Zipping Along...

In the Zipp High Speed Challenge. Drafting off. Power to the pedal and pedal to the floor. A 23k virtual time trial on a virtually flat course. My legs felt dead for the first five to ten minutes but I gradually got into. With no drafting it's just you and the power. I was in the bottom half of the field at the half way point but by then my moment was building. I gained over a dozen places on the way back, my power increasing, to finish in the top twenty of fifty one. The only downside is that my god damn achilles is still playing up. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - even if it is very annoying.

Finally Managed Some Training

My achilles is still sore but easing. Still not ready to risk a run though. I was, at least, up to entering the wondrous world of #Zwift for the first time since last Sunday's ordeal. I decided to repeat stage 4 of the Tour of Watopia. 30k on one of the flatter routes. I took it easy rather than racing - except towards the end when the racing got me. I couldn't help myself and wound the power up. By the end I was emptying the tank quick. Heart rate hitting the mid 170s, I held off a couple of late attacks - and then had to lie down for a couple of minutes to recover. The achilles survived though. A run tomorrow? Fingers crossed...

Crippled, Crippled I Tells Ya...

It's another fine mess I've got myself into. My achilles is not feeling too chipper. In fact I'm a little worried as to how long it's going to take to settle down. The bike isn't even an option today as it hurts to pedal. I've been hobbling around at work, better than sitting at a desk I suppose - although I'm not totally convinced. The euphoria of blister popping has definitely faded so now it's fingers crossed the achilles settles quickly so I can get back to running...

Well I F*(#ed That Up...

The South Wales Mountain Trial. And I failed spectacularly. It was always going to be my longest/hardest 'race' of the year and it was just too much for me.

I started off pretty perfectly. I wasn't covering the ground quickly but I was direct to control points 1 through 5. By the time I reached CP5 I was beginning to tire though and I changed my mind on the best way to six. I'd originally decided to go over the top, pick up the path and locate on the trig. Beginning to tire as I was, I decided to contour round the end to save the climb. That was the wrong choice, and despite heading round on the 590 contour I spotted the wrong 'river' which wasn't the river and with brain turning to mush through fatigue, I didn't really use the compass and spent a long time fannying around on the 490 contour trying to find the stream and CP6 - that I was never going to find in the location I was fannying.

I then decided to call it a day as just getting back was now going to be a task. I was knackered - and if you thought I was covering the ground slowly at the start, then by contrast that was formula one compared to my speed heading back.

As I was heading back I spotted the actual river and very almost headed down the stream to CP6. My gps plot shows the right angle turn I made on the way back, following the stream down towards the 490 contour - and yes, I was actually on the right stream but I aborted as I knew I had to forget the trial - fast becoming an ordeal - and get back.

I took as direct a route as possible to the finish - which took me within 50m of CP7. I waved at it as I walked past. The 25m climb to it, up the stream was well beyond my capability by this point. I was broken by the finish. I bit off way more than I could chew - but once I'm able to walk again, I'll be back...

The Big Question....

Are we headed east or west? I am of course referring to tomorrow's SW Mountain Trial. My money is on west but either way it's not too long till we find out. I've done sod all today and my legs do feel a bit lighter - I suspect that feeling will disappear sometime shortly after 11am tomorrow. 

The Achilles Is Still Playing Up

So it's been a bit of a rest week. The achilles is feeling better but I didn't want to risk a run so I hit the saddle for stage four of the Tour of Watopia. A 29km blast around the figure 8-ish route. I put down my best 30 and 40 minute power to date so I'm pleased with that. Also pleasing, having looked at the data, is seeing that my resting heart rate has dropped 6-7bpm over the last six months. All positive signs. Now all I need to do is to make sure my achilles is settled ahead of Sunday's Hill Trial - or should that be ordeal...

Well That Didn't Work...

So I headed over to Gilwern Hill and ran the 5kish loop to check the route before the race. The local ne-er do wells - and I don't mean RogueRuns - had been ne-er do welling and had tampered with the route markers at the far end of the course. I put that right and headed up the climb back to my car. My legs felt like lead on the climb. Totally fatigued from the last few days activity.

Anyway, I got back to the car and then headed across to my marshalling spot. The weather was glorious as I sat in my chair taking in the rays. Waiting. Waiting a bit more. And then a bit more. After my estimated timing for the first runner expired by some minutes I began to start thinking something had gone wrong. And sure enough, sometime after I'd gone round, someone tampered with the route markings again, marring the race for the first dozen runners.

I Almost Cried...

