EXERCISE: Stationary Bike
TIME: 20 min
SPEED: 12 mph
DISTANCE: 4.15 miles
CALORIES: 124 kcal
PEAK HR: 169 bpm

Did a true interval aerobic workout on the bike and the plan I worked out seems to work very well. I maintained 12 mph or a tad over most of the time and the intensity seemed to match the resistance level pretty much according to my mapping. It says that I burned 125 kcal and did 4.15 miles. Who knows how accurate either of those are, but it gives me a baseline for comparison. I will maintain this pace until the peaks of the intervals get noticeably easier and then bump it up to 13 mph. My goal is to be at 20 mph by the end of the 12 week program.

My pulse at the peak was 169 bpm, which is probably not too bad. The good Dr. Cooper uses a max heart rate of 205 bpm minus 1bpm for each two years of your age, so for me that would be 180 bpm. He then says that your target heart rate should be between 75% and 85% of your max, which for me would be between 135 bpm and 153 bpm. So 169 bpm is a bit high, but not hugely so. Perhaps I should stay with this profile until my peak heart rate is below 150 bpm.

The seat on that bike is too shallow and the seat back isn't angled back at all. It forces me to sit on the edge of the seat which makes my butt sore. I'll probably get used to it.