When it rains all day, like it did today, you have to adapt in order to get your workout done.  I was planning to ride my bike outside this morning.  The weather put paid to those plans, so it was a trip to the basement, for a ride on the trainer.

My outside bike ride was a designated ‘choice’ ride.  This means I could just ride my bike and do anything that makes me happy.  I love these rides, because if I am not feeling great, I can do a super easy ride.  On the other hand, if I am feeling a little adventurous, I can do something more challenging, like climbing hills or pushing hard intervals.

A choice ride is just not the same on the trainer, and so I had to pick some kind of ride that would keep me engaged.  With my legs still not feeling great, I didn’t want to ride hard intervals.  Equally, I didn’t just want to ride super easy.  I needed to do something that would keep me engaged, but which wasn’t ‘hard’ on my legs.

My natural cadence on the bike, is in the 70’s. However, I have been working with my coach on getting more comfortable, riding at higher rpm’s.  I made the decision, that I would do my trainer ride this morning at high cadence, and set myself the goal of riding for 90 minutes at a cadence of 90 rpm.

I put the Tour de France on the TV and set to work.  Interestingly, riding at a higher cadence, I was able to push more power than I thought my legs could do.  Spinning away at 90 rpm, seemed to give me energy, that I didn’t think I had.  I ended up hitting my cadence goal exactly. My average cadence for the ride was 90 rpm.  I was very pleased with the ride.

Sometimes, when it rains, the forced changes to your workout, end up being a pleasant surprise.