Well done
Nothing achieved. Day 3 of 7 days. More pizza and ice cream and day on the beach. Few beers tonight also
. Very much mental recuperation before some unstructured training and a structured off season.
Day off today after my first and only 50m TT of the year on Sunday (usually do a fewā¦no time this year with lockdowns in the UK). Still, bloody windy, tough course, but managed a course pb of 2:00:37 according to Stravaā¦way off my pb but that was on a flat drag strip courseā¦this was much hillierā¦pleased with it though even if I missed a sub 2 by a few seconds. Felt I was going well until I was passed by our new National 12 hour TT competition record holder and 6th place finisher at last years Hawaii Ironmanā¦he was in a different time zone to me! ![]()
Well done, and no shame being passed, and well hes not your average Joe is he? ![]()
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Must be on his spare bike after the last one got nicked.
You maybe didnāt see it but the womenās European TT champs were on earlier. The Eurosports commentator were commending a rider on how smooth and fast she was, then Van Vluten appeared, cruised up to her and past her like she was going backwards ![]()
Indeed not and it happened to quickly for me to make any observations about the bike being used! ![]()
Awesome day in the saddle today. Regular Wright Peak kicked my ass a while back and I ended up getting revenge a few weeks ago. Saw the +2 version and decided I needed to show Wright Peakās big brother whoās boss
. So I threw this one on the schedule and crushed it today. Definitely getting super comfortable with longer sweet spot work.
Caught myself getting cocky in the first interval since it was only at 88% FTP, so I checked myself, re-centered, and prepared for the battle ahead. First 3 intervals flew by comfortably. About 5 minutes in to the final one I started getting tired but still felt strong. Last 10 minutes was a bit of a struggle, tackled it 1 minute at a time. Mostly mental fatigue at that point but I wasnāt about to quit that close to the end. Bonus: after 3 1/2 hours in the bars last Sunday and a little over 2 hours today, Iād say I have my aero position pretty well dialed.
Going to finish my over-under progression now, tackle Disaster -1, then get back to sweet spot for 2x 45, 1x 60, 1x 90, and finally going to attempt 2x 60 if all goes well before that. Lot of work ahead but excited to keep pushing my limits.
Firstly, amazing work! That lookd like a killer workout!
Since youāre getting more comfortable with longer efforts, how are you doing with vo2 if youāre doing any of those workouts? I find that as I get better at longer sweet spot and threshold my vo2 capabilities are getting worse and worse.
Also, what percent are you going to do those long SS intervals at?
My custom (ripped-off) version of The Sufferfestās Nine Hammers, ridden (via Zoom) with some mates doing the authorised version. This is a pretty brutal affair, so suffering in company is good and I was pleased to get through and even nail the last minute at 135% FTP.
Thanks! I was really stoked it went so well.
For VO2 work itās kind of use it or lose it. Because of where Iām at in my training cycle thereās much less VO2 work, which has been replaced with Supra-threshold stuff. So Iām pretty comfortable around 105%. Back in June on the other hand I was doing full distance base so there was a lot of VO2. I also did a VO2 micro-block (6 x VO2 sessions in 2 weeks) which raised my aerobic ceiling quite a bit. After that I felt really good about VO2. But as I mentioned that went away when I shifted focus towards more race specific training zones. Iāll finish out sweet-spot and threshold (about to start 40k specialty) then itās back to short power over the winter to hopefully raise my ceiling some more. I know the transition will be rough at first since my muscles have adapted to 105% and below, much like it was going from VO2 to Supra-threshold (kind of a weird no-manās land that shouldnāt be as hard as it is). Thatās part of the dance though. Important to cycle through different energy systems throughout the year in order to become a more well-rounded athlete.
For the sweet spot intervals Iāll probably settle on 90%. Really anywhere in the sweet spot range will do the trick but I feel like that is a solid middle-ground thatās not too easy and not too hard. Nice and easy to settle in for the long haul at that output.
I used to do much more vo2 and it was my jam! Now on the sustained build plan there is one a week getting progressively harder but Iām not getting progressively better at them
going to attempt bashful +1 that I failed previously, although the week before bashful was a piece of cake!
Nonetheless, Iām getting much better at my sustained power which is much more important to me. I may try some 90% long intervals!
Haku, which ended up not going that well, I pulled the pin in the 5th sprint and exited out of the workout rather ungracefully. Iāve been struggling to get back onto the structure wagon for some time now. I took a month off and ājust rode my bikeā in July, which was awesome. Iāve been trying to get back in, lots of temptation though. Iām happy with where my swim is, the pace is appalling, but at least Iām going twice a week, which is something. Running is meh, and cycling, when not done outdoors with friends, is meh also⦠for now nothing else but try to get back into a rhythm and look forward.
Heading into Century Specialty. Decided to ride this train to the end of the line.
I distinctly remember the TR gang saying how Build enables you to āflexā during Specialty. The only thing that flexed during this workout was my will to live!
6x5mins @105% been there, done that, I thought. By the end of the second interval I realised that I hadnāt ādoneā this and I have no interest in ever doing it again ![]()
I love this workout. It is never not fun, it never has me watching the clock waiting for the interval to be over. Tried the last interval at 60-75rpm, way lower than I usually go, inspired by @bbarrera. Hard to keep it steady at that speed!
I am not at all missing the misery that is suprathreshold, not gonna lie
Mount Major +3
Hard because of the length and short recoveries but do-able.
Didnāt hit the max wattage prescribed for the 10 sec sprints.
Not too bothered , I only have 1 fast twitch fibre, and thatās in my right (stronger leg).
I knew before I started this that 5he power target was going to be a struggle to achieve so from the off I was at 98%. I did the 2nd set at 90% and then the final one somewhere in between. At no point did I believe I was cooked enough to quit and knew I was getting something out of continuing. The endurance section was done at 100%.
I did Wright Peak -2 on Sunday at a new FTP (which I completed fully) but feel that there was some residual fatigue. Iām on Short Ppwer Build MV and will be spreading out this weeks workouts to give me more recovery time.
Another Zwift Race Under/Over session ![]()
Do enough Zwift races and it makes you appreciate those little rests @65%ftp between intervals!
Race started with the usual hard effort, for me that was an average of 410W over two minutes with the middle minute hitting and average of 440w⦠ended up with x38 all time PRs between 30-50 minutes. Elastic snapped with 3 laps to go, same place as last week, but I was 30 seconds faster this week for the 8 volcano laps.
Another āfunā session!










