Last weekend the weather was beautiful, again. Clear, sunny, but very, very cold. I decided to make the most of it. Four days earlier, on Tuesday (my day off) I had managed to do a 100 K. bike ride in 3.23 (average heart rate 115, I didn’t push it), at minus 1C˚. It was also foggy, so in no time I was covered in ice. My water bottles were also filled with tiny ice cubicles. I was home at noon, just before my daughters got home from school. In short, I felt tired but proud for completing the ride. But Saturday was different. On Saturdays my tri squad offers a swim training at eight, followed by a short coffee break and a bike training from 9.30 and beyond (I’m usually home at 12.30 or later). As it was minus 5 degrees, I decided to run to the pool, do the swim training, run back and change clothes, head out again to intercept the bikers and do whatever our trainer had lined up for us. Hopefully at ten o’clock the temperature would be above freezing. The running went excellent. I ran both 5.5 K’s in 24 minutes flat, changed and went out looking for my teammates. As I knew where they were hanging out, this was not to difficult. Usually the core of each bike training is done on quiet rural roads. The course we used last Saturday is an eight K. lap, so everybody can join, and train more or less together. This is a good thing since the Groningen tri-squad has more than hundred members, varying from absolute beginners and one septuagenarian to pro’s and semi-pro’s.

The bike training consisted of 3x16 minutes, 1m 85%, 3m 90%, 5m 95%, 3m 90%, 1m 85%, 3m easy. Percentages taken from average heart rate during the 40 K. ride of a triathlon. I must say I had a hard time. Of course I already had two hours training in the box, (and had run way too hard), so my legs felt far from fresh. I also struggled with my difficult left leg again. After 70 K. I was glad to be home. Because of the leg trouble I followed the advice of one of my fellow bloggers on this site and lowered my saddle a bit. On Sunday I headed out for a run, but because I felt tired I kept it easy. In the afternoon I followed this up with an easy spin at 95-100 rpm. All of a sudden my legs felt great again, even my left leg. In all I managed 13 hours of training last week. An absolute record for this time of the year.