I've been determined lately to improve my performance on the bike, meaning I want to be faster. My non-competitive nature goes into hiding when I start riding and I find myself feeling annoyed when other cyclists pass me on the trail. I know I'm not super fast, but did that teenager on the Schwinn with no helmet really just pass me? Or that old guy cruising along in action sandals? Not acceptable!Well friends, put your hands in the air for the untrammeled woman who was more than 10 minutes faster last Saturday! WOOT!! I rode 35 miles on the scenic Mt. Vernon trail in 2 hours, 41 minutes--beating my previous time on the same course the previous week by more than 10 minutes. Not only that, but I didn't feel like passing out at the top of the hill at the turn-around point--a small victory.
Keep up that applause because I repeated my success two days later when I went for an early-morning ride on the W&OD trail on Independence Day. I rode 42 miles--an accomplishment in and of itself, especially in that day's humid weather. Target time: 3 hours. Actual time: 2 hours, 53 minutes. WOO HOO!!
I was ravenous after both rides. All day.
The secret to my success is keeping up a brisk pace (to the extent possible) throughout the ride, rather than my previous approach--almost done unconsciously--of treating certain sections of the ride/trail as times to slow down and take a little break while riding. As Jillian Michaels admonishes repeatedly in her workout videos, "NO REST!" Whenever I felt myself slipping into that habit, I gave myself a stern "this is not a break" reminder. I also tried to use downhills and long flat stretches to push myself to actually pedal faster, instead of cruising along comfortably.
I know there is still vast room for improvement in my performance, but for now, HOORAY FOR ME!!