Sunday, November 27, 2022

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....

Saturday, November 19, 2022

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....

Sunday, November 13, 2022

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....

Friday, November 11, 2022

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. 

Friday, November 04, 2022

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...