Sorry if this has been discussed already but I was thinking about what mental barriers that some of you go through and how do you personally get through them. Do you go through the motions while riding? Lately my mindset can vary a bit during higher intensity/long rides. I find I’d start over enthusiastic, enter a slump halfway through when the realisation sets in when I have another 45+ mins of sweat but then always finish on a high, feeling I could’ve done more.
I’m not sure if it’s the new trainer taking the mental stress out of not looking at the power meter or if I really am building a tolerance to pain. I don’t even bat an eyelid now at some longer sweet spot/threshold work now when I clearly remember what I felt when I first saw I’d have to do 3x20 min SS
Sought a little redemption after Thursday’s failure. Felt really good afterwards and thought about doing another short interval set, but figured discretion is the better part of valor.
Two hours on the road with the first hour including 4 x 8 min Vo2 work.
Good ride: 112%, 110%, 109%, 105% FTP 230w
Couple corners with traffic control takes a few watts out of each interval but its a good loop close to home. Working hard toward the end of each interval and hitting heart rates right up there with 10 mile TT efforts.
A new one to me; picked it because it was the kind of length and kind of intensity I wanted to do. Quite enjoyed it actually. (Would have enjoyed being outside more but on call this weekend…)
Started Century MV this week. Race season is over for me, so this specialty will work my muscular endurance limiter while shaking things up a bit. FTP is at a season high, just shy of 3.9W/kg, and I’ve nailed a threshold and over/unders this week. This one about 10W NP higher than in May. Long sweet spot tomorrow… onward!
Eisen - 10x 2min @107%, with 4 short standing sprints at 150-200%. Hard. Coach Chad suggests doing the sprints seated starting at interval 7, that was well-timed before me blowing up. I ended up doing the last 4 sets sitting.
Palisade today. One of those ones where you have to keep on top of pedalling technique, breathing and relaxed shoulders or else it falls apart for me. Keep smiling/grimacing!
Got a bit keen and went for 105% on the last two sets. Now I am tired…
Juneau -1; another new to me one. Had initially planned one of the Glassy variations for today but decided I wanted a two hour ride so dug this out of the library. There was a power cut during the first interval which was annoying but otherwise a good one. Left to my own devices I tend to settle in around 80 - 82rpm so really tried to spin faster than I would have liked.
Completed Ericsson today as part of SSBLVI. I really enjoyed this workout. Most interestingly was how you can see fatigue settling in in those last two intervals. The first two blocks were quite smooth by comparison to that last one for instance. Pretty cool to see!
Enjoyable group suffering effort… just 2 watts below my previous 4 min max according to power curve, so all good.
Going to have a solo effort on the 20 second max ZA workout tonight, never tried setting a 20 second max before, looking forward to something different.
I wanted it today, I was so close I could taste it except I also couldn’t breath fast enough so it didn’t work out. Another minute and a half! SO CLOSE!
Final week of Short Power Build so low intensity stuff, managed to knock out Beech early this morning and throw in a few sprints at the end. Always a great way to start the day. Being true to myself I haven’t enjoyed this plan in the slightest. EVERY workout I have tried to do has been mentally and physically destroying me, especially after the bump in FTP half way through the plan. After that increase almost all workouts have been brutal.
Looking forward to a less intense week and then starting General build on Monday with another ramp test. As I don’t actually own a bike and am not training for anything specific other than general fitness and the ‘science project element of it’ I am just going to cycle ‘pardon the pun’ from SSB to General Build increasing the volume as I go. The goal is to lose about 6kg’s and increase FTP by approx 10% to hit 4wpkg
Hmmm, just read the other post, seems back to back builds may not be the best thing to do. Given that I don’t have a specific race to aim for would you suggest just reverting back to Base phase?
I am expecting the weight loss will come from better nutrition and cutting out (reducing) alcohol. I’m currently 79kg and think I could be around 73kg with ‘relative’ ease