When I realised where the final 10k of the #Zwift L'Etape du Tour de France Endurance Training Event was taking us... A hill finish at the top of the Epic KOM climb. I was feeling heavy legged throughout and thought [read hoped] we were headed for a flattish finish as we turned away from the reverse Epic KOM climb just after the halfway point. My mistake. After a few twists and turns on the flat, we looped away and towards the climb...

That final 10k was a real leg burner. I was knackered but had to keep grinding in order to end the pain as quickly as possible. I was out of the saddle a fair bit. Finally made it to the finish after 2 hours and 26 minutes, 73km and 1012m of climb. My legs are totally worn out. On the plus side my achilles feels fine now! It was still sore beforehand. Better than yesterday but still sore. Now it feels fine. Go figure.

Training wise I must be getting fitter. This was my longest virtual ride by 3km and 140m hillier. Despite that I was over five minutes quicker - and that was with the feeling tired beforehand. All looking good to be able to jog round the 5k loop of the Gilwern Grunt route check tomorrow. Need to check my timings, don't want to be late.

No Run For Me

So I woke up to discover my achilles feeling sore this morning. Not sure where that came from as yesterday's run wasn't pretty but I didn't in any way have any soreness or tightness. Run cancelled. I'm not risking injury. Luckily it didn't affect peddling and I was able to complete a pretty decent hour on #Zwift, the 3 x 13min Climb session. It wasn't as hard as Wednesday's session but still provided a pretty good burn.

30/30

A thirty minute run followed by a thirty minute #Zwift. The run was laboured. The ride was steady with a few efforts thrown in for good measure. Back to the run. I struggled to get into it. It was just my home 5k hilly loop but it felt more like 10k effort-wise. Heart rate wasn't excessively high. I'll just put it down to the fact I'd sat on my ass all day before the run and that it was bloody hot out there. The ride was better.

I'm going to give Cribyn fell race a miss tomorrow. It's definitely not one to be going into feeling tired. I'll probably just do a couple more days easy running and riding before Monday's Gilwern Grunt where I'm marshalling not running - although I will be running the Hill section to check the route markers are all in place before hand.

Back On Tour

Stage 3 of the Tour of Watopia was a group workout and it was right up there with the toughest workout sessions I've done on #Zwift. It wasn't, maybe, the overall toughest but the first reps were as tough as any I've ridden.

Three 1 minute efforts at 150% of FTP. I very nearly hit the spiral of death on the first rep. Caught slightly unaware, I didn't take in enough cadence and only narrowly avoided coming to a total halt. I was more prepped for the second and third but my legs were throbbing at the end of each one. The next five reps were short but very sharp, 10 seconds at 270% of FTP with ever decreasing recovery. The final two reps, ten minutes at 90% of FTP, weren't as easy as the figures would suggest. Those first reps had really taken their toll and I was still feeling the lingering fatigue from Sunday's long race. Thoroughly enjoyable and a damn fine workout to boot.

Running With The Romans

and the route has changed since the last time I ran the Chedworth Roman Trail. It was most of the same bits - just not necessarily in the same order. At almost 17km it was my longest race this year by a margin. Not as much ascent as a fell race but it still racked up 330m. Overall I went okay but began to cramp up in various leg muscles with three or so kilometres to go. Nothing too major and I made it to the finish in one piece - and then had my customary coughing fit.

Being a pro-athlete [cough, cough] I'm not really one for medals but today's one was actually quite a nice one, made from wood (hopefully from a sustainable source). If I ever decide to get rid of it I can bung it in the shredder and make it into mulch.

Needed To...

Do something because I couldn't face a gap of three days without doing anything. It wasn't really training though but it made me feel better and despite just going through the motions I couldn't help myself on the sprint section and really belted it out... New PB!! - But apart from that I took it really easy to complete 10km.

And that's it now before Sunday's Chedworth Roman Trail. I ran this one way back in 2007 where I came, wait for it, wait for it, 17th out of 307!!!! In 1hr 7mins. I'm likely to be double that this time and it'll be a miracle if I make the top half of the field.

Almost Didn't But I Did...

Easyish ramps. 10kph up to 14kph and back down again times two, with each increment being 250m. Not the most auspicious session in the world but I almost didn't do it at all so I'm pleased I beat today's malaise.

My legs are still pretty heavy and I've got my longest race of the year coming up this Sunday. The Chedworth Roman Trail, 10miles. It's not got the ascent of a fell race - but that just means I've got no excuse for walking! I'm going to find it tough so I really need to consider tomorrow as my last training day before Sunday because I really need my legs to feel fresh...