Sunday morning dawned with less snow than predicted, but enough to muck up the roads. The shoulders were all covered with an inch or two, because they didn't bother to plow. We were also treated to an entire day of brilliant sunshine. In fact, the road cleared up nicely by mid-day, or so it appeared, but a quick trip outside to check the temps revealed not only was it frigid and windy, but that a bit of black ice had formed here and there too. Not what I had in mind for a road ride. The decision was made: today would have to be a trainer day.
I have no problem with the trainer. One very fit and successful Master on my old team even goes so far as to say "you gotta learn to love the trainer." I'm not in love with it, but the trainer is a useful tool, and truth be told, there is a certain quality you get with trainer workouts you might not get outdoors. Being warm and lightly dressed is more condusive to a nice fast spin than riding outside with cold, aching muscles layered in restrictive clothing.
This would be my 17th time on the trainer this calendar year, but the first time over an hour. I'm not feeling burned out on it at all, which is a good thing. The importance of the trainer multiplies in March and April, as these months represent the most critical period of race preparation. My workouts will be more scheduled during this time; less flexibility of the training plan means indoor options are a must during crappy weather. Race simulations and short intervals fit the trainer quite nicely. Still preferring the feel of an old fan model, I cannot do extreme standing sprint efforts, as the resistance is not there. For everything else, the noise is a bit much, but to me the fan provides more of a road feel.
So Sunday, my motivation to ride was very low, being quite tired from the preceding week. When I don't feel like riding, I usually just start out easy and see how it goes. Approaching the trainer like an outdoor ride works for me, even going so far as to visualize rolling out the driveway and stretching on the bike as I get comfortable over the first few miles. Settling in, eventually the various efforts come as I crest a hill here, or roll it up on a nice stretch of road there. This works better for me than just getting on the bike and treating the workout like a spin class.
Being this tired, a nice easy road spin would have been on order had the roads been clear and the temps friendlier. Going over an hour on the trainer would require music, so taking the time to setup speakers and put the volume control within reach, I started thumbing through CDs. My favorite trainer music is Bootsy Collins' "Fresh Outta P," but this has been AWOL for almost a year. I had looked high and low, and resigned myself to it being lost forever. So for today, I took out a Marvin Gaye double anthology set, and opened it up to get the "newer" CD, and lo and behold, the Bootsy CD was in the case! So now I have a missing Marvin CD, but for today, I was once again spinning to the funk. Too bad I had an easy day planned. The good news is this masterpiece runs about an hour twenty, so my 90 minute ride breezed by. My HR was going nowhere, confirming my fatigue, but I kept up a good cadence with the back wheel turning at 28.5 kph average. Best of all, when the time for an interval workout does come, I am now musically prepared.
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