This was a big bike week with a 120 mile ride, followed by an 80 mile one. I had to be creative with scheduling and did the 80 on a Computrainer at the Ultrabikex Studio.

“So are you going to the doctor anytime soon?” That’s what Andreas, from Ultrabikex Studio asked when he heard me coughing. I guaranteed him that I was fine, that I’ve had this lingering cough for weeks now but I feel normal, and that yes, I will be calling the doctor. Soon ….

The problem with this stupid cough is that I don’t feel badly. I do my long training sets without problems but the next day I am more congested, and I have to call it a rest day. This on and off game has been going for a week now and is driving me nuts.

The good news is that I did well. Andreas put me on the Ironman Arizona video course and I did two loops for 75 miles. This course is an actual video, so I got to see the town, the mountains, and got a flare for what the terrain will be like since I have never been in Arizona. I don’t know if it was the German techno Andreas had going, the video of the actual course I was looking at, or the moon in the seventh position but it clicked. I thought for a second Andreas had changed my calibration because I was staying on target in both power and speed, and time zoomed by. I could’ve kept going.

I don’t usually hit those speeds on the open road. So being the bike coach that he is, Andreas explained that it tends to be harder to ride long on a Computrainer. If I was able to keep that power and speed at the studio, there was no reason I shouldn’t be doing that outdoors. The only thing he commented on was my cadence. I ride with a heavy bike and a lower cadence, and he is a broken record telling me to spin more.

“What is your cadence like when you ride outside?” He asked.

Crap. I’m going to have to tell him.

“I don’t know.” I answered. “My computer broke and I have no idea.”

“How long have you been riding without cadence?”

“Oh, I don’t know …. Since a little before Ironman Florida – November 2013…”

“What?”

He turned around, got a cadence sensor that was no longer being used, and installed it on my bike. “No more excuses,” he said. “Get that cadence up.”

Here is the thing. If in my low cadence, heavy bike, I get to the numbers I want … why do I have to struggle and spin faster?

Because, as he explained for the millionth time, not only will it get me faster it will also help me with my run: that little aspect of triathlon I complain about on an almost daily basis.

Crap. Again.

The next ride was meant to be 120 miles. I had everything ready to go long, but sometimes the universe conspires and it just doesn’t let you get on with it. At least not in a way that is safe. One of my riding partners began to feel sick, too sick to ride in fact, and we had to turn around early. The good news is that the 85 miles I did ride, I was on the small ring and yes, at a much higher cadence than I both like and am used to.

But I know it’s worth the effort. If Andreas has shown me anything, is that he always has my best interest at hand. Ultrabikex has been my sponsor for exactly two years. That is, two years of Andreas putting up with me. And since he opened the Computrainer Studio, he puts up with me about twice a week! He is part of Team ThumbsUp having talked me through the South Beach Triathlon, and was also a support person at the Swim For Alligator Lighthouse. In other words, he knows me as an athlete and as a person, and knows when to push and when to coax.

I happily represent Ultrabikex, and wear their kit (awesome by the way) pretty much every weekend. Even on those weekends when training doesn’t go exactly as expected.

Here is how the week went:

Monday: RUN. 5 miles

Tuesday: SWIM. Open water, 45 minutes

Wednesday: REST. The swim did me in.

Thursday: BIKE. 75 miles Ironman Arizona course on the Computrainer at Ultrabikex

Friday: REST.

Saturday: BIKE. 85 miles at high cadence

Sunday: REST.

How about you? How was your training week? How are you feeling?