Slow To Start...

but I finished strong. Coinciding with the real UCI road world championship, Zwift has been running virtual events all week. I've not been in a fit state to compete until today. To begin with I couldn't get going and began to think I still wasn't in a fit state. My power was way off FTP but I was trying pretty hard so it didn't make sense. Into the climb I was still struggling to generate any power but as the climb progressed I picked up. By the top of the climb I was grinding it out above FTP, heart rate heading towards 170 without dying. In the end made it over the top within a couple of minutes of my best.

The descent went pretty well as well and I was able to keep the power up where normally I struggle to keep it going. I was working my way back through the field. Having hit the start of the climb just inside the top 100 I was up to 67 by the time we exited the hill and finished 63rd of 135. Average power was well up by the end, some 30 points more than I was managing in the first few kilometres so I'm happy for now.

And just because, here are some photos from yesterday from the top of Pen y Gadir Fawr.

Must Be Getting Stronger...

So it was more marshalling duty today. Check point two, Black Mountains fell race. Location, the summit of Pen y Gadir Fawr. That meant a short 3km ascent from the car park in the valley below to get there. What was surprising was that my Strava segment was the third quickest of the six on record for the ascent - and I was only pootling.

And for once the marshalling was in the dry. In fact, it was one of the sunniest days for a while. Not a cloud in the sky. And to top that off, the runners and riders were through the checkpoint in good time. Then it was back down and to the race HQ for cake and then the drive home.

Felt Better Afterwards Than Before...

Well I think that session did me good. I started off feeling meh but finished feeling good. My legs still don't feel totally right but they're getting there.

The session was pretty long, 78 minutes consisting long reps (9 minutes) decreasing to short (1 minute) with a one minute recovery each time. The effort level increased from 87% FTP up to 95%.

Despite feeling bolstered I still feel a long way down on being able to main 100% FTP for an hour. Maybe tomorrow...

Still Feeling The After Effects

My muscles feel almost mended but the tendons? behind my knees feels sore today and my blistered foot wasn't clearing up as quick as I'd like either so I decided to cut the dead skin away to let it breath. That has worked and it's feeling better this evening. All in all still pretty pitiful but I do feel I'm close to being back in one piece. Managed a decent 60 minute virtual group ride. Felt like it was doing me good...

It Was Only A Walk...

...and I think I might be up to training tomorrow! My legs are still pretty bad today. Still quite sore but definitely easing and I'm itching to get back to training. I thought about a session on the bike tonight but it would've been going through the motions for the sake of it rather than being meaningful training. I'm definitely going to be fit for Wednesday's mountain run though - and even the forecast looks decent (famous last words)...

It Might Only Be A Walk...

...but it has completely broken me. Completely and utterly broken. But my spirit remains strong and I finished with a smile.

It was going pretty well to begin with. Yes, it rained the entire time but it was fun. Fun until about 25km when I could feel my hamstrings starting to go. By 30km they gave up the ghost. From there it got painful. By the end I was struggling to get over the stiles. I made the mistake of sitting down in the village hall at the finish for some sustenance - BIG mistake. I actually struggled to get standing and the 100m walk to the car took about 5 minutes. Getting in the car? I had to sit and lift my legs in. Getting out of the car when I arrived home was even more pitiful. And now I'm not sure I can even ascend the stairs. Luckily I have a downstairs loo so I may very well be sleeping on the sofa tonight...

But I'm glad my work colleague talked me into doing it. When I recover - in about three months - I'll look back to see it was good training. Time on feet an' all that - and it was a bloody long time.

It Might Only Be A Walk...

...but it's quite a long one.... The LDWA Cotswold Challenge. It's 42km with 1500m of ascent. Proceedings are almost certain to be soggy and I'm doing it tomorrow.

Surprisingly I'm still feeling Wednesday's rides in my legs so taking another rest today in order to be strong for tomorrow's walk, which I'm sure will be more tiring than I'm expecting.

Start and Finish in Birdlip, clockwise route

Grrrrh, Bloody Power Cut

Well I really could have done without that. I was having a good ride on stage 5 of the Tour of Innsbruck. Almost to the top of the second and last climb and bam - power cut. 32km in to the race of 48km and 750m of the 950m ascent complete. All for nothing. At least the ride was captured to Strava so I didn't lose the precious register of miles but by god I was a tad annoyed. All that effort. All that blood, sweat and tears - and there was a lot of sweat - for nothing. Grrrrhhh. And it meant I failed to complete the tour....

But then I decided not to be defeated by the power gods and went for it again in the 4pm race. My legs were knackered from the start and unsurprisingly I was slower the second time around but not by as much as I expected. I was only two minutes down to the top of the first climb. Not sure about the second one seeing as I didn't quite get there the first time but I was probably within four or five minutes and probably only finished a further couple of minutes down on where I would have the first time. At least it was job done. Tour complete. Legs knackered.

