87/365: My View This Morning

I got the idea for this photo from my friend Steph's blog.  She's working on writing more and wrote a blog entry while on her trainer.  So this morning, iPad and camera in hand, I headed to the basement.  Wednesdays are my tough workout days.  Coach Chuck had a 40 minute run with 2 fartlek ladders and a 60 minute easy spin on my schedule.  Plus, I choose to do a conditioning class on Wednesday evenings because I love to feel humiliated at how weak I am and be barely able to walk on Thursdays.

While I didn't write this entry from the trainer, I was much to groggy for that, I made myself acutely aware as to how I was feeling during the workout.  By necessity, I am a morning person.  I do many of my workouts from 4-5AM so that they don't interfere with my family or work.  Plus, during the summer months, it's a great time to be outside.  During January, not so much.  Typically my AM workouts are my runs.  There is no one out that early to see my poor form or to laugh at the painful expression as I trudge up and down the streets of town.  Today I chose to do my bike in the morning because speed work is much easier for me to do on a treadmill.  (I can make myself run at a specified pace that way.)  To be able to workout that early, I plan ahead.  My clothes are sitting out in the bathroom, shoes are along side my bike, a filled waterbottle is in the fridge, and my Garmin is sitting by the top of the stairs.

As I locked into my pedals I thought about how heavy my legs felt.  It was as if there were extra weight added to them.  It took a lot of effort to spin at an 85 cadence in an easy gear.  I thought about feeling lucky that today's bike was an easy spin.  I turned on the DVD plan and loaded the next episode of Mad Men.  I questioned myself about how I was able to run so easily this early, but the riding was feeling so difficult.  About eight minutes in, I added a gear and finally was able to hit 90rpm.  I switched between sitting straight up and having my hands on the hoods.  I could seem to get comfortable.  Somewhere after 15 minutes, the blood began to flow better.  My head still felt foggy, but my legs had more life in them.  Actual proof, to me, of the value of a warm up. 

I picked up my camera and took two shots of my view.  Nothing exciting to see.  Most trips to the trainer require me to pick up Barbies, Nerf toys and Wii accessories.  I looked over at the iPad and decided against trying to blog and ride.  I wasn't sure I had that much in my brain or in my ability to coordinate so many movements at once. 

My brain finally began to clear about 35 minutes into the spin.  I began to contemplate the day ahead, what I had to do.  As I did this, I noticed my cadence was speeding up as well.  I was finally maintaining 90+ without concentrating on it.  I was beginning to feel normal.  It made me question those people who are up and out the door in the morning.  Do their brains really engage that quickly?  I would be forgetting everything if I didn't take the time to process my day ahead. 

My hour passed quickly.  I hopped off the bike and headed upstairs to the day ahead.  Work and two more workouts await.