Day 2

Logged my first Official Workout today. I'm going to be using the iMapMyRide app on my iPhone to track my rides. It's quite nice, because it uses the GPS on my phone to track my location and creates a map which shows my elevation and average pace, along with calories burned and some other useful things. I'll be posting my rides as I complete them on Facebook and giving a brief overview of them here.

I started out slow and went out into my neighborhood. Working my way towards the back along the rather large uphill climb, I decided to try altering my terrain a little and took the long gravel road which leads out of the back of my neighborhood back to the highway. I'd forgotten how hard riding on gravel can be, especially going uphill. But I think it was good for me, since I don't know what sort of terrain I'll be covering during the actual event in October.

I then moved up the highway and across into a large neighborhood across the way. Lots of switchbacks and extended grades, both up and down. I tried not to push myself on speed and spent 99% of the ride sitting on the seat letting the gears do most of the work. I then worked my way back out to the highway and rode the last stretch back into my neighborhod, where I did one last uphill push and then looped back around towards the house.

I consumed a 20 oz bottle of water on the ride, then had another bottle when I got inside. While the temperature was only 79 degrees outside during the ride, it felt a lot hotter. Hydration is the key.

On a lighter note, I have determined that I need to wear my padded bike shorts even for these shorter rides. I will need to buy another pair before the big event for sure, along with some new padded gloves.

I logged 5.96 miles, which is just shy of 1/5th of the total distance for the event. Not too bad for the first week, if I ride at this pace I will complete the event in about 2.5 hours. Here's hoping I can build up not only my endurance over the next month, but also my pace...it'd be nice to finish in under 2 hours. 

Day: 2
Distance: 5.96 miles
Pace: 12.4mi/h 4:50min/mi