Did Boarstone -1 (+ an extra hour to push it out to 3hrs) this morning. Doing more of a Polarized training approach for this current 4 week block and this Endurance one slots right in between the VO2 sessions. Kept my heart rate and power in the right zones for this one.
Watched an episode of The Umbrella Academy. Pondered life. Listened to Fast Talk podcast about fasted training. Had Zwift going in the background for a bit of mental stimulation.
3 hours on the trainer is a challenge mentally for me. Right at the upper limit of my ability to control my sanity. First hour I am flying. Second hour I am thinking about breakfast. Third hour I am losing my mind. But, I always feel good when I get it done.
A few of the Fast Talk podcasts talk about the important of Endurance sessions that are around 3 hours long for mitochondrial biogenesis and a few other physical adaptations e.g. substrate utilization etc. So, I trust the process, and the process is definitely getting results!
Still havenât ramped, so this was kind of cheating but still pretty satisfying to finish. The OTS drills are great to break up that middle interval but holy cow do the cadence changes hurt in erg mode. Should have shifted gears, that would have given me a couple seconds spin back up before the resistance kicked back in.
Good olâ Baxter fasted today. Heart rate was high for this one so it appears Iâm still fighting off that cold from last weekend. Havenât spent much time in the bars this week so I decided to go aero for the middle third. Damn I love my aero position. Is that weird? Virtual 1 mile run tomorrow morning to wrap the down week.
Comeback attempt 2: Donât know whatâs going on at the moment. I usually use this one to wake up the legs after some recovery - not too easy, not super hard. But today I only just made it past 30 mins. After some Z2 recovery I did the final 10 or 11 mins, which still felt pretty hard.
Happy finishing this one. I preemptively dialed it to 115 from 120%, I think I could have done this at 118% just to make it that much more painful and at my limit but having this tough but doable is a win. This is technically last weeks workout for CX specialty HV but I redid one last week. Either way, glad to have a week off of this type of thing lol
On my side, O/U havenât been that much of an issue before. Iâm probably carrying more fatigue than I thought.
Letâs see. Recovery week starting Monday
Nevada City Classic +2. Couldnât make it through the last 9 âlapsâ of this race sim. Really thinking that I should drop my FTP because the last several weeks of workouts I have done, I have not been able to match the power very well. Iâd rather make it all the way through each workout than fail to reach the end each time.
Like today, I couldnât even push endurance watts to fill the rest of the time. My heart and legs just said NOPE. Lots of variables to weigh in this one but ultimately I think it is more over reaching than anything else if my body is just telling me no so emphatically.
Suppose to be Z2 ride but I wanted to check the legs and that turned into FTP test. New FTP - 312 W. Could hold it longer but honestly I was not prepared for the test today
3 hours of lower aerobic endurance work. Endurance is improving but rising temps and lack of riding caused me to reduce power in 2nd half. North wind started blowing smoke, reduced power even more at end to keep respiration low and avoid breathing the air. Over 9.5 hours completed this week, another 1+ on calendar for tomorrow.
2x25 at 90% on the calendar today. Climbed the Alpe on Zwift to start ticking off more trips for my masochist badge, and maybe one day not get the the f%*#ing glovesâŚ
The plan was to just cruise to the top after both intervals, but baby did not nap as long as anticipated (like she does when I want to ride!), so I just kept going at SS pace to get it done faster. Ended up doing 1x25 and 1x42min and didnât even feel too challenging. Breathing wasnât labored, legs didnât feel heavy!
Of course, Iâm continuing to sing the praises of the TTE test
This was an attempt to âpush throughâ my current malaise, as this workout again tends to âbreak me inâ so I feel ready for some work. Sadly, it was grim⌠was ready to quit after 20 mins, and that didnât change til 120 mins. Despite that, completing it is a good sign, as most people would probably agree itâs not an easy workout.
Ramp test for me at end of SSBLV 1&2. FTP up to 245 from 229. 5% bump, now at 3.5 W/kg. This structure training seems to work - whoâda thunked it?
Virtual 1 mile run tomorrow morning to wrap the down week.
- happy with the results at 63kg this morning
