Double Day 
Trying something a little bit different now I’ve finished my specialty phase. I’m going to mix in a few Time Crunched sessions that will hopefully give me the scope to keep things interesting whilst training key zones. Those 30 minute workouts are very focused so I’m hoping to maintain fitness.
First ramp test since October for me.
Up from 318 to 333 
I’d upped it manually to 325 for the last couple of weeks and felt that it was noticeably easier, so thought I best dig deep and get a test done!
Ericsson for me today. Definitely felt the 4th interval after completing Antelope yesterday but still a steady effort. Bit frustrated that when my ride syncs to Strava it shows weird distances and speed. Apparently I did 2km where in fact the trainer I use (IC7) showed 32.1km? Not that it is that important as it’s about effort/watts but it’d be nice to have it correct, any ideas why this happens?
Found redoubt and thought I’d give it a try. Turned out to be pretty fun. Those 30s accels at the start definitely make it a little harder to settle in initially but after a few mins all is good and the 30mins goes by pretty quick. Tried to add on some zone 2 afterwards but even bumping intensity to 200% it wasn’t enough so I bailed and did taku instead.
Bike
“Recovery “ ride, Pettit. I know it’s an Endurance ride, but basically taking it easy coming back from the impact of Sunday’s marathon. Sitting up I felt my left hamstring tighten, so spent most of the time in aero.
So i did a bike swim bike last night.
First time doing it. And it was awesome! The swim felt like my best swim ever, felt smooth and felt like i could be going and going and going. Also had a girl in my lane that was kinda pacing me so i busted a good… 30 laps in a row which i’ve never done before, usually my whole workout is about 40 laps! (25m pool).
I’m guessing maybe the warmup from the bike meant my muscles were already oxygenated properly?! Anyhow, i can’t wait to do it again! Although i gotta say it’s kinda taking a toll on my trainer rides as i’m starting to include my cycle commute (48-50k) and those rides to the pool too… It’s gonna be an adjustment
It’s New Trainer Day in my garage 
Baird -3 for a freshly unboxed Tacx Neo shakedown.
I feel that there’s a Ramp Test in my near future.
i wanna be like you when i grow old… although i might just only be able to afford the flux. we’ll see how that goes 
maybe with the money i get from the sale of the vortex i can make up the difference lol
do you find that there’s less lag for changes in power?
I did stage 3 of the Tour of Watopia this evening to replace the regularly-scheduled Shasta: 69 to 62 TSS. 
Less lag, but not a huge difference. I wasn’t using Powermatch today - next workout is Augusta on Thursday so I’ll give it a try with my Stages L.
It’s a luxury upgrade but it feels really nice and natural, and the lack of a whining noise lowers my stress level a bit!
Williamson +4. It hurt. I had a big weekend and it took me a bit to get warm.
More new sensations for me! Counter-intuitively, the first set of intervals felt the worst and the last set of intervals felt the best. I wonder if I need a longer warm-up? Also another reason for the counter-intuitive RPE progression might be due to a discovery I made half-way through the 2nd set. I was experimenting with my pedal stroke and I found that if I squeeze the muscles below my belly button, thus stabilizing my hips, and then pointed my toes ever so slightly downwards, that my cadence naturally increased and my RPE went down. It was not a subtle change in feeling either. My legs felt like pistons with a kind of rebound at the bottom smoothing out the stroke.
I was so happy with my discovery that I decided to increase intensity to 105% for the last interval. I did find that holding those (core?) muscles in check took more energy and concentration though.
Took the ramp test yesterday at 6am - before taking a flight. Ate a bit more the day before and had a gel on the bike. I think I felt insulin rush. Anyway. Previous result - 227 (manual override to 230). New result - 232 (manual override to 235). Xert is telling me my FTP is 242 and WKO4 is saying 238. I am in the middle of SPB plan, and 235 should be sufficient. My target is 250 or close by the end of specialty.
Last night was a warmup with the first 15m of taku as is my habit before anything ‘hard’. Then I managed 40 minutes of striped before daddy duties called.
First things first…
Just finished Spencer+2, in my last week of SSB2MV plan before recovery week.
I’m planning on a 250TSS(ish) or two rides outside since we got holidays, do you guys continue doing the indoor training in addition to these outside rides? Since it’s the last week all the remaining rides this week is a 0.92IF. Is 2-500TSS (over 550ish) ok? Followed up by a recovery week.
I completed Carson this morning, midway through SSBLV1 plan and can honestly say I am ‘enjoying’ the structured training. It’s a great feeling to just get on the bike and do exactly as instructed, without thinking too much. I haven’t done any particularly difficult sessions yet, the first hard looking one is Warlow at the end of next week.
What I did discover today is that I am far more comfortable with a natural cadence of 87-90rpm & the prescibed intervals @ 75rpm have a totally different drain on my muscles. 
