Slow Grinding

Hello - been a few days since my last post as I took the weekend off from Grinding!

Friday I did one grind in the morning with my friend Debbie Heurion. It was her first time so I let her set the pacing and she did amazing! We clocked in at 54 minutes with no breaks at all up the Grind. Good job Debbie!

Saturday and Sunday were rest days for this week, during which I hope to complete the most grinds per week of the season.

Started well with two grinds yesterday. The morning grind, as always, seemed a bit sluggish at 51 minutes and change but I picked up the pace for the afternoon grind and came in at 49 minutes for the second best time of the season. It felt really hot and muggy out and I think if it had been cooler I could have broken my personal best time of 47 and change.

I can start to feel all of the grinding paying off. It's amazing how slowing down my time on the grind by even a few minutes can make a huge difference to the legs and lungs. With my heart rate monitor I can see exactly where I need to be at for the amount of effort put out. For my best times I need to be in the range of 165 bpm on the monitor and keep the legs going fast, taking two up steps at a time where possible.

But by just lowering that BPM by 10 or 15, to around 150-155 I can complete the Grind a few minutes slower but never feel super taxed while doing it. This morning I completed a grind of around 55 minutes but hardly felt out of breath the entire way up. When I swiped in at the top timer I was not out of breath. To me that shows a lot of fitness improvement over the start of the season when I was huffing and puffing to break 55 minutes.

Also, to my sense of competitiveness (alas I try to turn it off!) it's a great mental boost when I can step past people who are working hard and are out of breath and feel great myself. Although by going slower I do have to let people by and remember what I am trying to accomplish - it's not the time I'm after, it's whatever goal I chose at the beginning be it max heart rate or breathing rate.

I aim to complete daily doubles Monday - Wed this week and then either a single or double on Thursday (my early morning bird banding day) and take Friday off to prepare for Saturday. I've been wanting to take one day and see how many slow grinds I can complete in the day. I'm hoping to do that this Saturday. I hope I can complete 6 grinds in 2 or 3 grind reps with some recovery time in between.

Wish me luck!