The 48km had become 80km, the 950m of ascent, 1700m. Total ride time, 2 hours 59 minutes.

Recycle Sunday

Yes, time to fit in a run combined with a trip to the tip. It wasn't a long run, more a leg stretcher but I did pick a loop with a steady climb - which I managed to climb for once. As to the shortness, I think I almost spent as much time at the recycling centre, such was the amount of stuff I was dropping off. Part of the reason for the shortness of run was not wanting to miss a delivery. Although as I type this, I'm still waiting so could have got away with a longer one. Which is a little annoying. I finished off with ten laps of Canary Wharf on Road Grand Tours. The sprint section is a good interval and I managed to reduce my PB a little bit since the last time I road on RGT.

Damp, Very Damp...

So it was the big Bristol Water Sponsored ride for WaterAid - and boy oh boy did we ever some water. Conditions were definitely not what was forecast. It did dry out eventually and we even got a ray of sunshine as we arrived back at head office - after the horse has bolted springs to mind... but to begin with it pretty much rained all the way to Cheddar on the outward leg from Bristol, with a few intermissions. I was soaked to my pants and beyond.

Despite the wetness it was an enjoyable ride, very social, at a leisurely pace, we stayed as group throughout and collectively, togerther with the sponsored walkers, raised upwards of £2600. The ride stats were 82km with 500m ascent. I now have one very very dirty mountain bike to clean...

Not Feeling Too Bad...

Which is surprising as I was feeling right banjaxed yesterday. My legs aren't sore at all. It's still a rest day today though. I've the work sponsored ride tomorrow and I want to be fresh for it. On that front, I've managed to get the rear derailleur to shift to the smallest gear on the mountain bike. So it's only the largest one that won't shift but I'm not worried about that. Even the weather seems to be holding if not even improving a little from forecast earlier in the week so fingers crossed... 

I'm In Bits...

After today's training. It was good but hard.

I started the day by heading out to the mountains. Bit of a hiccup with the planned route. As I arrived at the Tal y Bont reservoir there was a load of machinery and hubub going on so I aborted the plan and headed on past to the upper Blaen-y-glyn car park. That meant a longer run than planned.

I headed east to the Neuadd reservoir and up to the ridge. Then along the ridge to Corn Du and Pen y Fan before dropping down, taking the route skirting Cribyn and up to the col east of the ex-mountain Fan y Big before following the Beacons Way back to the car park. 16.5km and 750m ascent. By far my longest and hardest run this year and I have to admit I was a little knackered but it didn't end there...

When I got home I had no choice but to hit Zwift for stage 4 of the Tour of Innsbruck. The stages are only available for a single day. I've set myself the goal of completing all five stages and I'm not going to allow myself to fail.

The ride was hard. It was the reverse Lutscher course, 22km and 800m ascent, the climb an average 8% gradient. I took it easy, my average power was 50W down on recent rides but despite that I still got a bit of the shakes towards the end. Completed it though, so job done. Bloody knackered now and just had a bit of cramp in my left calf muscle - ouch.

Innsbruck, Stage 3 Complete

I was a bit in between this evening. The bigger race fields are fun and with 500+ riding I was riding in the pack for most of the race. Three laps of the Innsbruckring for 27km total. I ended up pulling on the front a few times, burning my legs out, neither managing to break away nor the pack taking their share. Hence, I purposefully eased back to sit mid pack, cruising at lower power. If I can't break free then I sure as heck ain't riding at the front for kilometre after kilometre. Anyway, I managed a sprint PB on the second lap and still managed a decent average power despite taking it easy in the pack a few times.

All set for another mountain run tomorrow. I'm planning a loop of Tal y Bont; up Craig y Fan, around to Allt Lwyd, down into the valley and back up the other side through the woods to Tor y Foel and back down to the reservoir. Should be about 13km and a slightly worrying 1000m of ascent. The forecast has improved and hopefully by the time I get there the rain will have moved south.

Rest Day

Just a quick 30 minute 20k on the the ol' Zwift. Nice and easy does it.

On another issue, I'm riding in the Bristol Water SRS (Southern Resilience Scheme) sponsored walk/ride this coming Friday. For the riders, it's a fifty mile ride out of our head office in Bedminster Down to Cheddar and back again, loosely following our recently laid Southern Resilience Main.

To make it interesting, I'll be riding my knackered, battered mountain bike. The rear cassette won't shift into the largest sprocket nor the smallest no matter how I adjust it and it weighs half a tonne - got to up the challenge factor.... but mainly it's because there's no way on gods earth I'm unhooking my road bike from my smart trainer now I've got it set up perfectly for Zwifting!

If you do feel like sponsoring me, here's the link to the funding page, and if you do please mention me in the message field so they know who you're sponsoring... https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/srs-walk (thank you)