A PB?

My training since the start of the year has been pretty heavy. It's entirely possible that I'm putting in more sessions now than I did in my heyday. Definitely not more in terms of total volume, but in terms of the number of sessions, I think I'm doing more now than I ever did! And of course, it's split between running and riding these days, but considering for the last few years - and if I'm honest, much of the last decade - if I managed one run in a week it was a big week.

Today, I hit 30 sessions this month and there will definitely be another couple to round out the month. A PB by my reckoning. I'm managing to stay injury free, if I exclude the legs feeling a little heavy or sore here and there, so I don't feel I'm overreaching.

This week I completed a set of kilometre reps on the treadmill along with my Thursday run - a little slower than last week. I worked hard but I was 13s slower. I must temper my expectation. I mustn't expect to go quicker every week - and I have been training pretty hard, after all. On a brighter note, today I improved my time for the Long Flaxley loop and there'll be a gentle recovery treadmill session tomorrow.

In between the runs - that came out wrong - and so did that! - I've completed a number of Zwift rides. They've been mostly solid efforts, not all out but I've definitely not been pootling. The only negative is that I can't help myself on the scheduled easy recovery rides. They always seem to end up being nothing like recovery.

I'm Stopping Counting Now...

Another run complete, far from the safety of the treadmill. It's getting beyond silly. What's next, entering a race? No, this is all getting too crazy.

Anyway, it was a solid run in chilly conditions today. It was very scenic, with a kind of snowy-frost covering the forest tracks of the longer sibling of last week's Saturday run, the aptly named Flaxley CCW Long Loop (9k) - well, that's what I call it. Technically it's Flaxley woods and Hope wood but that's not as catchy.

It's not really fair to compare today's run to my last outings as I wasn't capable of running the hills back then, so I'll call this my marker for future attempts. That said, I was reduced to a short section of walking on the long grind back up. It starts steep and flattens out and I was reduced to a short walk towards the end of the steeper bit. I marked where I got to though, so I'll get further up on the next attempt.

Yesterday was a 45-minute tempo-ish ride on Zwift and tomorrow is an easy jog recovery and a steady 45-60 ride.

I actually Still Own a Strava Segment!

Yes, I know, crazy! While out on my third - yes, third, real run of the year on Saturday, I put down a marker on my Flaxley short loop. It was while studying the data I realised I still own the downhill out of the woods. I've been stripped of everything else but I still have that one. That said, I'm getting my Flaxley segments back - and you can take that to the bank.

Moving forward to today, I got out for my fourth real run of the year. What is going on! I repeated last week's route and set off looking to go a little quicker. And a little quicker I did - by about a minute. Pleased with that. Not a bad improvement in a week and I very nearly broke the 5:00 minute kilometre pace barrier, clocking an average 5:01.

Continuing a Pace...

Since my last update I've completed some good training. The Christmas ease down is most definitely fading in the rear-view mirror. It's been a mix of treadmill sessions, easy Zwift recovery rides and some full-on Zwift races. I'm hitting new levels on the power curve both on foot and in the saddle.

Highlight of the year so far - if you can have a highlight just 13 days in - has been my second real world run yesterday. It was only 6k. I wasn't trying to go fast. Just running. Not paying any attention to my watch, so it was a nice surprise to see such a decent pace. Not far off my comeback target 5k pace. Without being too cocky, I'm pretty confident sub 25-minutes is there for the taking when I decide to pull the trigger...

A Good Start to the Year

So it's been a while since my last post, and it's been a mix of the promised easier training with a few harder efforts thrown into the mix. From here the rest is over and it's time to get back into it. That started with a really good run on New Year's day and not only that it was a real-life run, not the usual treadmill affair. It was a hilly route, which I wasn't expecting, as I plotted it without paying much attention to the contours, but I ran it all and felt pretty strong. It was a far cry from my runs in the summer where I couldn't manage more than a few metres climbing before being reduced to a walk.

Having said I was staring back into the solid training, the last couple of days haven't been due to sore legs from Sunday's run. The legs are recovered today - or at least I thought they were and I went at it a little too hard on the Zwift. I tried to go with the fast, power start and soon realised I wasn't ready for it. I put out good power for twenty-five minutes though but knew I couldn't sustain it.

Off now, to programme in the next week of training...

Skirrid Legs

So I had, what I've called Skirrid legs, for a few days after I marshalled the summit for the race last Saturday. I'm not really sure where I did the damage but my quads where sore and stiff for a couple of days afterwards. I guess the descent, but I was only walking so I wasn't expecting that.

