Here it is, a REAL Chicago winter. Yah baby, this is what its all about. With a high of minus 8 F today, and the wind howling out of the north, I get to experience the full force of winter here in Chicago, one last time. I checked the weather in Carbondale and its unusually cold there--a frigid 19 F. By comparison, that is down right balmy! As I trudged to the El and stood waiting for the train, I could feel actual pain in my fingers and cheeks from the arctic chill. Nothing like it! I stood in the shelter with the sun beaming on my face and felt warm in the core, but frozen on the edges. There are few experiences comparable to waiting for the El on an exposed platform in the Chicago winter. It always amazes me how people stand huddled, immobile, staring down the track trying to will the train to appear. I indulge in platform placing. I stride up and down the platform, always moving, listening to music, maybe dancing a little, making the other immobile riders nervous while I make my passes. Today, however, I did huddle under the lights warming my face in the sun. By my criteria, today is a "nice" day-- the sun is shining. Brilliantly so, reflecting all the sun's warmth off the 18 inches of snow pack we've accummulated in the last week, the pale blue sky with nary a cloud to be seen. Gorgeous.
All my biking these days is on the training stand. My running brother and I have enrolled in a spin conditioning class on Sunday mornings-- 2 1/2 hours every Sunday. It is a new experience for me, to be in a spin class like this where all the other participants are accomplished bike riders. We are training using heart rate tuned to cadence. It is intense and challenging, but quite doable. Class one we spun at max cadence until we were bouncing in our seats, then backed off just enough to stay seated and measured our max heart rates. From this measurement our training ranges were determined. At different ranges of heart rate, different cadences are used. It is so cool to gear up or down to keep the heart rate and cadence in the prescribed range. I hardly notice the pain! Our coach suggests that we do two workouts like this per week and spin on off days. I, however, am determined as ever to cross train and mix indoor rowing, treadmill run/walking and AMT in to get my cardio, combined with matt work for the core, and some resistance training. I could spend two hours a day in the gym if I had the time.
I am intrigued and really enjoying using the indoor rowing machine. I visit the Concept2 website for training tips and to log my results. I consistently crank out 5000 meters in ~24 minutes and am amazed that some of the top rowers in my age and weight range can do 5K in 16 to 18 minutes. It is interesting that my running 5K used to be in that range prior to trashing my knees, and I always marveled at my fellow Clydes who could break 20 minutes in the 5K. With the spin heart rate-cadence work, I was interested in heart rate training on the rower and learned about drag factor. Being the way I am, I of course dial the rower up to 10 for maximum drag so I have to pull harder on each stroke. The Concept2 website advises, however, to use a much lower drag factor, 3-4 which enables one to achieve a much higher heart rate. So low drag, higher heart for the cardio work. I still haven't dialed the drag factor and stroke interval to heart rate, analogous to heart rate-cadence training, but it seems to improve the quality of the workout.
Bike commuting is on hold. I did not ride in December because of all the snow, ice, slush, freezing rain etc. On Jan 5, my first official day at work this year, I rode my bike braving the 16 degree cold. It was dry, not too windy, and the roads were clear and clean. I really liked the ride too. My new neoprene shoe covers that Santa brought me for Christmas were great, keeping my toes warm and dry. And I wore enough layers so I was plenty warm. Fingers and thumbs a bit cold, but tolerable. It was a day like today, clear, cold and sunny. But it was 20 degrees warmer and the roads were clear. Today it is almost impassable on foot, let alone on skinny road tires. I really miss bike commuting. The only solace for riding the El is being plugged into my MP3 player. Riding the El beats driving hands down. Looking at the cars jammed on the Eisenhower while the El flies by makes up for the sardine city experience packed into the El on the ride home. Platform pacing is no replacement for the bike commute, but it is something.
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