Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[HLaB]

I was supposed to ride with some one but he cancelled at the last minute so I fired up last nights work out that I had to skip because of train chaos necessitating 18miles of a cycle into headwind from Huntingdon last night. So I didn’t really have much motivation to start. The wind was colder and stronger tonight and I quickly had no motivation at all, the result being the SS intervals were more like tempo blocks. I think the motivation drained completely when I was approaching the ECML it was rising but White Van Man decided he wanted to overtake everyone who had been queuing and nobody would let him not that he was even looking for a gap! He just drove parallel to the now moving queue and straight at me! That off course meant when I got to the crossing the barriers were down and they stayed down for nearly 10mins! Well I guess that means the trains are running again :-/

 

[BSRU]

Last week, despite cycling the most km's and hours for a long while, with good low aerobic, high aerobic and anaerobic sessions, Garmin Connect states it was an unproductive week.
Fortunately my legs and TrainingPeaks disagree .

 

[HLaB]

Out into the Fens tonight for and endurance ride (TR Black) well one long (49mins) Z2 interval (except for the wee bit avoiding a cr@p surface, I paid more attention to the car on my tail than the power meter and there’s 30s of Z3).

 

[HLaB]

A couple of laps of Conington Airfield (now private) for a Recovery Ride (Bald -1). I also wanted to test out my shoulder. I think think the nerves in it after a fall last year and chemo damage to it impinges too easily. I think it impinged again leading to numb fingers when I let the arm go cold. After stretching it out last night its sore but not too sore and the fingers were less numb than yesterday. Perhaps I should 'bite the bullet ’ and see a physio 🤔

 

[HLaB]

Ive not had a break since last Monday (19th) during that time Ive done 341miles (including 195miles over the bank holiday weekend) so as expected the AI coach adapted my SS workout for tonight to a recovery workout (Volunteer-1). So I thought I’d give proper rollers ago for the first time since pre chemo in 2019. Probably as expected my confidence was terrible. It was a little better when I moved them to the back garden and had a wheely bin to hold on to. Whilst I never fell it just wasn’t good! I don’t know how I use to do 20 min tests and hour plus sessions on them 😕

 

[HLaB]

I had an Endurance Workout in my calendar today (Daemon) the web instructions said one 50mins interval but I was delighted to find it more like the trainer version (warm up, 10on, 10off, 10on, 10off, 10on, cooldown) I ended up further from home than I meant to be so it was a pretty long cooldown.

 

[HLaB]

Im use to riding in strong winds (the forecasted worse, whether it actually was that was 80mph solid with 120mph gusts, I hugged the glens up north and got blown home). But I was wondering beforehand for ‘training’ if it was actually worth it to ride in gusty conditions and maybe I should have set up indoor. ‘Mentally’, having actually done it I think it was worth it. Although I wasn’t always consistent with zones for strict training. For some reason under threshold (237w target) seemed hard to hold one way but a breeze (excuse the pun) to hold the other way later on. Some of it wasn’t due to the wind though, I had a twerp with a massive trailer coming the other way to turn in front of me and then brake at every traffic calming. If I had been going straight at that junction there’s no way I could have stopped in time. I finished directly into the wind and decided it would be grim at recovery power so I kept it tempo.

 

[HLaB]

First indoor workout in a bit, as it was

, it was a doable (below PL) Threshold workout. Garmin actually rated it as Tempo probably because it was an over under session bookended by 15minute of Z2. I can’t believe I hadn’t realised that I was better to have my gym fan on my left rear and blower in it place. It made it seem exactly how it should in what I’d normally say was too warm (21 deg C average).

 

[HLaB]

My Masters Plan (Trainer Roads Plan's for Older Folk) hasn’t had a VO2max workout in a while but they are in the next block which starts on Tuesday. A Level 1.6 (low level) workout has sat there for weeks then today the AI coach swapped it to a 6.4 which I was a bit dubious of.
Anyway back to today my group ride got cancelled because of heavy thunderstorms forecast all day (apar from one heavy short sharp shower I dont think they actually come). So I fired up TrainNow (Trainer Roads workout generator) and it suggested a Level 5.3 VO2max workout (Mills) for me, it felt pretty hard and the last few hard start intervals are a bit weak. But having got through and seeing that my W’bal wasn’t quite depleted (2.3) I am pretty confident that AI’s 6.4 suggestion for Tuesday is doable (just), if I don’t let group rides get in the way (I’ve just been asked for a 2up on Monday ).

 

[Legs]

I haven't done The Gorby for more than a year. Wife's away for the weekend so, after the kids are abed, guess what I'm going to be getting up to! Wish me luck!

Edit 23:03
Actually, by the time I got ready to ride, it was 21:40, so I did a 15 min warmup then rode the Zwift Insider Tiny Races instead. 10th, 17th, 5th, 4th