WIND AND LLAMAS

85 kms | 3 h 14 m | avg speed 26.2 km/h | avg hr 145 bpm | 1.924kcal

This weekend the training was today in the afternoon instead of the traditional Sunday early morning. That was good because I avoided the close to zero temperatures and the weather was brilliant: sun shinning and strong wind. Perfect for training.

Esta semana eu treinei hoje à tarde em vez do tradicional Domingo de manhã cedo. Foi bom porque evitei temperaturas perto do zero e clima estava perfeito: sol brilhando e o vento estava forte. Um dia pefeito para treinar.

My plan for the day was to do around 80 kms and try new routes. I'm getting a bored with riding the same roads most of the times. I traced a route leaving from home, going all the way up to Amsterdam via Uithoorn and Ouderkerk ad Amstel and coming back via Abcoude and following the river Vecht.

When I left home I got immediate the feeling that the day would be good. Without much effort I was going around 38 kms/h. Tailwind off course. I got that by the direction of the wind and the route I've planned I would be getting a great mix of tail, cross and headwind in the first half. The second half it would be mostly headwind.

And that is how it went. As most of the time the wid was coming from south-west. Every time I was pointing in the direction Amsterdam it would be in my back and speeds would get very quickly to 38/40 kms/h with a heart rate of 140 bpm. Every time I turned left, it would get me straight head on and speeds would go down as much as 22 km/h. My plan for this training was to stay no lower than 150 and no higher than 155 heart rate. And to keep it at 155 bpm speed had to be sacrificed.

Unfortunately I did a wrong turn in Uithoorn and instead of continuing in the Amsterdam direction, I did a loop against the wind, that was not in the plan. Because of the time and effort I decided to shortcut to Vinkeveen and back to the Vecht route earlier. But the loop from Uithoorn and to the Woerdense Verlaat area (full of canals and lakes) was a very beautiful one. Following the water with the road full or turns is always a good fun.

From Vinkeveen to home is a very known road. Part of my commuting from work to home when the weather gets better. This time the difference was the headwind all the way home. Great training for tired legs. I did a heavy week of training and I could feel the legs still sore from effort. But very happy that I manage to do exactly the training I wanted and finish it feeling good.

And to show that you never know what you will find in a ride in Holland. Today I passed by a llamas farm... Yes. A farm of llamas in the Netherlands! Keep Holland Weird... I had to stop to take a picture :)



WEEK | The training this week was very good. I managed to train 5 days and if counting tomorrow, I will have 2 days of rest. That is exactly how I wanted it (my weeks go from Monday to Sunday). It went like this:
Monday: gym workout. 15 min warm up on spinning bike. Squat with free weight (48kg), single leg squat, abs, leg press (115kg), abs, leg curl (65kg), abs.
Tuesday: interval on spinning bike. 4 intervals of 5 minutes and 1 interval of 10 minutes (alternating standing and sitting)
Wednesday: 20 kms Mountain Bike in Laarge Vuursche.
Thursday: rest
Friday: Gym workout repeat.
Saturday: 85 kms road bike.

Great week!