Excellent in 1 week(s)

I am close. One more week of gruelling workouts and I will be “Excellent”. It has been 7 weeks of hill climbing on a spinning bike. No drafting. No music. Just me, the spinning bike and the heart rate monitor. Each week, the workouts got progressively harder. Longer and at a higher average heart rate.

I have learned a lot from this 8 week training program. I have learned I can work harder, more frequently than I realized. I learned it is important to vary the intensity of the workouts. I learned that rest days are just as important as work out days. And, I learned that training with a heart rate monitor keeps you honest, focused and motivated.

Spring is close. Flowers are beginning to blossom. The weather is warmer. Dryer. I’ll be on the road bikes more regularly. This season, I intend to continue training with the heart rate monitor even on the bikes. I usually put it away this time of year. 3-4 hour rides are too much for my “wrist-coach”. It gets confused. It is as if it thinks a workout can’t exceed an hour. The reason I want to continue using it is to insure I vary the workouts, take appropriate rest days and continue to improve.

I wonder what “Excellent” feels like? Will I notice a difference? Will I even like it? Will anyone believe it? Or, even care? I doubt it. I don’t talk about this training with anyone except my son. I think he understands. He should. He is a personal trainer. But my conditioning is far short of his so I wonder if he can relate.

Next week I will try to describe what “Excellent” is like.