60 mins around 310W

I last did this on 3 Feb and quite liked it even though it gets tough towards the end. After a poor night's sleep and a crappy day at work I was in 2 minds whether to do a workout to day or not, but I guilted myself into it knowing that I need to keep working hard to gain/maintain fitness ready for the race season.

The session went almost exactly as before until my Garmin Premium HR strap started to play up after 35 minutes. I don't have a lot of luck with these and they normally fail after 4-5 months and this one was no different. I was unable to complete the 4mins x 320W interval at around 46 minutes and instead converted it into 2 intervals of 2 mins at 320W with a short recovery in between. I think my HR data at this point was correct as the recorded 167bpm is usually where my body starts to whinge and moan about the effort and I start to think about quitting.

The last interval is 1 min all-out. Today I managed 445W and I felt very ill and light-headed at the end.

Group Ride

As part of my club's AGM there is a 40ish mile road ride and it's nice to get out with club-mates I haven't seen for a while. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on my side and the sunny morning turned to snow just before the ride and then the snow turned to rain during the ride. As a result I got very very cold, made worse by a couple of punctures within the group. It was quite a steady ride with just the excitement of a mad break at the end to qualify as any real training.

The break started with a big dig to generate some speed and separation and then I backed-off to see if anybody was coming with me. A couple chased me so I kept the power up to make sure they had to work hard to get to me and then when they did I sat up. 3 of us then settled into a chain gang until the finish hovering around 320W with a peak at the end.

After the ride it took a couple of hours to properly warm up so I was expecting to catch a cold, but my high vit C intake seems to have done the job.

The Hunted

I was going to do a roller session yesterday but after 20 minutes I stopped. Just didn't feel like doing it and I wasn't going to get much out of it. I've been feeling a bit throaty for the last couple of days coinciding with a selfish b'stard at work coughing and spluttering at an adjacent desk.

So today I planned a Sufferfest 'The Hunted' session which I found challenging and unachievable last time I did it. However, being an idiot I forgot that I was just unable to get to the end of the middle 20 minute session and had to back off. In a way this was actually a good thing because I went into the workout expecting to be able to compete it and probably tried harder as a result.

So, it went well through the first taster and then all the way through the 'middle 20' until I got to the section marked with the big red A (for Aaaaaaarrrgh!). With a high HR my body just said NO! and I had to stop, feeling quite miffed because I thought that I had completed this bit last time.

The last session was achievable, but I was really suffering on the 5x350W+ intervals at the end and was very pleased to stop and when I did I realised how hard I had been working; gasping for breath and my throat slightly constricted. I'm not asthmatic, but I think it was the same feeling.

So, I probably won't do this again for a long while. There are 2 hard bits that are too hard and the rest is too easy and really just foreplay waiting for the pain. It's quite like a race in that respect, but racing isn't necessarily the best way to increase fitness.

Recovery Day

Legs had a little 'lactic hangover' this morning and I had another early start so I'm not doing any turboing today and my hopeful gentle road ride has been slapped-down by heavy rain and 65mph winds.

I haven't eaten any chocolate since last Wednesday so that's 6 days off the brown stuff and I've stopped missing it. It helps that I have none in the house. If there's chocolate in the cupboard I can hear it calling to me when I get home, tempting me to eat it, my mouth watering when I think about it. If it's not there I don't even think about it. Except now!

Local Hero

With terrible winds and driving rain on the menu this evening I was pleased to have the option of a rusting turbo in a cold Lancashire kitchen to get my training fix. Who needs the roads anyway?

It's been a while since I've done a Sufferfest Local Hero so I thought I'd treat myself to the King of workouts. Well, one of the Kings at least. The King that keeps on going and going and then expects you to sprint at the end. 4 times.

For entertainment I had some high energy Spinning music and a video of an old race running too which, combined with the workout, made for a very engaging 80 minutes. Everything seems to be back to normal after my enforced break; my HR was about right, my legs felt about the same amount of lactic burn, I was really suffering on the sprint parts of the last 4 intervals, I didn't nearly pass out when I finished so I seem to be about in the same condition I was in early January, which is nice.

After a shower I treated myself to some Weetabix and then some cold Chicken and pasta leftovers from yesterday. Wow, I really know how to live!

60 mins around 310W

Had a recovery day yesterday, did a bit of shopping, took some photos, drank a couple of glasses of wine, relaxed.

Today I wanted to work on intervals around 310W (FTPish) with shortish recovery intervals between as a result of a poor performance on Friday's 2x20 session. For some reason, and it's not just me, starting the second 20 of a 2x20 seem extraordinarily hard so I wanted to work in that area for a while.

About a month ago I devised the following interval set (with a 2 min recovery interval between each one) with 37 mins at or above 300W so this was the first time I'd tried it:

6 mins x 330W

5 x 300
4 x 320
3 x 310
5 x 300
6 x 310
4 x 320
3 x 300
1 min all out (achieved 408W)

Black=power, red =HR.

Any power variations through the intervals were me trying to manage my average power to ensure that I didn't overcook it too early in the session. Intervals 6 and 7 got my HR up to LTHR and I was suffering a bit towards the end of the 7th. The last 1 min interval was very hard and I did it on feel rather than looking at my power output, which probably explains why it rises throughout. At the start I was quite conservative and then allowed power to build throughout the interval, really whimpering and grunting by the end of it. It's no surprise that the slope of the HR rise for the last interval is so steep.

Overall the session was quite enjoyable and I can imagine being able to repeat intervals 5, 6, 7 and 8 to make it a longer session before hitting the final all-out interval.

2x20 at FTP (bailed out)

After another day on the road I was looking forward to a 2x20 at FTP (307W) session, I consider these to be a very efficient way of getting some good training in and I tend to struggle a bit on the second 20 from time to time. Today was no different. After a good warm up and a successful first 20 (at 309W) I settled into the recovery interval ready for the second 20. 4 minutes into it I started to feel uncomfortable and the I suffered from the quits, head down and hating the effort. I hate stopping a turbo session and always have a 'bail-out' option to ensure that I don't just stop when things get tough, but back off enough to recover to do something useful. Back at around 280-290W I let my HR stabilise but when I tried to increase the power I got the same uncomfortable feeling again; like my body telling me it was just too difficult even though I know the power is within me to achieve it.

So, I thought I'd teach my body a lesson and finished with 7x1 min intervals with a 1 min RI between. The intervals ended up as 330, 336, 360, 363, 345, 373, 378W with some good lactic burn in my thighs on some of them. Looking back, it's a long while since I've done some proper high intensity intervals so I feel like I need to do some to remind my body that it's there to work hard and recover well for racing rather than just bashing out 60 minute sessions around 80-110% FTP. February will see a transition towards shorter harder intervals.