Modified Boarstone (I call it the Boarstone 300, I try to stay over 300 watts for 30+ minutes in the middle of the session)
I did Boarstone today as well, which isn’t too exciting, except when I looked back at my history to compare against an 1.5 hr endurance workout last October and noticed:
- My HR was about 5 BPM lower.
- My power output today would’ve been threshold at my FTP in October.
So, thanks TR team!
I had Mount Goode scheduled for today but also wanted to take advantage of the nice weather to do some recon.
I’d like to take a crack a everesting in under 10 hours, with a stretch goal of 8ish.
I did this on my heavy training bike and a suboptimal but still pretty good route. I felt good throughout, and if I can shave off about 10 lb by switching to a lighter bike and not having accessories like a tube and co2, and find just the right hill, and not having to ride to and from the hill, I think my pacing is on point to be able to do it in 8 to 10:00!
Felt a bit rubbish yesterday - think its the recovery week come down, but still swung a leg over to do White -5 (another TrainNow recommended workout). Felt tougher than I wanted but spent the day recovering well.
This morning I headed out for a coffee ride with a mate. Whilst not strictly a workout, it was a 30km/ circa 1hr ride out to the meetup spot, a 45km loop together and a 30km leg back. I spent the outbound and inbound leg at somewhere near lower end of sweet spot based on my HR I think so it was probably more “productive” than I first thought it might be.
I’ve been trying to do a better job fueling these and I got 15 Clif bloks down for this one (almost 60g/hour, ish?). I think it’s helping but wow did my teeth feel gross afterwards 
Second go at Dade+1 this week after switching power sources as the bike with the pm’s out of order. Did another ramp test the day before with the inride3 and made it past the first interval this time.
Eclipse +3 yesterday (except really just Eclipse):
I’m telling myself this was less of a failure and more of a polite but firm refusal. I really think I had it in me to do all four, but I was so tired and the rest interval felt so hard that I decided to give myself a break and have a better chance of surviving the three 3x30 sessions I have next week. Thanks AT 
Second interval was the end of the men’s Tour of Flanders, so that one flew by!
Junction -1
Last workout of the first part of GB-MV. I pushed it one day for Easter. Missed one of the early AC intervals because of the spiral of death. Had to reduce most of the later intervals to 140% versus 150%. Overall still pleased with this effort. Muscular strength in the legs continues to be my limiter (vice cardio) so I need to keep working on that. Efforts above 140% seems to be good for that, based on how sore my legs are.
I decided to stop living in denial and to take a ramp test and accept the FTP and just trust the process:
So I dropped 18 watts. That explains why endurance rides felt like sweetspot! Lol. It makes sense. My FTP dropped the last couple tests, but I ignored it and kept on because I thought completing the workouts with a higher FTP meant the ramp test was wrong. I think it just meant I am totally capable of overcooking myself. And as it turns out, pushing too much actually made me slower.
So, here I go. Starting over. Trusting Coach Chad and finding that sweetspot feels sweet again:
Took a day off the bike yesterday and brought my Ramp Test forward to today. To say I am pleased with the result is an understatement. I knew I was feeling good and hopeful for some gains but was not expecting quite as much. Closed out with a new FTP of 298w - up from 286w - to put me at 4.6w/kg at the end of my base phase.
Couple of things I did on this last SSBMV2 round that may (or may not of!) contributed:
- I have not had any alcohol for 4 weeks
- I doubled down on making sure I did mobility work and core exercises
- I focused on fuelling in ride better
- I swapped out some of the Sunday planned SSBMV2 workouts for outside free ride/ kitchen sink rides
Super pleased going into Sustained Power Build MV this week. Looking forward to verifying the FTP or making some adjustments accordingly.
Tapped out Pettit straight after to wind down.
Nice job! Congratulations!!
