A genuine easy spin

Pretty relaxed day today on the training front.

The officially scheduled program just included a swim this afternoon, which I did down the pool with the Swim Smooth squad. This morning, since I didn't have anything planned I headed out for a very, very gentle spin on the bike with some folks from work.

Doing these gentle rides with works people is something I started doing a couple of months ago. For a while now people at work have mentioned the idea of going out for a ride. Usually Saturday mornings I am caught up with my own training so my responses have always been fairly non committal. But a while ago when I had a similar morning off I figured, why not, lets give it a go. So I sent out an e-mail telling people where and when to meet and off we went. To my surprise the ride worked very well. The riding is very slow, and I am not sure it could be classed as exercise, but the group really enjoy the chance to get out and about on some of Perth's prettier cycling routes. Particularly for some of these guys who have always liked the idea of riding but have just needed a prod to get them doing something a bit tougher than riding down the street and back.

I enjoy it too, since it one of the few times I let myself get on the bike and just take it easy. Whenever I jump on the bike I always find it tough to just relax and spin. I always find the temptation to ride a bit quicker and a bit harder very hard to resist. These rides make relaxing easy to do and as a result I get a cruisy recovery ride out of it.

Speaking of easy spins that got out of hand. The ride I went for last night was awesome. I finally got to see the S5's true colours. Last night was the first ride I have had where it didn't rain, or a chain didn't snap or anything like that. The weather was lovely, the bike felt great and my legs were surprisingly fresh. It was felt great. And yes it was quick. Lovely.

Brick in the morning. Last tough session before Putra Jaya. This brick session is mostly about the long run and for the first time in ages I am actually looking forward to it, given how running has gone all week. As with the lead up to Subic Bay the run tomorrow is all about heart rate. Last time I did one of these runs I, I went entirely by heart rate and was pleasantly surprised to see that it worked out perfectly. That will be my aim again tomorrow, not so much the working out perfectly bit, but the sticking to heart rate. Hopefully the working out perfectly happens too. But that is the outcome not the aim.

For now though I am seriously considering going to bed. It is 7:40pm after all. Every night I stretch and do some strength work, but some nights I am sorely tempted to just skip that stuff and go to bed instead. This night I might just do that.