I have been spending very little time on my bike lately. Foot surgery, combined with a bad cold, sinus infection, ear infection, lots of other valid reasons and also plenty of excuses…obviously not all happening at the same time…have kept me off the saddle for over two months.  Yesterday was my designated start day to start exercising and cycling was the designated exercise.

The hubby and some friends had planned an early Sunday morning ride at Shark Alley, which I first thought was perfect for me.  A 15 mile loop with no traffic, just alligators and birds and… at any speed and with no pressure.  It sounded good for about 10 seconds and I quickly realized that I was not ready to commit to 15 miles since it was the first time in two months that my recovering foot was going be inside a cycling shoe.  So, I stayed.  I slept a little longer than hubby and still exercised.  I trained indoors.

I enjoyed my morning café con leche ritual, changed into my cycling gear, mounted my old bike on the trainer and did a 45 minute TrainerRoad workout.  It was short and intense and I now know that my foot is ready for cycling shoes.

In case you don’t know, TrainerRoad is an online training software that provides bicycle workouts.  I know what you are thinking now…”OK, big deal, I can just do that with any YouTube video.”   You are correct! Many of those YouTube videos with the upbeat/trance soundtracks will definitely give you that amazing workout; but the workout with TrainerRoad goes beyond that.

TrainerRoad gives you a workout with onscreen coaching instructions.  The software also provides live on-screen data like power, cadence and heart rate.  So, you pick the workout either based on a pre-selected plan or whatever your heart desires that day and follow the workout instructions on the screen.  The selected plan depends on your training goals.

Below you can see my old bike ready for the TrainerRoad workout. It is an old photo as I had no energy for any photo taking so early in the morning.

That is all for today! Later in the week I will follow with another post as I want to give you a more in-depth explanation about TrainerRoad, how it works and the equipment required.

For now, good night everyone!