12:30 am Hill repeats

I made Thursday a rest day. It seems, I get over the hump of the week and my body is tired and training seems to lose a certain appeal, so I have fallen into the habit of Thursdays are a rest day. Getting back on the horse on Friday is the trick though.

Friday morning comes, I am at home. I am on the last day of what should be my last semi regular rotation of working nights. (Give me an Amen, Praise Jesus.) I am putzing around the house, making a Honey Do list for the weekend (I am my own Honey), painting a door, figuring out when to pick up my son, looking at the dishes that need to be washed, laundry, fix the flat tire on my bike. You get it, accomplishing tasks but also procrastinating the workout. So afternoon comes, Alex, my son, has been retrieved from the outer darkness of SE Portland. It is time to pedal to work. Oops no work out.

I am at work, it is going well. I should be out by mid-night. I actually like my late night rides home. It is usually quiet and cool. I don't use main thoroughfares, anyway I digress. I am at work and there is this little nagging in my head, "you need to get some exercise and it really should be more than the usual push it hard home." I light on an idea, hill repeats. There is a bit of a hill on a quiet side street I ride on to get home. It is a little short but it will suffice, it has a decent incline. You see, this week, I have swam, I have run, bike commuted, but nothing of high intensity on the bike.

By the time I punch out from work the rain has let up. Good, I was caught in a a bit of a down pour on the way into work, which left my socks and back side a little damp. My back side dried out but my socks are even wetter, given certain work condition. (Note to self take extra socks to work) Off I go toward home, some decent spinning to get the legs warmed up as I head to my destination, a little more than half way to home is the hill. There I am, quiet side street, my flashing head light, the porch and street lights of lower Alameda Ridge illuminating my way. Yep, 12:30 am and I am pedaling up and down this bit of hill. Hard up, light spin down for rest and back up. It is a brief work out as far as workouts go, but high intensity, and I can put something in my training record. Mission accomplished. Sometimes you just have to fit it in where you can.

Word: practical