The weather got annoying last week & I was itching to do some work because I thought I should. Then I realised I’ve been going hard on the structure for about a year without any meaningful break, so I thought it was time to just have some fun, doing structure only when it fits & when I feel like it. So let’s call these “maintenance.”
After successfully fitting in 5-minute supra-threshold intervals in between the locked gates at each end of the forestry road two weeks ago, I thought I’d try some 6-minute sweetspot intervals. Picked Monitor +5. The wind today was WSW which evened out the speeds. (Normally the winds are southerly which means northbound passes are shorter.) Success! Also, when the rests are under about 3 minutes for long interval workouts I typically end up drowning in fatigue. But this time it felt much more doable. Almost comfortably so.
Phone in the top tube bag again, decided to estimate targets as block intervals rather than try to follow the sloping targets watt-for-watt: first four at 94%, next two at 91%, remaining five at 92%. It’s really surprising how much easier 91% is than 94%, despite that they’re so close on paper.
Failed. I’m somewhat new and doing the Masters Low Volume Build.
A little discouraging, but I think there is a quirk in the software that made it throw a challenge at me that was too much of a stretch. This is becoming a pattern, with the treshold (Sweetspot, Over/Under) workouts, so I am considering overriding the automated choices with something I can do for an hour plus.
I’m trying to be patient because I feel as though I do fine on competitive group rides.
Maybe in future you use the ‘Alternates’ function sometimes to select an 'Achievable work out or a ‘Productive’ one that doesn’t step up as much in PL.
Definitely consider getting in touch with tech support, I’m pretty sure TR doesn’t want its subscribers getting dispirited by the frequent failing of workouts selected by TR.
Still not on a plan… might start something next week, & I wanted to test my legs with the familiar 3×20’ format to see whether or how much my fitness had dropped during my month of riding just how I felt. I got off the ferry this morning & drove straight to the undulating velodrome here to give Galena a go.
Felt manageable actually, if you ignore that power was a bit around the target. (Again blaming the undulations. ) Only 23% spent in SS, but adding in the 25% spent in threshold makes the numbers look better. I’ve probably dropped some fitness; the first workout after a duration of recovery probably shouldn’t’ve feel that hard. I guess I’ll find out in a couple of days when I try a threshold workout on my street so I can start reclaiming local legends wreaths.
RPE was pretty high during the first set. Fought through an extra set … jury is still out on whether that was a good idea or not. Second night in a row of poor sleep. Hoping to catch up tonight, but that was the plan last night, too, but life happened.
First WO in a couple of weeks; 2 weeks ago I had a bad reaction to the new CT scan dye and rested, and last week was a recovery week and I rode outdoors. Given that as expected the plan adapted down to a low level VO2 max session, Sleeping Beauty -4 (PL=1.5). On Sunday it was great weather so I popped a ton (easy round here it’s pretty flat) so it made Monday yellow. But going for a 3mile walk on Monday made today yellow too and the plan wanted to adapt down to Recess -1 (a level 1, 30min recovery ride). Given the VO2 max wo was low level though I rejected it. I didn’t quite push into the VO2 max oxygen zone and could have done with another interval or two to push into it, so I think I did the right thing rejecting the recovery ride.
Yesterday was first day of our local crit which attracts some pretty big hitters ( in the past guys like silvan dillier and Mauro Schmid rode the A race) .
Did the B race which is 25 minutes and 3 laps. Made the mistake of relying on someone to close gap in the first 2 laps and when I reacted it was to late and couldn’t close it. Not surprised since I did no anerpbic work and It is not my strength. After getting lapped I was able to stay in the pack. One of the women will be on the track at the Olympics and was super strong… had fun
Afterwards I rode for a bit wanted to threshold my local hills but after the first the road was closed because of an accident and I didn’t want to do hill repeats. So I just rode a flat route.
It’s almost a month since I did threshold work (Tweed +9 on April 29) so I was taking things conservatively today. Had my eye on Warlow which is 5×9’/6’ but I loaded up the -1 which is essentially one less 9’ interval, with a view to reviewing how I felt after the four intervals & maybe doing a fifth. Still felt good (relatively!) so I went for it. Got through it all feeling not too hammered so I know where to go from now. I only get the points for the -1 but that’s alright, the work is done & that’s what counts. I’ll get the points next week when I extend from there.