I did a few light Zwift rides before a decent effort on Tuesday. Two sets of 6 two minutes at a good, if not outstanding pace. My legs were still feeling a bit stiff, so I didn't go all in - plus I'm still in my ease back phase till the new year. The pace was decent though. Yesterday was a mile on the treadmill and some more easy Zwifting. Today I was on for another easy 5k on the treadmill but it felt really easy so I ended up cranking up the pace to claim a treadmill pb. The end pace didn't really feel anywhere near all out - okay, it was well on the way towards hard but I hit 5k before it got there. Anyway, Stryd notified me afterwards, that I'd improved my 'critical power' by 7W.

It's going to be mostly easy and random for the next few days, but I think I'll try a more targeted assault to better my treadmill 5k sometime towards the middle of next week.

Easy Couple of Weeks

It's been a slightly lower intensity couple of weeks since my last posting. I've completed almost as many sessions but mostly dialled back a tad. That said I've been bitten by the Zwift bike racing bug and have been 'competing' in a few more races than normal. The plan for the next couple of weeks is to continue with the schedule albeit just dialled back a notch before ramping it up again in the new year to go onwards and upwards. A flat couple of weeks can only help recharge the batteries ready to move further forward.

The training schedule was disrupted today though, by that pesky Skirrid fell race, where I froze my unmentionables marshalling the summit. It wasn't too bad at lower levels but stood on the summit for 45 minutes, that was chilling. Then there was the death-defying descent off the top to collect the route flags in - nearly went a slippin' on more than a few occasions. Walking boots, well, they were made for walking, not descending steep, icy drops. Made it back safely in the end though.

Haven't planned tomorrow's training. Maybe a sneaky Zwift race....

Seemed Like a Good Idea Yesterday...

So yesterday I improved my treadmill 10k by just under six minutes. I wasn't full gas so I knows there's more to come. Followed that up with an easy bit of Zwifting on the bike - but that turned out to be a short and sharp crit race. I hadn't meant that - honest guv. Mind you, I bloody enjoyed it. Zwift races always start with a couple of minutes well beyond FTP and if you don't go with it, you aren't in the running - or biking in this case - and the race is over. I went with it and despite feeling pretty knackered, managed to keep myself in the lead group. I knew I wouldn't have it in me to out sprint anyone, so tried a sneaky invisibility power-up heading into the last lap. That didn't work but also, in a way, it did as it broke the group up and although I was quickly ridden down, several of the group were dropped. Into the last 200-300m I was lying in 9th but managed to move up to 6th on the line, so did manage a bit of a sprint. I was totally finished though. A gibbering wreck, and it took me a minute or two to get my breath back and my heart rate down. Definitely going to schedule in more of that fun - but maybe not as a recovery ride....

Anyway, caught up in an exercise induced high, I decided to schedule in a ride up the Alpe du Zwift for today (a virtualisation of Alpe d'Huez). I haven't managed the full ascent since 2019 - and halfway up, I wasn't sure I was going to get there today. With hindsight, it probably wasn't the most sensible training session after the week I'd completed up to that point but after much grinding, I got there in the end. I rounded out the weekend with an easy 5k jog. All in all, it's been a very productive week of training and I feel myself getting fitter, faster, stronger as the weeks pass. Oh, and I've set the date for my comeback 5k in the real world - but I'm not telling in case it changes...

I'm Getting Concerned Now....

This is getting serious! I've started taking notes and putting in some proper planning of my training sessions.  No more making it up as I go along. The key focus is the running, but I'm definitely aiming to keep improving my cycling fitness.

For next few months I'm going to be doing a session of long intervals, short intervals, an easy run and a longer run. Bike-wise... well, I'm probably still going to make that up as I go along.....

So far this week I've completed a good set of six 1-kilometre reps at a good pace beyond target 5k pace and a really good set of one-minute efforts at the fastest pace I've run so far. I've made notes on the paces and distances and have next week's sessions planned and ready to go.

On the bike I rode the Ineos training session with Tom Pidcock on Monday. It was pretty hard work. Wednesday, I tried a group workout riding the ramp FTP test - except it was the lite version and too easy to actually achieve an FTP gain. That set the scene for today's ride. Despite still feeling the aftereffects of yesterday's fast intervals on the treadmill, I was confident I was going to smash it on the full ramp test. The thing about the ramp test is it goes from easy to working hard to oh my god my heart wants to explode really bloody quickly. I slumped off the saddle after I hit the spiral of death at just below 320W. I got the result though. A 7% increase, taking me to an all-time high FTP, 4W above my previous best, from four years ago.

Feeling it Again

It wasn't intended to be a low volume week, but it turned out that way. That's not to say I didn't complete any decent sessions. I completed the final stage, number six, of the Zwift Tour of Makuri run and ride. The run was easy paced, the ride was medium effort till the last few km - and we can guess which way the intensity headed.... 

