During the pre-race announcements, the Army Chief of Staff specifically stated that the Secretary of the Army is the one who made the decision to keep the Army Ten Miler despite the shutdown. They also had an additional week to assess the lay of the land, whereas it sounds like the Freedom Runs didn’t have that much time to make a decision / arrangements.
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A quick spin down thru the park to make sure the new chain is not threaded over the rear derailleur tab
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That clicking sound is just the bones
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Casper the Ghost of Nokesville // MTI 4x8
Prince William and Faquier Counties, VA, USA
Got a solid ride in while my high schooler ref’d some soccer games. Beautiful weather - high 40s F at the start, 60s by the end. Over-dressed a bit at the beginning with an Ornot thermal long-sleeve jersey and Micro Climate jacket. Ended up taking the jacket off 15 minutes in. Should have either forgone the jacket altogether or gone with a mid-weight LS jersey. I ditched the buff and cap with about an hour to go. +1 for layering! Did some low cadence work, too.
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I go out quite a bit in just a mesh base layer and the microclimate jacket. It’s nice because if you get too hot you can just unzip half way and still have the base layer, but it sucks if you feel the need to completely remove the jacket.
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I never thought to use just the Micro Climate Jacket and a base layer. I bought the jacket last fall while on sale and really haven’t used it much (mainly because I’m becoming a wimp about the cold). It was super warm and cut the wind down substantially. I really have no excuse to not ride outside in the cold with it.
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MTI 5x7
Anacostia Park, Washington, DC, USA
Pretty windy from the north, so I shifted the start of the intervals such that I was pushing against the wind for as long as possible. Reminded me of riding in Florida - nearly pan flat with the wind acting as ‘hills.’ Worked well.
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Hiked the Rattlesnake Gulch loop with my wife yesterday. The trail starts in Eldorado Canyon State Park and leads to a beautiful view of the Continental Divide. Georgous weather, and gave us a chance to get out of the 40mph gusts we’ve had the last few days in Boulder Colorado.
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On Saturday I did what I coined an inverse sprint duathlon (ride, run, ride). Basically involved riding into town to Parkrun, running it, then riding back. I was visiting family out in the country, & it seemed a bit luxuriant to drive when I could ride, considering there was nothing else I was going into town for. Unfortunately I misjudged the distance from their house at Ballandean to Stanthorpe by a few km. Turned a nice Z2 commute on back roads into a tempo ride on the highway. 
Got there in the nick of time (unfortunately didn’t get to do a full costume change) & did the run.
(Pic nicked from the run’s facebook page)
Headed back a different way, spun out my top gear twice on the descents from Eukey.
And here’s something. I thought I was putting out a fairly consistent effort. Adrenaline definitely reduces RPE. Little wonder I have zero interest in training inside when my power is proportional to speed: 
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Had a 1 hour of endurance ride in “gravelsome Bulgaria”. With heavy modified Bulgarian Drag gravel bike. Explored trails I haven’t been in like more than 10 years.
Of
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I took advantage of the unseasonably mild and dry weather to do my Z2 workout (Pioneer-3) outside at lunchtime. Being it was extremely windy I headed into East Northamptonshire to do it. Given its a little hillier and the wind I ended up going slightly out of zone for 11mins though. The exposed descent into Glatton in the 21mph side wind felt a little sketchy. The flat Holme Road with it mainly behind me though was fun.
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A bit wetter today but still mild so for my Z2 session today (Black) I did a couple of loops of Conington Airfield.
I used the fully guarded winter/commuter bike which has no power meter so I just done it on RPE/HR alone. Annoyingly, there was workouts at the top of Holme Road. On the way south, I arrived at the right time (just after NB traffic had cleared) and sailed through. But on the way North I got stuck behind a queue of traffic and it didn’t feel right to push and RLJ through the coned off area. And given I was there that long more traffic formed behind me, so I was a little harder than Z2 through there 
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First gravel ride since we’ve relocated from Texas to Washington. Soooo much climbing here, I absolutely love it! Today was over 5000’ in 42 miles. Perfect weather, scenery, gravel, and route. About 85% gravel. Very few cars. I met a guy out here (he reached out on Reddit) and he’s been a blast to ride with. He’s in his late 50’s and is a crazzzzy strong rider. Light years ahead technically and stronger overall (I’m just shy of 4 w/kg) so it’s been great to have someone to ride with. I’m normally a very very solo rider, but he’s been great company and we’re on similar wavelengths ride-wise
With these hills, trying to stay in Z2 is not that appealing 
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Busy weekend just gone. Riding with a friend at the Forest on Saturday focusing on technical descents, but like all rides with my fast friends, it was a bit of a brute in work terms with over an hour in threshold heart rate and 8 minutes in VO2 over the 2.15 hr riding time. In power terms is was everything that an unstructured ride always is, 17 minutes anaerobic, 13 mins VO2, 17 mins threshold and so on. Heart rate was high for the effort because I have lost fitness over a bit of an off season…..but it was nice to still be climbing steep stuff well at the end of the ride and I got loads out of the descending as well as the obvious social connection and time somewhere beautiful. It was a worthwhile ride, even if it left me knackered the next day.
