Why Did I Ride So Fast (for me) Today?

[sathomasga]

Getting ready for the 6 Gap Century (10,000+ ft of climbing for those unfamiliar) next month and trying to do serious training. I had a really good but hard weekend. 60 miles on Friday (half in Z3, half in Z4), 35 miles recovery on Saturday (Z1), and 50 miles in the mountains on Sunday morning (5000 ft of climbing), mostly Z3 with some Z4.

I was expecting my 25 mile lunchtime ride today (Monday) to be an easy recovery ride, but I felt real strong starting out. Heart overruled brain, and I decided to push it fairly hard. I finished even stronger than I began, and surprisingly, I had one of my fastest times this year.

Any thoughts on what's going on here? Or this this type of thing normal? (And I know, I should have stuck with the plan and rode easy.)

Stephen

 

[tamman2000]

Getting ready for the 6 Gap Century (10,000+ ft of climbing for those unfamiliar) next month and trying to do serious training. I had a really good but hard weekend. 60 miles on Friday (half in Z3, half in Z4), 35 miles recovery on Saturday (Z1), and 50 miles in the mountains on Sunday morning (5000 ft of climbing), mostly Z3 with some Z4.

I was expecting my 25 mile lunchtime ride today (Monday) to be an easy recovery ride, but I felt real strong starting out. Heart overruled brain, and I decided to push it fairly hard. I finished even stronger than I began, and surprisingly, I had one of my fastest times this year.

Any thoughts on what's going on here? Or this this type of thing normal? (And I know, I should have stuck with the plan and rode easy.)

Stephen

I don't have an explanation, but I have had similar experiences...

I used to run a lot more than I do now, now I bike and run both a couple times a week. I started building miles on the bike to do a century this summer, and I notice that I run faster on the day after long bike rides...