Training with Timmi

14 days and counting.

My next A race is on June 1st in Erlangen. It is shorter than the last one in Frankfurt but more selective. It is limited to 1000 riders and has a cutoff of 30kmh after the 5th of 6 laps and I am into the final preparations for the ride.

Today, Sunday was an easy ride to stretch the legs after the 3.5 hour ride yesterday. There were 5 really high intensity sections up the hills there too which are to simulate race day so my legs were really ok with an easy day. The plan called for a 60 minute below aerobic pace so I thought of Timmi.

I always have trouble keeping true to easy days. Many experienced trainers proclaim how easy days should be ridden really easy. It is hard when training for fast riding to spend time on the bike riding really tourist pace. The same trainers say that this is a common problem among athletes. Guess I am part of that crowd in this instance.

So I had talked to Timmi at breakfast today and told him we were riding today. He wasn't too excited. Not that he was thinking about how I might ride, but it was Sunday, a nice day to just chill. It was also raining on and off, good enough reason to not venture out. In the end there was no choice. I was riding and I was offering ice cream.

The rain had stopped and the clouds has also began to part a bit. Temperatures were about 17°C. So we headed out for an hour with the plan to turn around at 30 minutes. It was a really nice ride. He kept trying to push the pace and keep ahead of me and I kept telling him that there were still XX kilometers to still ride. So we settled in at 16kmh and cruised through the first half.

Turning around he was more focused on the ice cream than much else. So we stopped half way on the return for a wonderful chocolate chocolate cone. Then we made the rest home. All in total it was 1h13m and 17km. He was not too tired and headed on to play out with some friends. I was pleased that I followed those trainers mantra. Take the easy days easy. More than that, I was happy to ride with my son.

PH