More Runs and More Bicycle "Re-Cycling"

Lately, I've been doing a lot of bicycle work on the older bikes I am trying to rebuild and refurbish. I have mostly done my work on these bikes after work, which means less bike riding time after work.  My main workouts have still been the Tabata interval runs for 2-3 workouts a week in that style, then I do 1-2 regular, easy pace runs to balance out the week.

Looking back on my blog, since August 9th, I've only done 4 rides, including today's 12 miler on my Fat Bike.  I haven't been on the bike as much as I would like to, but I am enjoying the process of getting the bikes painted and fixed up.

I have done a handful of kettlebell total body workouts, and I can tell I need to add more of those workouts to the mix. 

I mainly need more strength work. I'm only getting so fast on my runs and strength is the missing component to boost my speed and power.

The running workouts are sort of going away from the Tabata circuits of 20/10 x 8, and more into 4 minutes easy, 4 minutes hard, x 2 rounds of that. I can usually get 1/2 mile into the first 4 minutes, then .6 miles in the next 4 minutes.  My best '4 minutes hard' effort had me getting a half-mile in 3:10 during that portion, with an additional tenth of a mile to finish it out.  It gets a bit tougher on the 2nd round.  I have done 20 minute workouts of 4 easy, 4 hard, 4 easy, 4 hard, and 4 easy. 

Another workout I want to try is a 4-8-4, with 4 easy, 8 hard, 4 easy as a cool down, aiming for a very hard 8 minute effort and see the mileage I can get in that 8 minutes.

Overall, I still want to get on the bikes, but I gotta take advantage of the time I do have to work on my retro bikes this fall. 

Until next time, enjoy your workouts and don't forget about the coffee afterwards:
http://tinyurl.com/kbcoffee