Weekly Training Notes #15
Another week that started out disappointing, but ended strongly.
My plan to wait until Wednesday to do my midweek effort ride (with the idea that I'd be extra-fresh) didn't really work; I couldn't even get in 10 minutes of threshold. My legs didn't feel tired or heavy, they just didn't have the power to generate the necessary intensity.
So I decided to do a century ride instead, which went fine but I was still annoyed about not being able to do what I wanted.
However, the weekend went great. On Saturday I went to Savannah and did a strong 3-hour ride. I warmed up with a couple of loops over the big bridge, then joined the (ostensibly) moderate group for the main ride. The pace of the ride ended up being surprisingly high, so I got plenty of higher-intensity work done and felt very good afterwards.
The biggest improvement was my ability to do 90-second to 3-minute anaerobic/VO2max efforts, which I put to good use closing gaps and setting up leadouts for the sprinters. I also stayed strong to the end of the ride which made me happy.
If you climb up the big bridge to Savannah, this view is your reward.
Sunday turned out to be more of the same. The Hilton Head group rides are much better attended over the summer months, and there were enough strong riders this week to keep the pace quite high.
Again, I got in a good range of intensity and even almost won a sprint. I was in the perfect position following a fast run-in, with less than 300m to go when the lead guy peeled off leaving me clear, but although my top speed was decent, someone got a wheel in front with 50m left. I managed a second kick but couldn't quite close it down. But I'm very happy with my performance at this stage of my recovery from my injury; if I complete my recovery and then start working on proper anaerobic intervals, I can get much faster later in the summer.
The lesson I've taken away from this week is that flexibility really is key: I might have two tough midweek training rides scheduled, but if only one of them works out then it's fine to do two at the weekend, rather than one plus a recovery ride. I've just got to keep my overall training load in mind, along with my upcoming ride schedule, and modify things as necessary.
It's the opening weekend of the Nestor Cup next week, and given how much I've improved this weekend I'm quietly confident I can at least put in a couple of decent performances.
Things are looking up.
Designation: In-Season, Build 2 Time: 17 hours | Distance: 488 km | Low:Medium:High Intensity: 70:26:4 Weight Training: 1 x Lower Body, 2 x Upper Body | Walking: 5 km
As ever, if you want more detail follow me on Strava, and see my full training plan.