Sunday my coach had stuck a 3 hr z2 with 10 x 80 percent sprints in the calendar, thank goodness! It felt like hard work at the start but fine one i warmed up (as evidenced by the negative heart rate drift).
Then in the afternoon I had a long walk with a friend, did a load of chores, and then had to go and play hide and seek on the local hill. You know when you say you are going to do something and then kind of regret committing? It was pouring with rain, I was shattered and I just wanted to lie on the sofa. As it was, it was brilliant. The hiders (including me) were on foot and had an hour and 20 minutes to run, hide and then slowly make their way to the top of the hill without getting caught by a seeker…the seekers were on electric bikes. Such a fun format and pretty tactical. It involved a lot of walking around in the dark trying not to trip over, sitting still in the pouring rain in camo gear (I was so tired I was more than happy to do this) before scrambling up the hill dodging the lights of the seekers 
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Love the idea of this! 
Though if it were me I’d be likely to roll one of these weak cyclist ankles.
Okay here we go. I’ve been quiet lately because I just moved interstate. I handled my training by scheduling my recovery week around the move, & allowing myself a bit of slack re missed workouts during that week. This is what it ended up looking like:
And on the map:
Wednesday morning the 5th I did a 5k around the suburb…
Then had breakfast & got on the bike for my usual 2-hour Z2 loop, emulating Freeborn.
Gym in the afternoon nearby my usual Wednesday evening kirtan where I said goodbye to some friends (at the kirtan, not the gym; I’m fairly anonymous at the gym 
).
Thursday 6th was packing the car (which took waaaay longer than I thought it should’ve 
) & cleaning the room & the bathroom. Some things that I wasn’t taking with me didn’t make it to storage that day, so would have to be stored the next morning on the way out.
Friday 7th was the first big drive. Red line on the map: Brisbane to Dubbo. Departed Brisbane 5:20 & got to my airbnb at Dubbo at 17:30. 11h10’ & 854 km. (NSW has DST but Qld does not.) After the drive I just felt like chilling out, & Dubbo is a small city, whose streets & surrounding country roads are unfamiliar to me, so I didn’t want to risk it, & I allowed myself to skip a workout.
Sat 8th was the second big drive. Blue line on the map: Dubbo to Geelong (where the Spirit of Tasmania ferry now docks). I headed off at 6:20, & was just in time for Parkrun at Parkes, at 8am.
About 10 kids in front of me, none of them high school age by the look of it, tore off off at great speed. I looked at my watch & thought, either these kids are mega-fit & running an 18-minute hilly 5k, -or- typical for their age this is completely unsustainable & somebody needs to teach these whipper-snappers about pacing! It turned out to be the latter. I reeled each one of them in within the first kilometre & scored this in 21’12".
Back on the road, eventually skirted around Melbourne in the rain, got to Geelong around 18:00. About 11 hours again & 896km. Actually, the south side of the city, where I’d uncovered a criterium track in my brief investigations months before. The rain had stopped. Check-in on the ship didn’t close until 21:15. I had a 1½h workout I wouldn’t mind doing. I mused over my packed dinner & the weather radar map. Put on some kit, took the bike off the carrier, lubed the chain, & set off emulating Autore, starting with a recon of the big lap during my warmup. The northern section of track contains a sharp rise necessitating a chainring change each way for me to remain in high Z2 (I could use the middle ring all the way for Z1 or low Z2), so for the high Z2 work periods I did a short lap using only the southern section of track.
About one minute into the cooldown some very light rain started falling again, & I was barely 50 metres from a shortcut in the track, right next to the carpark, so I canned the workout right then & there. Very fortunate. Could only have been timed better if I’d got back to the car before the rain started.
Quite a bit cooler than I was used to. Still, summer kit was fine for the riding itself, but I did start to feel cold during the process of racking the bike back on the car. 12°C & 35kph/22mph winds from the south.
Drove the 12km to the ferry terminal, boarded for the overnight sail (yellow line: 448 km in 10½h), arrived at Devonport Sunday morning the 9th, disembarked around 8:30, went to the gym, drove to Hobart, saw an old friend, drove down to Cygnet to the house of a friend who’d kindly let me crash on her couch for a couple of nights, & finally felt like I’d landed after today’s 369 km. The grand total of driving over 3 consecutive days was 2131 km / 1324 mi.
Since then I’ve been airbnb-ing back at Hobart whilst awaiting the availability of another cycling friend’s granny flat, & started a custom training plan for the first time (currently General Base MV) whilst reacquainting myself with some of my old haunts.
