Ended up been a good quality workout. Enjoyed getting plenty of time in the aero position, fueled it good both before and during and went into it with a positive mind. Looking forward to the next.
Nothing but respect for those who completed the Disaster workout. My mind (and bum) can’t imagine being on the trainer for that length of time.
With these sharp overs - 120% for 30s. But use it only as a guide as I do workouts in level mode I try to use them as an attack simulation or hard pull during the brakeway so basically as hard as I can but with repeating in mind.
Honestly I think this is one of the low-key explosive benefits of doing group workouts. Yeah it’s great to suffer alongside other people and have the external validation no matter how your interval goes (because literally no one is going to be like Hey I saw that backspin you slacker, gtfo). We’re social animals and existing in a supportive community is always going to be a net gain, but the supportive community pushing you along ends up teaching you about your own capacity to work.
When we got to the fireworks yesterday, after the first couple I thought there was no way I could last the whole ten, it’s too many and they’re too hard. I absolutely would not have finished them without the crew there 1) confirming that yes, you’re not wrong, this is super hard, and 2) showing me that we can totally do one more. And we did the whole freaking thing, and now I can know I can do the whole freaking thing. I kind of feel like a superhero, and that feeling is going to follow me into the rest of my mostly-solo training.
(At least I hope it follows me. I’ve got a ramp on Tuesday. 
)
So returning to structured training courtesy of TrainerRoad I forgot how brutal it can be. Certainly a shot across my bow, my mental toughness is lacking compared to where I concluded last winters training. As to was my preparation. “ it shouldn’t be too hard today” were my words to my wife as I headed into my garage …how wrong I was.
The thought of easing into the training has evaporated, as it’s full on from day one with a little fatigue from yesterday’s ramp test.
Week 1 done. Had some run speed work on Friday morning with 10 x 2’ on 90” off and followed that up with an easy run after work. Fletcher on Saturday felt pretty good then final round today to round out the week. Enjoying these zone 2 rides, nice change of pace. Did a little bit of OTS work to spice things up. Going to keep sprinkling these in and do a length progression as I move through traditional base since I really need to keep working on it.
Wanted to do something longer and easier and watch the whole Vuelta stage but ran out of hours in the day, so went with Wright Peak -2 and the last 2 hours of the stage. The ride was very manageable, a sweatfest, but manageable. I considered riding across the 1 min ‘rests’ but stuck with the program.
On to week 2
Nice day so loaded up Antelope (5x10 SS) and went outside. Struggled with a pretty strong headwind going up a 3-4% grade (wears me out). After the third interval, gave in and rode to the top so I could ride the tailwind down to try for a PR. 
(PR 1:24 faster so I guess the wind was stronger than I thought 
)
Realized how tired my legs were during that workout, so glad I scheduled an easy week before finishing the last couple of weeks of SSBMV1. Old guys like me need more recovery. 
It was 2 hours, is about the only positive I can draw…
Thankfully I now have a second monitor hooked up in the shed so I can have YouTube on for some distraction…
I did plenty of outdoor nighttime rides last year to get away from the shed but I know this winter will be more productive staying indoors…
Managed two sessions this weekend. On Saturday it was Elephants + 5
The longest indoor sessions I’ve ever done, really enjoyed it. Managed to keep the pace through each of the intervals.
Sunday was Sugarloaf -1, a very similar workout but shorter,
This was disrupted as the staff in the gym’s kids club needed me to help out with my son. So didn’t quite get to finish one interval as well as finishing the session. Followed this up with a swim.
This wasn’t today, but on Friday I did over five hours gravel ride with 272 W avg. It was a tough training, I just kept grinding at steady watts from the beginning and I increased the effect all the time. The two last hours were about 290-300 W avg. As it is easy to imagine, I was quite done in the end and got cramps in my legs in post ride shower. The best I’ve done before for a that kind of ride was around 250 W - it was 200 km group ride hammerfest in the summer with over 40 kph avg.
My goal next year is to do 300 W for five hours (a bit north of 3,5 W/kg at my healthy weight). Just need to sort out the nutrition strategy for it, now I just had a bottle of sports drink and a couple of müsli bars. And a route planning would be good too, now I had some singletrack in between and I did barely 200 watts there.
Wow! 