Sensory Overload

When I purchased the Garmin 500 I had every intention of using all the bits and pieces in the box to monitor my performances however I just haven't been bothered to install them on the bike or take with me. Not anymore. Stats galore here we come. Okay so I've now got cadence, proper speed ( not gps speed) and heartrate up and running and used my last commute of the week to test them out.

To Work     Distance 20 miles     Av Sp 19.3mph

The winds psychological effect on me is quite big and I tend not to overdo it as I think that any excess power used is wasted so try to maintain the same tempo/workrate. The wind had changed to a Southerly with blasts from the West so Head/cross all the way in. Heartrate is quite linear just to prove the above and only increased on steep sections sor decreased when stopped. Cadence is around 90-100 when pedalling normally but to be honest I felt I was pedalling slow into the wind and you can tell all the points when Im out of the saddle.  I think the first 3.5miles took 20-25mins because of traffic and temporary lights. Average started at 21 for a few miles and went down to 18 in no time.

The climb at the start of Victoria Av is a nice section to analyse. This is at about mile 11 on the graphs. I had thought previously I was only going about 11-12mph but today I was going 14-15mph without feeling I was going faster than any other time this month so the speed sensor must be working better than the GPS. Cadence for the climb is at 80+rpm which surprised me and quite good/high, again it felt slow. Heat rate only topped out at 166 so not exerting myself too much but still putting the effort in.

To Home     Distance 20miles     Av Sp 19.3mph

Woahhh, I don't think I stopped once all the way but had to slow down a few times.  Wind was gentle from the South and East tonight but the cold air 5 degress with real feel of 3 made it difficult or was it the air? Im sure it played a part but looking at heart rate it is quite low throughout the journey, heavily decreasing towards the end. I'm sure thats showing how fatigued I was ( or was it the temperatures effect on my body?) getting as the week wore on. The thing is I thought I was working very very hard, one last big effort before the restdays, before TT day. Average cadence similar to earlier on, at 85, as wind was less but its 'all uphill' so expected it to be like that.

Thursday - Just a quick 25 miles without the computer so that I would go slow.