That was a complete $%^& show. Third failed workout of Specialty, all threshold which is usually my strong suit. I got crap sleep again last night but my legs were toast.
I think there are a number of things going on:
I accepted an AI FTP update right at the end of Build. It was only a 1% increase but it seems to be a huge contributor. I adjusted this workout down 1% and it felt much more doable but the physical and mental damage was already done. I manually adjusted my FTP back to what it was before starting Specialty. AT also adapted the rest of my workouts so hopefully that works.
I don’t understand why all of the steady-state threshold workouts so far have been at 105% FTP - that’s VO2 range in my book and the two VO2 workouts I’ve done as part of this block had intervals at 105%. Combined with the 1% FTP increase that puts the “overs” and steady-state intervals at 106%.
New job (same commute), reduced time to training causing me a little bit of anxiety, failed workouts contributing to the stress, etc. What I’m really starting to realize is that four days of intensity per week (mid volume plan) may be too much for me with everything else that is going on - the hours are manageable but the amount of intensity may be too much. At best I get one Z2 ride per week, which I find mentally relaxing, and three-months of four days per week of flogging is zapping my motivation to train hard. I’m seriously considering dropping to a LV plan and adding in two days of just Z2 rides. I also think I make the Z2 ride harder than it should be (e.g. 0.7 - 0.75 IF vice what TR prescribes at 0.6 - 0.65).
I have a family vacation at the end of next week, which is timed nicely with recovery week. Unfortunately I cannot bring my bike so it will be 7-9 days totally off. On one hand I think I may need the break. On the other it’s adding further stress given that my A event is four weeks after I get back, and I have a LOT of work travel that is going to make sticking to the plan hard (maybe another reason to go LV). The A event is a century ride but with nine major climbs and 10k feet of climbing, which is at least twice what I’ve done on previous climbs. I’m seriously concerned about DNF’ing on a LV plan.
The challenging part of this workout was keeping my cadence up - my first interval was at around 96 rpm which was too easy, kicked it down a gear and the last three were at 106/107 which was much harder to maintain. Due to being influenced by the VO2 Max thread I’m going to do these like it has been mentioned there. High cadence.
Specialty is really kicking my a$$. I really need the rest week starting this weekend when we go on family vacation. I’d love to bring my bike but think 7 days completely off is what I actually need.
Currently in W2 of the HV rolling road specialty plan. PL of 8.1 so not too bummed that I failed this considering I almost got through two of the three sets of interval.
Plan has 2 days of V02, 1 day of Anaerobic, and 1 day pot sweet spot so we will see how I fare with this block!
A trip to the ER derailed any riding plans I had earlier this week… ruptured kidney cyst that turned infected.
Last night was my first time back on the bike and I felt pretty good. I’m still not getting back on my mountain bike until my race Tuesday just to give my kidney a bit more time.
I’ve been taking a break from TR this racing season and just doing AdZ or the Climb Portal when I ride indoors (don’t worry TR folks, I’m an annual subscriber so I’ll see y’all in the fall).
I did my first indoor workout for a while tonight. I missed thrme early train so didn’t get back till near 8pm which gave me just over an hour before it got dark. I probably could have got an outdoor session in with the cool down in the dark but the TdF is on so I decided to watch the Re-live instead and do Goat Citadel indoors instead. I think at the end of the first block I was just getting into the VO2max zone but I let my cadence fall too much during the latter 2 blocks and although I exceeded the power target I don’t think I properly got into the VO2max zone at the end of them Maybe rather than a 22degC corridor I should have went out instead
Oh with it being my first indoors session for a while I never had my fan setup right and I stopped a couple of times in the recovery intervals to adjust them.
Did the workout kick my butt, or I did kick my own butt is the question?
I think I kicked my own but by going out too hard on the first effort. I picked too hard a gear and pushed too hard for the first effort - my HR climbed bloody high, higher and faster than I can recall.
Anyhow, I earned a PR for that first effort with an all time high for 4 minutes and paid for it on the last two intervals. Learned my lesson though, next week I’ll dial it back a touch. Even though I ‘failed’ the workout, I think I benefitted quite a bit - my breathing was through the roof and I question my HR monitor because it was so damn high.
It was forecast thunder and lightning tonight so I gave my apologies and I was going to do my TR planned 1:30 SS workout instead but I decided I’d do a Train now workout instead (knowing it’d probably suggest an endurance ride, which it did, Cheeha). A short while later I was glad there didn’t feel like there was much strength in my legs and I feel like I’m starting to come down with something (hopefully thats just do do with the trainer corridor being 23deg the Lasko fan and the 3 others just didn’t cut the mustard tonight) all the time I was staring out the window waiting for that thunder storm which never came :-/ Annoyingly my shifter cable is fraying again and whilst its actually pulling up the cassette ok (down gears) its snagging and not going into the 3 highest gears which probably would have helped with the cheeha sprints.
Had heavy Thunderstorm warnings for this evenings and the whole day so it was back indoors for a 2x40m Sweetspot session, was actually quite good to do that indoors since I don’t really have a decent loop where I can do 40m without some interruptions. Pretty happy how it went. During the warmup I felt terible the legs felt heavy and during the warmup effort the quads were already complaining, but 5 minutes into the interval I felt good. HR stayed pretty stable for the most part and was only 4 bpm higher for the second interval and felt I could do 10-20min more in the second interval.
Happy Friday everyone.
I grinded this one out this morning and I say grind because that is just what it was with 4x16 at threshold. I made sure to fuel up yesterday and had about 150 grams carbs during this workout. Anyhow, I got through it and it was real challenge. I’m noticing that while I was able to complete the workout within reason, I never felt good during the workout and I haven’t had any good sensations on the bike recently. It is what it is and I’ll be sure to focus on recovery and nutrition as I’m 6 weeks out from my next A event.
I’m calling this workout ‘Red Peril’ - basically, change things up every time you see a red car being driven (parked cars didn’t count or it would have been every couple of seconds). Keeps things interesting, but turned out rather more challenging than I’d anticipated, despite throwing some reasonable stretches of easy pace and walking.
Also requires a bit of strategic planning here and there to avoid getting stuck doing anything too hard or too easy through the stretches where there are hardly any cars.
I hope its all sorted!
Maybe rather than a 22degC corridor I should have went out instead 
