4x7min intervals @ 105% followed by 1 hour of Z1 riding with Coliseum -3.
First time doing a second day of intervals per week. Based on my strong performance on my first set of intervals on Tuesday this week, I decided that I needed to up the intensity somehow. Settled on extending the intervals by 1 minute to see if that would be enough to get me tired and, if not, would up the intensity by 5%.
Longer intervals felt hard but doable. Bumped up the intensity to 5% for the last half of the last interval. At that level, I was starting to get into the hurt locker. Definitely have improved since my last ramp test which is a good sign. I do, also, think that I need to up the intensity even more for the last week to try and tease out any remaining improvements for my rest week the following week.
Also focused a lot on my breathing this time; trying to breathe deeply every 3-4 full pedal strokes rather than gasping for air as usual. Found this helped to control my HR both during the interval and during the recovery.
Yeah this felt great. It felt great at the start, continued to feel great about when I expected it to start hurting, and felt great when I finished. Nice to finish the first half of build on a high note after strugglebus-ing yesterday, heh.
82.5 miles of zone 2 on my new summer bike in the UK sunshine…kept it easier that yesterday but still averaged 20.5 mph for 4 hours…I’m not any fitter - I’m just riding a faster bike!
Some outside riding. Tried, for the first time, some threshold efforts outside as the indoor threshold yesterday was a big failure due the heat (HR went into VO2 max zone during 15 min effort - with the power I was able to hold for an hour when it was colder). So basically some fun riding.
Legs were pretty uncomfortable for the first half hour but settled in. Followed it with a 30min base run, legs are toast now. Very happy though, I’ve gotten some quality sessions in over the last few days.
Mary Austin -1. Tough but manageable. The past couple workouts have been legitimate breakout ones for me as I’m hitting power targets I’ve never hit before and repeating them.
Used the recovery valleys on this one to fiddle with my position on my new Allez Sprint. I think I have it in a good spot now. I added some outdoor joy rides on it the past few days so I was worried the added TSS would make today’s workout brutal, but I actually felt great and determined and focused.
2.5 hours on the trainer today. Power was not high, but the non stop pedaling takes a huge toll. Then a 35 minutes including 8 strides at the end. I’m glad the week is over. Ignore the 160 TSS of swimming
Today, my first 20min FTP test , after first week of basic build .May I was a little bit conservative but afterall I’m satisfied at all , gained from 123 to 130 no bad for a guy 61yo as me.
Enjoy
Man this was hard! Felt like a huge step up from the over unders in the first half of SusPB. The short rests didn’t make it any easier. Legs were shaking after the 3rd interval and I had to drop power down to 90% for most of the 4th and 5th interval.
In the end I averaged about 28 minutes with an HR > 90% of my max and around 8 minutes > 95%.
Is it what a plate of ravioli and butter can make?
I’m so so happy to have improved my performance one more time this year.
I’m also aware that… it can’t grow indefinitely
