This winter has been one for the record books. It's apparently the 3rd coldest winter in 50 years. I've been religiously following the ice coverage of the Great Lakes as those sort of trivial metrics interest me far more than they should. The images below are particularly unsettling as they appear like a scene out of the Day After Tomorrow.
The ice coverage peaked on March 6th, with it hitting a record breaking 92.2% of the open water being covered with ice. Gross.
I despise winter during the warmest and most forgiving of winters, so this one really put me to the test. This was the only thing I could think about as I walked the 5km trek to work when my car was out of commission.
Cycling...
We finally got a reprieve a couple days ago when the temperature managed to stay above zero for a solid 48 hours.
On Monday I managed to squeeze in a ride despite being terribly exhausted from throwing our Sonic Bloom event on the weekend. The roads were soaked, icy in places and laden with a grimy salt/sand mix. Riding felt like going through a sand blaster. But it felt phenomenal. It was the first time I've ridden this year outside! I attempted to ride at threshold for most of the ride and felt pretty strong.
With the next day being a balmy 10 degrees I hit the road with some buddies and co-workers. The pace was pretty tame with the exception of some potent attacks. It was my first time tapping into those VO2 max efforts this year and after 2 or 3 attacks and bridged gaps, I was pretty toast. The threshold pace is there, but not much of the anaerobic. I'm not too worried though. If I tack on a 4-6 week block of anaerobic efforts, I'll be golden for the end of April.
With the next day being a balmy 10 degrees I hit the road with some buddies and co-workers. The pace was pretty tame with the exception of some potent attacks. It was my first time tapping into those VO2 max efforts this year and after 2 or 3 attacks and bridged gaps, I was pretty toast. The threshold pace is there, but not much of the anaerobic. I'm not too worried though. If I tack on a 4-6 week block of anaerobic efforts, I'll be golden for the end of April.