I also completed two training session on the treadmill and one on the trainer. The highlight of the week was Saturday, where I marshalled the summit of the Blorenge mountain in the fell race of the same name. It's fair to say the highlight wasn't the standing on the summit in the fierce winds and rain for 45 minutes - that was pretty nasty. No, it was the very short run to it and back from it to the car. I wasn't exactly wearing running kit - three layers plus heavy-duty gore-tex coat and rucksack of extras - but I actually ran it and I felt pretty strong! It feels like the training is working, even if it is highly treadmill based at the moment.

For the first time in years (getting on for a decade), I'm feeling I want to race again and I'm looking forward to powering up the hills once more....

Focused Training

It's been a week of slightly lesser intensity than last week, despite last week starting light, it ended with a boom. Despite the lower intensity - according to Strava - it's been a solid week. I knocked out both the run and ride stage 4 of the Tour of Makuri on Zwift with easy-ish effort level Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday, I ran a short training session of three groups of five 1min reps off 30s recovery. Paced at 108% 5k pace. Realistically I should be faster than that for short reps but my resting heart rate was still a little on the high side and I factor things by that. Friday was a short session on the bike, consisting three ramped efforts, each one longer than the previous. The final effort was hard, requiring me to lift from the seat in order to complete.

Today I really focused in on a session which I used to do many many many moons ago. Six 1km reps at faster than 5k target pace with a 2-minute recovery. I ran the first three at 106% but ramped the last three up to 109% (which was faster than Thursday's short reps!). It felt hard but I think I had more. I'm not quite at the stage where I can really push myself to the limit but that will come in time. (I've no trouble doing that on the bike, so it's just a confidence thing, having deteriorated so far with my running). Anyway, of all the session I used to do, this was the one I used to really target the 5k.

I finished off the day's training with stage 5 of the Tour of Makuri on the bike and ended up riding harder than the recovery ride it was meant to be. I didn't get competitive - well, not until the last kilometre - but I had to ride a bit harder than intended to stay in the pack. Eventually I got dropped and rode in with another rider until the last k - when stupidly they went for it, and I couldn't help myself....

Reaching New Highs

It's been a good weekend of training. Yesterday I rounded out the Zwift Tri-Academy Run with a decent 30-minute finish run. My legs weren't fresh after the last couple of days training, but I managed a solid, ramped pace. Up next was a steady ride, stage three of the Tour of Mukuri Islands ahead of today's Zwift Tri-Academy Ride - except I got overly excited coming into the last ten to fifteen minutes.

I was riding in a decent little group with good speed, all set to complete the stage at an average of 80-85% FTP and then it went a bit wrong. The group broke apart as several of the riders went off the front and before I knew it, I was chasing, overtaking and leaving them to eat my dust as I powered my way to the finish, claiming a new 10-minute power average PB by +9 Watts. It wasn't supposed to be that way....

Anyway, back to today. I wasn't sure if I should wait a day before completing the Tri-Academy finish ride but in the end, I decided to go for it. Midway through the 25-minute ramped ride in, I wasn't sure I'd made the right decision. I was finding it hard and the power was an average of 5 watts or so lower than during yesterday's ride - and it felt easy yesterday (before the last ten of course). Anyway, it was too late to cancel so, after the 25-minute section and a 60 second recovery, it was game on.

I have no idea where it came from because I really did feel knackered but for that 5-minute max effort free ride I managed to hit an average of 259W which is +5W on my all-time best effort, not just the comeback. Happy with that! I rounded out the day with an easy 6.7km on the treadmill, ticking off stage 3 of the Run Tour of Makuri Island. From what was a low-key start to the week's training, it's definitely finished on a high note. Rest day tomorrow....

Lower Intensity

So, since last week I've taken things a bit easier. I completed the third of the Zwift Tri-Academy ride and run workouts early in the week, with an easy run and ride before that, on the weekend. My resting heart was unexpectedly high Monday and Tuesday, far higher than I'd expect from the training and I did have a few sniffles, so I put that down to fighting off a bit of a cold. It explains why I found the Tri-sessions harder than expected. Anyway, my resting heart rate was heading back to normal Wednesday night, so I let the handbrake off for a virtual group run and ride Thursday. I particularly enjoyed the ride, where I really ramped up the effort on the climbing finish and gained a ton of places. Rounded things out with a medium effort run and solid row today. There'll be more of the same on the weekend. 

Inside Twenty-Five

Hot on the heels of Sunday's little milestone, I broke 25 minutes on the treadmill for the 5k tonight. Run with my now usual 2%incline. It's been a decent week so far. A pair of Zwift Tri-Academy training sessions on foot and saddle, a solid 60-minute group ride yesterday and tonight's run. I was feeling good and decided it was time to do it. I set off slightly under pace but soon nudged the pace up. Little by little. Gauging it nicely, heading home just inside the cut off, in 24:53. I can't say it was easy, but neither was I on the limit. There's more to come...