Early Morning Training: A Good Thing

It is hard to believe, but there is a 5:20 in the morning as well as the afternoon. I know this because I got up to go training, which is a sign of true dedication to the cause. Actually, I may have gotten up at 5:20, but by the time I pumped up the tires and got dressed in a half-asleep, floundering kind of way it was closer to 6 am.

Training in the morning, once you wake up, is actually very good. There is no traffic or pollution or wind and you can really focus on the training. It was not very onerous today: I had to do some jump practices, spinning up quickly five times per set with a one minute recover. I did four sets with 3.5 minutes between sets as well. Before I knew it, I had 30 kms under my tires and was starting to head for home.

There are a far more cyclists than you would expect before 6 o'clock in the morning in Ottawa, with lots of commuters riding in to work. I did notice a Time Trial Guy, with his disc wheel, practicing on the course for tonight's Open Time Trial; I will do the one next Thursday.

By the time I headed for home the traffic had definitely picked up a great deal. The weather was gorgeous, although the humidity was up to 92 percent. I felt very virtuous as I pulled into the driveway but in need of some brutally strong espresso.

After entering my mileage on BikeJournal, I discovered that I have now surpassed 1500th place, moving to 1486th, out of some 6800 participants. Not quite podium, but I had a very late start to the season and the weather has not helped much in the last month. Next stop: 1,000th!