Today's session was a ripper!

After accidentally leaving my alarm on (an unnecessary 5.30am wake up - what the??) I dozed for another half hour before I couldn't stand the tossing and turning (& grumbling in my belly) any longer. A beautiful morning in Melbourne, I decided on a nice bike/run session as I now had more time than originally planned.

A Black Rock round trip is a perfect 30km from my place and I made it down there with an elapsed time of just over 35 minutes. I'm feeling strong on the bike of late and am determined to stay as close to 90rpm as possible, no matter what gear that means I'm in. On the way back, the headwind made it a little tough, but it didn't even add 5 minutes to my time (even though it felt that way)!, so I'm pretty happy with that. Drum roll please.... my average cadence was 87rpm - so close!!

A month ago now, I set some bike goals I had actually forgotten about. Looking back, I had not only planned to stick to 90rpms back then, but also aimed to keep the HR under 180bpm - another big tick for this morning's ride. With an average HR of 134 and a max of 165bpm, I'm on a roll. Riding solo, I never get my HR quite as high as I do with the squad, but I'm certainly feeling fitter, which is the main thing. My third goal of an average speed of 30km/hr wasn't quite there this morning, but on race day, my average speed was 31km/hr! So I'm on certainly on track. It also proves to me how important goal setting is. Have you set your goals for January yet?

Off the bike and into a quick 4km, the legs felt good and I was feeling alive for the first km. Of late, I've been finding the second km quite tough, so if anyone else has experienced the same thing, I would love to hear how you tackle it!! I picked up the pace again for the 3rd km and then cruised on home for the last. I still can't get over the difference 20s/km makes. I now feel like I could run forever at 6.00min/km pace, but if I drop it to 5.35-5.40min/km, my heart rate jumps to 95%! I look forward to the day when 5.40min/km is my new recovery pace :)

What a brilliant start to the day!