring my heartrate during the efforts (although the PT was recording HR), just focusing on Time and Power. I also audtioned some of the new team clothing. I'm glad I ended up getting the thermal jacket... it may not be the most techincally advanced, but it kept me warm and looks good. The bib shorts remained the same; although the jersey seems to have a bit more room in the torso. I'm beginning to look forward to Sunday's Jeff Cup, making my Cat 3 debut. That's all for now.

Get the dirt off your shoulder.