Knocked out Spanish needle +1 love 96 intervals
Riding outside tomorrow.
Our weather is a little sketchy still, and it’s almost impossible to stay in zone 2 out the door. My driveway has a 10% slope, and the road 8% before I get to the main road, one way down hill at 11 percent and the other uphill with some 9 and 10 % sections. So indoors it is at least for now.
Century today but did not feel well from allergies, work stress, and being at the end of a 3 week loading phase. Targeted zone 2 but even then really felt weak and lethargic. Two long stops, both too long… the first to fix a flat and the second because I waited for a small group to refuel. Anyways got it done, and next week is a recovery week.
Got to say that some seriously hard work has been done by you guys and gals over the past few days. Tipping my hat to you all 
Elephant +4 yesterday.
I started the ride with a nice double espresso which always lowers my RPE for a while and worked great as usual today. Legs felt fine with minimal lactic build up and I didnt really feel anything at all until the last rep. On to the z2 portion at the last 15 mins, and my heart rate dropped nicely back down to 120BPM. First race is fat approaching and I cant wait.
Indoors:
90 km [3 hrs] at ~1.2 mmol [135 bpm / 78% MHR]
185W NP [Kurt Kinetic] [190 - 200W steady state]
1933 kJ…178 relative effort…80 - 82 rpm
I replaced these long SST workouts with longer endurance sessions for all of SSB2, so I thought I’d switch it up in General Build. Felt uncomfortable but sustainable, so I guess I’m in the ballpark.
Mary Austin -3 after cutting leconte short on Friday ! Yay recovery week is next
Flat tyre about 1/2 way [27.7km] through a low intensity ~60km (2 laps) of the cycleway.
In the dead of night (as is my wont), fortunately only about 1km from home. Rather than faff about changing a tube in the light rain and dark… walked the bike home.
The because I’m now >99% sure that what I thought was grit and water runoff from a nursery by the cycleway was actually broken bottles.
Edit: not having a good day. Bought an ultrasonic cleaner earlier… thought ‘while I’m mucking around with wheel off bike, I’ll try cleaning the chain…’ damn thing threw an error code. Manual says “circuit failed - return to store for replacement”.
Update re Edit ^ : Replacement acquired without issue at store (2mins). Passes basic power and start/stop cycle. (yay)
Tallac+3 today - bit of a grind after a tough McAdie yesterday and would have preferred to be outside but hellishly windy in the UK again and I don’t like battling 20+mph winds all the time especially as I only weigh 61kg…makes it hard to keep the power consistent - its either redlining it into the wind or doing nothing the other way! Still 2 hours SS was an adequate replacement…one workout nearer the race season unless the government decide that races should be cancelled due to corona virus…wouldn’t surprise me! 
Spanish Needle -3.
Pondered how I wanted to attack these trainer-wise as my Direto has been slow to react. What I ended up doing was increase the intensity to 105% and left it in ERG, downshifted one gear prior to each microburst, then upshifted right at the start of the microburst (downshifted again at the end). My thinking was the higher intensity may put my peak above the original target, but for the 15 second interval, the area under the curves would be much closer to the target, which I think it was. I went up to 106% for the 4th set, 107% for the 5th, and 108% for the last set. End of General Build Mid-Volume week 1.
This was interesting after yesterday’s Mary Austin -1.
Looking forward to completing my penultimate week of SSB2MV followed by by a rest week and my first build.
My A event is getting closer, June 7th, which helps the discipline and focus for recovery and nutrition. I’m really looking forward to the better weather and enjoying my new found fitness.
Sunday 1hr Free ride
Had last two days off and thought I’d see how legs were after a good restful week. Was sneezing on Wednesday with runny nose, so I think I had caught something, though it’s all cleared up and gone now, just lemon and honey taken. It’s been a long time since I had any type of virus… might explain why I was struggling earlier in the week and late last week.
Legs actually felt like they used to feel, good half hour above the line climbing the Zwift Epic KOM then spent 20 minutes below with the descent and flat. Might not have to drop my FTP much more, but still going to have another week of disciplined easy riding before resuming the plan, then I’ll make adjustments as required… 
End of week 3 of Sustained Power Build low volume. I’ve been adding endurance workouts; weekly TSS comparable to mid volume. Good grief this old bloke is tired.
Galena +1 3x20 SS
Then straightaway Baxter +2
Second hour of Baxter +2 was tough! Recovery and adaptation next week 
My ‘A’ event is 9th May. I’m doing my best to be ready.