Week 4 – Feeling the cold
After a big weekend at the end of last week, I really needed Monday off.
Some days after a rest day you wake up and try and convince yourself you are rested, recovered and ready to tackle it all again. Well Tuesday was exactly what I just described. I got up and said to myself, you can get this done, but it was a real struggle. It was designed to be 6 x 3min at 120-130% FTP. By half way through Interval 3 I knew I was in real trouble. As a result I could not complete the session. One of the things about a key session is you need to be well recovered to realise the quality and the full beenfit. I received a toweling. Completely smashed. Not a motivating start to the week
Wednesday caught up with Athlete Adam Hinds for a recovery ride and chat. Not a tough session, by any means. More a case of roll the legs over with a bit of purpose, and just as importantly. have a chat. To be honest its probably more about the chat. I also got the chance to do an awesome stretch while watching Shrek with my little one in the afternoon. I felt about as flexible as Shrek to be honest.
Threshold Thursday was not targeted as a key session, however it became important to bounce back from Tuesday’s bomb of a VO2 Max session. Now while I was really tired, I handled these efforts comfortably. Not banana lounge, drinking beer comfortable, but still comfy. The key to these sessions is the short 1 min recover between the two 7min threshold pyramids. These effectively make the Super sets a 14min intervals. Solid stuff.
So I had earned a rest day on Friday, but it was anything but at the shop. I only arrived at lunch time and was on the go all day. Not the day my legs were craving. Looking at the weather for the weekend we decided not to run a Zwift Session this week on Saturday morning.
Saturday was forecast for great weather. Perhaps our last great weekend weather before we enter the grip of winter. I just could not let this chance go. So I dusted off all the warmer kit I had to go. Slapped on some Goanna Oil. Popped on the lights and rolled out from the shop with 9 other hardy souls.
The other guys were headed for Emerald, while I was completing our Summer Saturday Shop Ride loop. I worked reasonably hard on the climb at just under threshold, but felt comfortable enough to say, I had much more left in the bank. Positive sign, that I am on the return. An easy roll down the back side of the mountain and return to work for a coffee. Stunning morning!
With social distancing rules, relaxed a little I decided to head down and train with CCW Ambassador Dale Maizels. Dale had created a gravel loop for us. I was hoping for 2 hours of nice endurance riding. It was great to be out (though cold) and really motivated. That was until we hit Waterfall Gully Rd. There is no room for endurance effort on the pig of a gravel climb. It gets that steep, they had to put down bitumen so cars could get up it. That was all over soon enough.
A very pleasant next sector of our ride on some beautiful trails. Followed by some good tempo riding back to our starting point and a coffee shop. Now let’s just stop and say “People we still need to practice social distancing and being a road cyclist I know what 1.5m is and you were definitely not at 1.5m!” I felt like I was shoulder to shoulder in a bunch sprint as I queued up for a coffee. However didn’t let it ruin a great morning ride.
Hoping next week to have some exciting new components for the Cervelo Aspero. Super excited based on all I’ve heard about these new products.
Wait to see 😉
