Alone time.

Couldn't think of a better title....just back from a cold and wet 3 hour base ride. It's really my first full week of consistent effort on the bike. I probably rode 300 miles or so in January and February but to be honest, the workouts were not consistently linked and I maybe did one trainer workout/week. I just had no strong motivation which is interesting considering that I've registered for some early season road races. The legs haven't felt great. After a 3 hour slog last Saturday that saw me cramping up big time after about 2 hours, I had literally been shaken awake. Time to get going. So I licked my wounds from Saturday's debacle, got out for 2.5 hours solo on Sunday and felt a little better. Off on Monday with some solid core and stretching. Tuesday was a good 90 minutes outside with a couple of tempo intervals in. Wednesday was another 90 minutes, this time pretty all at or slightly below tempo pace. Thursday was 60 minutes with 2-10 minute threshold intervals. Friday off with Pilates and stretching, then today a solid 3 hour solo ride.

I like long solo rides on occasions. Pop in the left headphone and catch up on Podcasts or just listen to tunes and think. With 3 little ones occupying most of my "free time", I have a difficult time just thinking about stuff. Granted, my ADD has my thoughts zipping from this to that. This morning for instance I worked through a few design ideas for the master bathroom renovation project to what our family vacation plans will be to how I'll finish up this first quarter at my new job to whether or not I can afford to upgrade the fork on my 'cross bike this fall. Random and everywhere, sure. But nonetheless I find the alone time on the bike during longer base rides to be therapeutic. I think of creative gift ideas for my lovely wife, I wonder what specific lessons I'd like to teach my children, I think about less fortunate families around the world and what they're doing at that particular moment.

Alone time is precious for me...so I guess riding my bike in the wee hours of the morning and getting soaked doing it is the price of admission. It's worth it.