POST, POST MORTEM

     I took Sunday and Monday off from any exercise.  Tuesday I did push-ups (Day 2 of Week Six of onehundredpushups.com)  attended Body Flow at Golds, and worked the weight machines.  Wednesday we had a multitude of appointments and thus I didn't ride on the most gorgeous day of the year.  My Thursday appointment cancelled, leaving me an opportunity to finally get back on the bike.
     Eventually, I'll get to the point of this entry.  Wednesday was gorgeous, Thursday was clear, but quite breezy.  I could not believe the computer readout of the heart-rate.  It was ridiculously low.  I had the wind at my back, mostly, on the way out, so speed was high (but nowhere close to a record).  It blew in my face on the way back, dropping my speed considerably.  Overall, this was the slowest ride for this course in several years.
     But, as hard as I worked on the way out and especially on the way back, my heart-rate remained low.  Average for the whole ride was only 118.  So, even if the leg muscles were complaining, the heart didn't have a hard workout.  If I had not taken a few days off, I would have worried that my Saturday TT had been too much for the heart.
     Today I went to spin class.  The wind that yesteday blew so hard in my face, had doubled by today and I happily exercised inside.  The first thing I noticed was the heart-rate read-out showing 52.  I briefly saw 48 but suspect that to be erroneous.  Even so, 52 hadn't been seen by me in maybe ten years.  As I warmed up on the bike, it remained low and only after about five minutes into the class did it even hit triple digits.  Again, with sweat rolling off me and screaming quads, my heart blissfully remained in zone 3.
   
So, TT results notwithstanding, it appears I have benefitted greatly from Saturday's race.  We will see if this is a very short term situation, or if I can continue to train and keep my new low.