We had a great night in Lansing with our awesome Alma friends, ringing in the New Year (thankfully sans Mim's version of Auld Lang Syne from last year) at Jon's. One of the best parts of the night, though, was figuring out that we'll actually be able to get a good group together for a weekend of skiing in Searchmont this month. Last time, only Jon could go and I had bronchitis. It was still awesome, but a bigger group will be even more fun.
No 2009 resolutions for me; I think the professional, educational, spiritual and physical goals toward which I've been striving should keep me busy enough. I'm happy to report that training has been going rather well. I did trainer workout on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon, and both went well. I have a few questions, though, if anyone would care to weigh in. They have to do with insensity and cadence.
I've found that there's a really fine line (like, one gear) between low, medium and high intensity for me. When my intervals are shorter (for example, 30 seconds in the first half of the Train Right mountain bike workout), I can usually hit the proper cadence in my high intensity gear. When the intervals get longer (2 minutes in the mountain bike workout), however, I can't maintain the proper cadence in my high intensity gear and have to drop down to my medium intensity gear to keep my cadence up. So, here's my question: should my high intensity gear be my high intensity gear no matter how it affects my cadence? Or should I drop down to an easier gear when necessary to keep my candence up?
I also struggle with keeping my cadence up during recovery periods, even though I get to drop down to a low intensity gear. It's getting better, but I can totally tell I am a sprinter. Fast twitch muscles, baby! In high school and college, I never ran a race over 200 m! Training for greater endurance is a new experience for me.
1 comment:
The biggest factor for me with cadence has been how long the crank arm is. (that's the metal piece connecting the pedal to the bottom bracket). I am a 5' tall woman and I have shorter legs than the average biker out there, so the diameter of my pedaling circle needed to be shorter for me to keep up a higher cadence. It has made an incredible difference in both fast/flat and uphill situations. Grant can give you a recommendation for a place to order a shorter crank set from. I also recommend the women's terry butterfly saddle. Everything works better when you have a comfortable seat!
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