Day 3.75 Early

I have a mantra.

Actually I have several, but for the sake of brevity, I will address only one today.

GET IT DONE EARLY.

I readily admit that I am a morning person. I like the stillness and calm and potential of pre-dawn. To me it is a chance to start anew, to gain some momentum, find traction and steamroll into a new day. Further, I have always been a fast starter. Out of the gate and onto the track on a mission and in a hurry. I believe that this has been partially responsible for my penchant towards endurance sports as another of my mantras (I know, I know) is - once begun - better finish. Begging the question - Can one start fast and still finish strong?

Consider training. If you are going to do double sessions (and you are) you must build into your schedule the appropriate recovery time. Should you need proof of this, try a high intensity spin followed by hill repeats TWO HOURS later. Can you not already feel the empty tank?

The way to properly orchestrate a successful training campaign (and I know you remember our mantra [3] of training and racing being proxies for life and love), you will quickly see that an early start, session one, is absolutely necessary if you are to double up later in the day. After proper recovery.

This glorious morning, as the sun started its trajectory over the Emerald City, the view of which I enjoy by simply turning my head ninety degrees to the left, we executed the following monster cycling protocol at 0530, I call them 30-30s.

Starting in gear 12 do 30 seconds seated with groove zone cadence.
Stand and do 30 seconds in same gear.
Sit and recover at 7/120 (you should know what that means by now) for 30 seconds.
Ascend through gears 12-20 and repeat for one hour.

Afterwards we went right upstairs and put mallet to anvil in a fierily upper body/core set. Done and done.

I am out of almond milk, so protein recovery was three eggs and a slice of Havarti melted onto rye toast. And coffee.

I am so glad we have this opportunity to work together.

To get it done early.

Photo: Gretchen hangs her first place medal in the PowerBarn.