Tuesday was Izaac Walton -3 on the Nelson Rd “Bends” where I used to live, plus a short run along the main road near the shoreline (Sandy Bay Rd).
Then, true to form, I started fiddling with the calendar. 
Wednesday was Saturday’s Hunter -4 at the track where in years gone past I’d done a lot of sustained Z2 & long sweetspot intervals. That day I decided to cut down the recoveries to 5 minutes. 10 seemed a little excessive. Hard because of fatigue, to be expected the day after threshold. Then a gym workout later in the day.
Thursday was Wednesday’s Jumba Kang. I decided to just pin it at the high water mark of 62% instead of dropping to 55% when specified. Done as a couple of laps of Sandy Bay Rd.
Then a 10k in the evening, also on Sandy Bay Rd, finishing at a pizza shop.
Friday was on the bends again for Thursday’s Antelope. Love it when my friends talk 
Then checked out of one airbnb & into another.
Yesterday (Sat 15th) was an audax ride. I’d initially wanted to do the 200k BRM calendar ride, but I realised, rain was forecast from about 10am onwards in the area & I’m not yet set up to do a full strip-down, clean, re-lube/re-grease/re-whatever, so I drove up there for the 60k Permanent recommended in conjunction with the event.
Controls at the turnaround points were simply where the asphalt ended, so photos were stipulated on the brevet card.
Through a short tree tunnel. Love these! 
Southern turnaround:
The first time this year I’ve worn a long-sleeved jersey on a bike!
Northern turnaround:
As usual, I treated it like a training ride. The calendar was saying do 3h & accumulate 133 TSS. I rifled through the workout catalogue looking for 44 TSS per hour, came across Klahane Ridge at .67 IF, so just pinned it there. Overshot a little, naturally dropped power at the turnaround points so I could rip my phone out for photos, but I think I did alright with all the undulations.
The rain didn’t come, but regardless, I was glad to just get back & land in the new [temporary] place.
Back home, changed my shorts but left my cycle jersey on (I saw no sense in dirtying another shirt) & went back out for a 5k.
Gym in the afternoon then a function at my local bike shop to commemorate the retirement of its owner & the sale of the shop to its new owner. The same people who invited me to dinner when I was a Christmas Orphan. 
I won’t see them in the shop but I might get to see them on bikes more. Bittersweet.
Today (Sun 16th) I felt a bit dissatisfied that my prescribed 3h Solo Ride on the calendar had only been a fraction over 2h, so I headed out again to the track to do some laps at 60%. Some cricket players & groundstaff were arriving for the game that was starting around 10. After about 50’ of going around in circles I left the track & headed north on the cycleway. I was conscious of the heavy clouds so turned around well before the locality of Bagdad which was my usual turnaround. Did fairly well to stay in the zone except of course where nature called. 
For reference, “P2P” that I referred to in the description today & on Thursday, is “Point to Pinnacle” that was run today. It claims the title of “The world’s toughest half-marathon”, climbing Kunanyi / Mt Wellington at 1260m above sea level, from Wrest Point Casino, mere metres above sea level. It was very misty up at altitude! 
Also offered on the day was “Point to Pub”, a 10k run from the casino up to the Fern Tree Tavern, somewhere around 400m above sea level.
Happy with that week’s workouts, so I’ll have me my donut on my next LSD workout. 
Really enjoyed saying goodbye to my training routes at Brisbane & reacquainting myself with my training routes around Hobart. The familiarity of it all gives me a better feeling of being home. 
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Congrats on the big move. I was going to say that’s a lot of hours driving, but then I saw all the exercise on top of packing and moving, and realized you’re a serious overachiever who can do 11 hours behind the wheel with ease!
Seriously though, that’s a huge week of events and stress. You definitely earned that donut!!
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Haha, thanks. It’s closer to two weeks. And it is a lot of driving. I used to drive buses & they were pretty big hours at times. But yeah, two 10-hour days in that job & I was pretty cooked. Also because my parents moved away from their families before I was born, it was nothing for me to be bundled into the car & driven for seven hours, six times a year.
Also I haven’t been working for this time, I’d spent a few weeks beforehand filling boxes, & it was a solo move, so that lessens the other stressors. This move itself was towards the end of the reco week & it’s taken me a week to surface. I start a job one week from now so it’ll be interesting to watch the TSS chart. 
The job is part-time, fully sedentary, & not customer facing but the challenge will be in scheduling with weather etc.. Don’t want to succumb to an indoor trainer but I accept it as a possibility.
When focussed I can be a bit of an overachiever, yes. More is more, maximum recoverable dose, haha. The custom plan wanted me on 6 days a week but I’ve actually dialled it back to 5, because I know myself, I’m going to want to add on more. 
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