Cyclists torture machine

I've been a little quiet with the posts lately since just about the only to write about is ice, poor commuter manners and my roommate getting to go out late and sleep in since his school district thinks it's still too dangerous for the kids to go to school. Well, I guess that's not quite true since I went to a great beer tasting at RFD's on Valentines night with Swan and Anna. There were some great strongales and it was a pretty cool experience hearing the brewers talk about the process and everything. Most of the beers were sweeter then I typically would go for but overall the night was well worth the price tag.

Yesterday I decided to wuss out on the 8 or 9 mile run I was supposed to do due to icy sidewalks and the fact that it would be too late to be out running for over an hour on a cold night. Instead I decided to hop on the trainer and give it a try. Based on my own preconceived notions and opinions heard from others I've always assumed using the trainer would be like hopping on a erg (aka. torture device) for crew training. I decided though now that it's not quite as bad since for me it seems harder to slack off on the erg then the trainer. This probably has more to do with it being my first time on the trainer and having no idea what levels I should be riding at and holding. I assume my hatred for the trainer will grow in time to a similar level as for the ergometer.

I put on the latest Netflix movie (Lord of War with Nicholas Cage, not really interested in the movie but I feel like my choices of movies from there are becoming more limited) and started spinning on the noisy trainer around 6:30pm. I immediately realized that actually attempting to watch a movie would be useless since I couldn't hear a thing even with the volume cranked up so I settled in content with enjoying the pictures instead.

The time on the trainer was not nearly as terrible as I feel it could have been, although it was certainly no walk in the park. I stayed on for a full hour and probably would have done it longer but I feared the noise and vibrations were probably reverberating pretty badly through the entire apartment complex and my neighbors were probably ready to pull their hair out. Unfortunately my place is all wood flooring and takes up the second and third floors of the three story complex. I chose to set up and use the trainer in my bedroom on third floor so I wouldn't be right on top of my neighbor downstairs but I'm sure he could still hear it pretty loudly.

I kept the wattage at a decent level, though I think next time I'll go for a higher wattage level since I didn't want to go off to hard for the first time on the trainer and ruin myself. My heart rate averaged about 140 bpm which I guess was reasonable too but at that level I should probably have pulled at least 2 hours since my typical running heart rate is closer to 165 to 170 bpm. Next time I'll know what to do.

Saturday I've got the 18 miler so hopefully I'll be able to figure out a decent route with minimal levels of ice left. I'd rather try to avoid Beech Drive since that's where I've been running almost every weekend and biking as well but that will probably be my best option for this weekend. Safety takes precedence over scenic variance any day.

Oh and this morning I finally changed my license over from MD to DC so I'm officially a DCite?