Then went for another 1h45’-ish endurance ride up to Granton & back. Targeted ~70%, averaged 71% for the 1½h work period with some freewheeling/stops at road crossings, VI 1.02. Associated with Perkins -2.
That was brutal. Workout called for four hours of endurance with 2.x20 tempo in the middle, which I bumped up to sweet spot.
Weather looked like it was going to rain so I opted to ride on the trainer. We have family visiting for the week so I closed my closet door so as to not disturb them. Even with my Lasko on the highest setting it got up to mid-70s F and 80% relative humidity.
I also didn’t fuel correctly. I ended up taking in one bottle of carbs and a rice cake over the first two hours, plus some additional water. I should have taken at least two bottles and maybe a gel before the sweet spot intervals (same carb load, just faster absorption), and saved the rice cake for after. I was cooked by the three-hour mark, slogged my way to the top of the Alpe, and spun at 40% downhill to the jungle waterfall to at least get a metric century out of it.
Oh, and it was sunny when I got off the trainer. Looks like the rain petered out over the Appalachians and never made it here. Oh well.
Seriously thinking of Strava-ing next time I go out to a nightclub. After the 3h45’ endurance ride Saturday morning, I went out for about 6 hours on Saturday night from 9:30. Felt sore on Sunday after sleeping, legs still feel a bit fatigued today (Monday). Data from my Garmin watch suggests that I racked up about 15k steps on the dance floor, & it certainly feels like I did a workout!
I’d picked up the dreaded 'rona when I was out last Saturday dancing in the petri-dish, & RHR was back to baseline Saturday morning so I decided last night it was time to push some pedals. Raining so I stayed inside. Probably best to be at home anyway, just in case… well firstly if I was still shedding the live virus (I think I’m done but still going to test), but also in case I had one of those catastrophic shutdowns like some have had where they push ever so slightly too hard then can’t walk up a flight of steps for two months, then at least I wouldn’t have to struggle home. I’ve had the virus before & no issues coming back but there’s no telling which variant I caught this time.
So I did the super-easy Recess -5 with my M-force/Assioma Duo pedals on a spinbike I’d found on somebody’s trashheap. I’m used to a ~150mm Q-factor & this is 243mm!
HR was 5-10 bpm higher for the same output than I was expecting. Could possibly be that I was spinning my legs faster to get in the zone on this spinbike with its coarse resistance settings. Could also be the virus aftermath. RPE was higher. Could be same, or could be because I was on a spinbike & going nowhere. (I find that, with all other things equal, my RPE tends to vary inversely proportional to my velocity. )
Last week as expected with last Holiday Monday being an extra cycling day (instead of a rest day) my plan adapted down and I just substituted my Tuesday commute for a recovery workout. With no VO2max workout todays workout was labelled a Stretch, Gendarme -2 (2 Blocks of 15no 30/30s @125%). I expected it to adapt down to something productive but it never so I had a go. I think the first block went OK but I should have ignored the instructions for the 2nd block to mix up (stand up, low cadence etc). I think they were mostly power efforts and never pushed into the VO2max oxygen zone much until the last interval when I returned to a high cadence effort.
pre-riding a course for the upcoming MTB race on my single speed;
doing a prescribed anaerobic workout indoors;
endurance/recovery ride on my gravel bike.
I think I’ve made the right decision, marking this week as a week off on TrainerRoad. Because even though I wanted to do all of the above, what I really need right now is a good old reboot. It may sound stupid, but I feel sort of proud of myself for making that call. It feels as if someone called me a chicken, and I had the power of will not to react.
) Only 23% spent in SS, but adding in the 25% spent in threshold makes the numbers look better. I’ve probably dropped some fitness; the first workout after a duration of recovery probably shouldn’t’ve feel that hard. I guess I’ll find out in a couple of days when I try a threshold workout on my street so I can start reclaiming local legends wreaths. 
so I know where to go from now. I only get the points for the -1 but that’s alright, the work is done & that’s what counts. I’ll get the points next week when I extend from there.
I’ve had the virus before & no issues coming back but there’s no telling which variant I caught this time.
