Leg Day and Bike Talk

So today, I'm attending a management class all day where I won't be able to cycle at lunch time.  Bummer.  For my leg training, I pretty much blew up my calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes.  I did some high volume low intensity training to the point where each set just hurt.  Yesterday's lactate threshold training made me want to push each muscle to the point where I achieved a massive burn from this but then pushed beyond it.  Using lighter weights really helped to just keep going despite the acid buildup in the muscle. 

I hit 2 exercises on my calves with a rep range of 40+ and got to do toe straight, in, and out on one of the exercises to allow for hitting them at different angles.

For my hamstrings, I did seated leg curls and was in the rep range of over 70.  Pushing the lesser weight here was intense and really let me take them to the point of barely being able to walk. 

For my quads and glutes, I did leg extensions and a machine leg press with the latter letting me go real deep to hit the glutes.  The rep range here was also beyond 50. 

In the end, I was barely able to walk and while I was worried about my back (from lifting computers out of the boxes yesterday), it ended up working out.  I did stretch out my back beforehand, so all is well.

For yesterday's ride, I just wanted to mention how lowering the handlebars affected the ride.  For one, I was surprisingly still quite comfortable on it.  In fact, in some regards, even more so than normal.  I feel a little more compact (reduced frontal surface) yet without feeling like my breathing was constricted.  The reach to the hood seemed to have been extended though, which I actually like because it feels like I'm putting less weight up front resulting in less fatigue on my arms.  I'll have to see if this holds true on a longer ride.  One negative I saw was how twitchy my bike felt, especially considering the wind.  I'm hoping I just have to get used to it, but it does require a bit more attention on the fast turns.  And if the wind hits, even more so.  I'll keep it at this setting for a while and see how it works out.