W20 Thursday

 To bed early tonight!  I refuse to get hypnotised by the screen.

Tempo bike - left the house about 6:20 a.m. Cool after some dawn rain. My husband rolled out of bed to ride with me.   The assigned range for a "Temp Bike" was 124-134. I averaged  128.   It was easy to go over and easy to relax a little too low.   I aimed to stay at the upper range of the zone and tried narrowing the HRM range to help me avoid going over. I'm not sure it made staying in the zone easier and may have made me too cautious.    I need to mount the HRM on my handle-bars. It's not possible to check my wrist so often.  I had a lot fun on the ride.  There are nesting swans in one of the lakes I pass.  Beautiful.  My hands were ice-cold for the first 20 minutes.  I love my new bike clothes.  Ave speed for the hour: 19 km/hr. Max was 37 km/hr.   

I researched lane-swimming times in pools around the Hague and found some closer to my house where I can lap swim in the morning or on weekends.  I've now visited four different pools and can read the Dutch words and spot the right swim times for what I want to do.  I might be able to get my coach's permission to swim earlier, before the public hours. But it's possible to swim at 7:00 at a pool halfway between home and my office. I think I could get to work by 9:00.  Or maybe a long lunch? Less likely.

This first week of living in the discovery zone has given me a lot of ideas about being efficient about my training and just getting it Done.

I found a public bus route to the pool in the south of The Hague  - the one where I always get so freaking lost when I drive there. That's a possibility. Plus I could ride my bike when the weather is a little better. I'm not keen on riding in the dark and the wet. Pick One!

Food today hasn't been enough or organised enough.  So far: pre-workout: banana & egg smoothie, post work-0ut: bowl of mueslix and milk, at work: bagel, lox and cream cheese; pork tenderloin slices and apple sauce; watercress soup, yogurt; hb egg; navel orange. Time to go home and eat!

I will do my core stretching and stuff at home, but it is SO NICE to train in the morning. I feel good and relaxed all day - Sometimes I'm a little sleepy in the afternoons, but that's better than feeling anxious about still needing to do my workout.

The last bit is that I continue to learn.   With lower intensity training, my nutrition needs on the bike or a run change:

1. people generally have enough stored glycogen and body fat to workout well at an aerobic (fat-burning level) for up to 90 minutes or even two hours without taking in nutrition during the session.
2. the body needs some glycogen to burn fat.  without taking in some additional carbs, you run the risk of metabolizing protein at the end of a longer workout.
3. bring a gel pack (100-200 calories) in case you start to sag at 90 minutes. but you won't spoil your being in a fat burning by eating a modest amount of carbs. 

When I'm working out at a "low enough" heart rate, I don't need to eat gel or sip a sports drink throughout a workout of moderate length.  But above all I should pay attention to how I feel and adjust.