Still Progressing

 I rounded out the final long stage of the Tour de Zwift the week before last, with a cracking ride. 90mins at threshold. Beautiful. Finished the run version the following day with a ramped effort, 6.7km. The final short route of stage 6 was also a cracker. Absolutely NOT a zone 2 ride. I was on the limit for the 40-minutes of the 27km virtual ride. 247W average earned me an FTP increase of +6W, to further extend my highest ever FTP.

The Sunday before last I was over to the mountains to do the race timing for the Pen Tir fell race. I got there early for a jog out and back along the race route beforehand. Only 7k but 350m so a decent little workout.

This Saturday, I completed my longest run of the year so far, just under 15k. I'm looking to keep building to about 20km. Sunday was some zone 2 before a rest day Monday - and I needed it.

Up today was a banging 51km Zwift at not full throttle but still my best 1 hour 45-minute power for goodly while - and I managed 90 minutes on the piano and day 2 working on the second of the ABRSM Grade 1 pieces - which went even better than the Zwift.

There Probably is Something to Zone 2

I've been cracking on with the Tour de Zwift. I've now completed the long, medium and short courses of stages 1 to 5 with stage 6 incoming next week, where I will earn the badge of honour for completing all 18 stages/routes. It has been good training as I've 'raced' hard on the long course and zone two'd the medium and short each week. On the running side, there's only one route and I used it for a threshold each week and that's been good training.

As to the zone 2, I'm starting to build my long run back up and yesterday's 12k was steady. I worked on the hills and inclines but wasn't pushing for PBs. Now I've re-conquered the hills around these yer parts I'm aiming not to be reduced to a walk ever again, so I worked hard enough to get up the hills but without bleeding through my eyeballs. On the flat my effort was more towards steady. It was a surprise to find I'd beaten my previous best on the 'legs or lungs' climb by 21s as I wasn't "trying". All of which, I think, means I shall be keeping on with the zone 2 training.