Once I got home, I hit the trainer for a quick spin session because I wanted to try the one legged drills again. Since I was already warmed up from the run, I did about 10 minutes of cycling warmup, followed by 7 x (right leg 1 min, 1 min both legs, left leg 1 min, 1 min both legs).
Here's the profile from SportTracks:
So you can see the first ten minutes is pretty much steady state. The first OLD set was at my typical warmup speed/resistance of 15 - 15.5 mph - but I found that to still be too much. It was fine for the first 15-20 seconds, and I was able to keep a fairly smooth and even cycle stroke, but I found that the back-up-forward motion really started to fall off the table at that point. At this point, I found I instinctively pushed harder on the down stroke to maintain cadence - but by then it was spiraling out of control - the harder I pushed, the more awkward and disjointed the whole entire cycle sequence became. After one set on each leg at that speed, I clearly needed to make an adjustment. So on the next set, I dropped the resistance a bit - I dont remember whether it was one gear or two. I think it was one.
Over the next several sets, I refined my process a bit each time. I found that I had to consciously keep myself from pushing downward so hard, and put more emphasis on keeping even pressure throughout the entire cycle. Part of the problem was that initially, I found I was subconsciously peddling faster, I think because I was trying so desperately to keep cadence. What I didn't realize initially was that it was unnecessary - it was like I was trying to fit a mental rhythm I have in my head for two feet into cycling with one foot. So once I concentrated more on other other parts of the cycle, and less on the down portion, things evened out. However, I found that my hip flexors were tiring rather quickly - having to move my foot through the entire cycle was exhausting. After about 30 seconds, form started to get sloppy, and often by 50 seconds, the muscles were so tired they didn't know how to fire in a coordinated manner anymore. It was very bizarre - it was like one muscle was trying to pull up while another was trying to extend my foot forward while yet another was still trying to pull my foot back.
In the end, as the graph shows, I ended up dropping the resistance again in an attempt to be able to maintain form and muscle firing coordination for the entire minute. It definitely helped, but it is also obvious that practice is needed.
All in all, though - it was pretty eye opening. I didn't realize just how much of a 'free ride' my leg was getting on its path through the cycle. Obviously, this means that part of my power generation is being robbed - not only am I fighting resistance from the road and wind and elevation, but I'm also constantly fighting myself while cycling - clearly a holdover from the years of riding a bike as a kid without clipless pedals. So I'll definitely be incorporating some of these drills into my routine - I'm not sure how yet, though - I may just throw some in during certain spins, I may keep one spin/week dedicated to repeating the drill several times, or I may put heavy emphasis on it as sort of a 'break down a rebuild' exercise.
Oh, for the last activity of the day, I did two sets of three way one minute plank holds. One minute forward plank on the elbows, one minute left side, one minute right side and repeat (with rest where necessary). My thinking is that something like this might be a good way to get core workouts in multiple times during the week - because they are something I can do quickly while watching TV.
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