Painful workouts = great workouts! Usually.

Another Tuesday, another night of excruciating pain! This week though, I felt my hard miles of the past 8 weeks come through for me, as I revved my HR up into the 182-183 range for the first time in a while. Several riders in the group did Mt. Mitchell on Saturday, but it didn't seem to slow them down at all tonight.

All told, 6 and a half minutes in zone 5c (fully anaerobic, max effort and HR), 11 minutes in 5b, 14 minutes in 5a, and 30 minutes at LTHR. All in all, it was a great workout. After putting in the base miles, it's easy to see why those easy miles are so important. A few weeks ago, I was gasping and wheezing to stay on over the top of the relatively easy John Rogers Drive, getting gapped in fact, but the HR wouldn't climb to match the effort. Tonight, it was a tough effort, but the HR went right up into the red zone and I still had power coming from the engine room. It was a good feeling.

For 2 months now, I've been laying the foundation, now I'm working on speed. I even decided to ride Lakeshore with the group (usually I turn off and go back a different way because Lakeshore=bedlam), sprinting from stoplight to stoplight, hitting 30-32 mph, then holding the wheel in front of you for all you're worth until the next light forces the pace down momentarily, then sprint like crazy to get the speed back up. It's not a lot of fun, but I felt like I needed to do it this week. Average speed at the end of the ride...20.1 mph, including the 15 minutes of warm-up and 10 of cool-down.

And have you ever noticed how, early in a ride, there's always a point at which it becomes extraordinarily painful to maintain the pace, usually a hill, or an acceleration, that forces a decision...ride through the pain, knowing that your legs will loosen up and it'll be okay, or take it easy, slide out the back of the group and feel like a wimp.

But at least your legs don't hurt. Right?