Swatty Patty Training for TSE

Had an awesome 2.5 hr training trail ride on St. Patrick's day (a.k.a. "Patty") on the Swatara Park (a.k.a "Swatty") trails. Without a doubt, Brian and the SAMBA crew know how to build some sweet, flowing singletrack. Donna, Brett, and I did all the loops once, and some twice to get our time in. Ricky hung out with one of his co-workers for about an hour, then waited for me (thank you Ricky!). The training plan said:

Trail ride. Short hard efforts on the hills (7 x 2 mins at 85%) and steady and efficient everywhere else. Spin easy for 2 mins beween efforts. If possible, choose rocky trails with short hills.

The one thing Swatty lacks is rocks so we had to settle for the hills which are also not plentiful on this trail system making it a challenge to do the 2 minute efforts -- at least not while riding the entire network. But alas, hill repeats always work and there's one good climb on "C" trail that's at least a 3-4 minute climb. So hill repeats we did. Up and down, over and over, the same hill, seven times. We definitely got in some good practice on the "steady and efficient" part with these curvy, flowing, meandering trails. It's soooo nice to be back outside again. Today is an easy 1.5 hr road spin -- mine will be about 20 miles from Millersburg to Gratz while Rick visits with his mother after work today. Tomorrow is another trail ride for 3 hours heading back to the Rattling Creek trails, this time with Donna and company in tow. Time to practice a little rock hopping.