Had to complete 5x5km intervals with 3min breaks. I consider myself an optimist and despite a few hiccups there were a few obstacles I overcame to complete this session which I believe I got good value out of even if the stimulus was slightly different than planned.
Usually I would team up with a training partner and we would go out to the lakes and do this session however with no training partner I decided to head out on this one on my own. Secondly having decided to do this on my own the threat of heavy rain and thunder storms was putting me off. I therefore decide to get on the stationary exercise bike in the garage. This had seperate issues in that the exercise bike is not exaclty awesome and the speedometer on it is not fancy enough to give you an accurate speed. In other words you could pedal like crazy and still only average in the low 20km's. Increasing the resistance on the bike only slowed you down but did not make you go any faster ... more like climbing a hill than crucnhcing a big gear.
Anyways on the bike I got determined to do the session and trying to put my ego aside and assure myself that I could ignore the numbers on the ancient "computer" screen of the exercise bike and still have a solid session. It was very hot in the garage even with the back and fron roller doors open it was well over 30 degrees and the humidity yesterday, (I'm sure all sydney siders will agree) was disgusting. So mentally this was a tough session to get into. I did the first 5km in about 12 mins knowing full well I could do it in under 10 on a real bike but realised that I was getting a different stimulus. The high tempo and cadence of me turning the pedals seemed to sap the legs a little less but because I was stationary I had to maintain this cadence or the progress stopped. On a real bike you can stop pedaling and coast. This was not an option today. About 2mins from the end of my second session my preoccupation with the numbers on the old stationary bike was settled once and for all when the copious amounts of sweat dripping from my head, arms, shoulders hands and everywhere else actually saturated the bike to the point where the computer stopped working.
With this minor hiccup I then completed the remaining intervals as 10mins on 3 mins off running off my stopwatch. Heart rates were not excessive in any way but i was definitely got some work done and the session lasted for over an hour.
Points of note:
Very Hot!!!
Session lasted 1hr 8mins
Avg HR was 138bpm or 75%
Max HR was 168bpm or 91%
Despite 138bpm being 75% according to garmin this by no means feels like a hard effort. Still able to talk comfortably though when on the bike the limiting factor is muscular endurance in the quads.
Each of the intervals avg between 75-85% of MHR recovering back to between 50% and 60% for the 3mins off.
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