Been listening to the video podcasts while training for some different forms of entertainment. Will stick to the music for VO2 sessions but they’re a good listen, starting from episode 1. Started adding a longer cooldown to workouts now, at least another 10 mins to get my heart rate as low as possible before getting off which seems to be around 100-105.
Monitor today with an increase in intensity by 1% per interval. Started to feel a bit threshold-y by the 4th interval
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TT scene is quiet in Aus. Had to rethink my priorities when it came to riding and I just want to have fun with other like minded folk while tickling my competitive nature so with crits being quite big down under I’m going to focus on short power build. Sweet spot and threshold work I think are my strengths but VO2 work is definitely my crux so this was somewhat of a milestone for me.
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Fair play mate. That looks like a continuous punch in the face 
Looks like it and it kinda was. Saw the IF only at 0.85 so thought that’d be a good start to VO2 work. Felt like I could’ve upped it by 3-5% in the first set then remembered I had another 60+ intervals to complete and needed to pace myself. Glad I didn’t!
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Tunemah…first real plan that I am trying to stick to other than previous zwift academy plans. I managed to hit the first 12 min with 100% but on the second had to throttle back to 95% to ensure I could give it a good shot at finishing. Over unders are pretty brutal and was expecting 2 mins under and 1 over but it was 2/2 for 12 mins…ouch. Glad I finished it.
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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.
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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.
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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…)
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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!
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Going to need a rest week from my current “messing around” off season fun…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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Townsend late last night, last recovery workout before the second half of Century LV:
Ramp test tomorrow.
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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!
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Matthews +1 this morning.
Yeah, I knew about this! Felt tough, felt strong, felt tough. That’s how this workout went. Really pleased to have knocked this one down 
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** Zwift Academy 2019 Workout #8: 4min Power Duration**
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.
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