I typically do a long peloton ride (iambrybry – incase you want to fact check me) on Saturday morning. Most recently I aim to do the Saturday morning power zone ride + old rides until I hit 90 mins to 120 minutes. I usually just do the routine as describe and adjust to the high, middle, or low end of the prescribed zones based on my sleep and activity throughout the previous week. Today I decided just to stick to a zone two heart rate instead.

Half-way through the 90 minute ride I noticed I was not sitting in the seat. My butt was in the seat. If you asked me last week, while sitting in the identically position, I would have told you I was in the sitting. Today it was clear as day that I was not sitting despite the seat supporting me. I sunk into the seat. It was not just supporting me. It was my support. I found I could pedal in a slight different way. I turned up the resistance so I could pedal 80-90 to practice this new way of pedaling. My output was the same but my heartrate dropped 10 p points. After a while I decided to go back to 100 cadence. Heart rate was still 7 bmp lower than the start of my workout with the same cadence and output.

If I would have stuck to the goal – do the workout as prescribe – I would not have noticed this. I would not have observed something new. I would not have given myself the space to improve in a new way. I would have achieved a goal without improvement. It is a dangerous trap.