Week 9 – Who’s bloody idea was this anyway!! What a bloody week.
After two tough weeks of block two, I spent much of Monday asking myself, “Why in the hell did you decide to do this during the busiest period of bicycle retail/servicing EVER?”. Yeah we have been insanely busy and in parallel I have decided to amp up training for a big event. Obviously a glutton for punishment. It was obvious there was a fair bit of lingering fatigue coming into the week, but by the end of Monday’s Rest Day I was ready to step into the boxing ring and go another round.
Tuesday morning is a tough tough session. It’s a great way to start the week. It really gets the week up and running….. and then ‘technology’ kicks you in the groin. I couldn’t get my Wahoo Bolt to talk to my Kickr successfully. Not an ideal way to kick off the week. However with some fumbling around, eventually I got up and running on Zwift for a series of 90sec 130% FTP intervals. Fortunately I had a very patient training partner for the day, who ignored all the ‘Four-letter’ words I was using in frustration. Well usually the shoe is on the other foot.
Wednesday is my favourite day of the week. Its Daddy-Daughter Day for me. I try to get any training done before my little cherub is out of bed, but because I am so tired I needed the sleep in more. In fact I can’t remember being this tired EVER. I managed to take some time out at the local bike park with a packed lunch, my daughter, her bike and her grandparents. My daughter is riding so well and really enjoying it, but it is definitely time for her to get off training wheels. Its too hard to really through the bike around in her VO2 training sessions. LoL. On returning home I managed to get in a sneaky 40mins of aerobic work on the trainer.
Thursday – what a bloody disaster. I decided to train at the shop, as I often do before work. From a time efficiency perspective, it’s just much easier. Anyway, on arrival at the shop, I discovered we had been broken into just 30 mins before I arrived. I hate thieves! Bastards! They had smashed in through the back door and stole a road bike. Mentally I was not in the right head space to do a training session. So furious, I spent much of the day trying to organise getting the situation addressed. Fix back door, police and insurances. All time not very well spent.
Friday I really needed a change of scenery. What better than a Yarra Valley Smashfest! All round great bloke and CCW Ambassador, Jason Halls, had a new CCW GraVelo loop he wanted to explore and I volunteered to tag along with him. The route would take us from the shop on our regular CCW Thursday GraVelo loop to Lilydale and on to Yering. From there we would head into the Yarra Valley via St.Hulberts Lane. Then it was some real adventure ahead. We would then be heading, on gravel roads (listed as a dead end), through some vineyards and on to Waramate Forest before returning via the Warby rail trail, to Lilydale and back to Croydon.
Well let’s just say we were on from the first pedal stroke. Jason might state otherwise, but he was coming off some significant time in the saddle. All the way out to Yering, we were punching into a block headwind. The sort of headwind that when you are chatting side by side, well you just can’t hear what the other person is saying most of the time. A right turn, a cross wind and it was a chance to check out the new Zipps 303-S in the crosswinds. Well, if they weren’t one of the most stable bloody wheels I have ever ridden. They accelerated up to speed with so much ease and they climbed really well. I’d hate to think how I would have got through the ride without them. At the end I haven’t felt that empty for such a long time. I could not stop eating!! Better fuel management on the ride required – me thinks!
Saturday well after yesterday’s ride my body was smashed. There was not going to be any extra session I had scheduled for Saturday. I still had a commitment to our great bunch we have on our indoor rides. They are a really nice bunch. Well lets just say that the shop ride was a real struggle. It was the first time I was saying thank goodness for the rubberband, that helps those at the back.
Sunday I was really feeling the efforts of Friday’s ride with Jason. My ability to hold sweetspot efforts was a successful as a bloke trying to empty a sinking boat with a sieve. It was always going to end in tears. Suffice to say. I got one set of Sweetspot done and 2 sets of the four sprint efforts done, before I got into some stocktake at work.
I have not recorded recovery week for a few reasons, but the principle one is that I did not fully recover and therefore did not complete the FTP at the end of that week. Look toward Week 11 and the FTP test ahead once I am carrying less fatigue.
