A solid week's training for Raid Corsica

Five back to back quality sessions this week took my weekly TSS above 600 with 9 hours on the bike. I'd love to have this time every week, but I think my wife would kick me out and the kids would disown me.  


Time commitments, riding lessons, clients and shocking weather meant I was confined to the garage for three days. Nowadays, I look forward to my indoor sessions in the torture chamber with my companion and coach TrainerRoad.


Feeling refreshed on Coyote Wednesday; one hour of VO2max intervals, with a tasty little 12 minute Threshold session to round things off. 


Looking good on Thursday, I smashed Tallac; three evenly spaced 15 minute sweet spot sessions. Another good session. I fell like I could ride in that zone for hours, which is what I'll be doing in the mountains of Corsica come this time next month. 

Friday I thought I'd mix it up a bit with a TrainerRoad / Sufferfest combination - The HUNTED. This session is not for the faint hearted; children and adults of weak disposition need to be removed from the area. It gets ugly. Very Ugly.

Saturday was a gentle 30 miler, with a little lung opener to beat my PB on a local STRAVA segment. Not only did I smash a PB, I am now King of the Mountains. Check that baby out.
  

Come Sunday, I was starting to feel it a little in my legs, so I 75 mile club run  in heavy wind up to Ivinghoe and one of the highest points in the area was just the ticket. I felt great for the first 50 miles, then the hunger set in and I was going through the energy gels with increasing regularity. However, 4 STRAVA Achievements for the ride is not to be sniffed at. I earn't my Sunday roast after that.


So, over 9 hours of riding and a TSS nudging over 600; same again next week then.

Ride in the wind

I headed out on Sunday with the Bicester Millenium Cycling Club - the regular run over the Chilterns out to Benson. It was good to see two other STRAVA 'friends' on the ride.


Heading out to Benson was fast with the wind behind us, and it was a delight to climb the 2 mile Aston Hill together as a group. There are not many continental style climbs in this area, but Aston Hill has hair pin bends, good surface and a steady incline.


However, the ride back was somewhat different; flat and into a gusting head wind. Rather than amble along, 12 of us made a pace line, doing through and off for 90 minutes and average 19 mph on the return leg. Quite a few energy gels were being consumed in desperation as the pace and distance took its toll.


75 windy and hilly miles in 4 hours, that's not a bad pace! TSS - 232, KJ expended - 2425. I slept well last night.

Arta and back to Puerto Pollensa

Great ride today with lovely weather and a bit of wind.


Tempo all the way Arta and back, including a couple of 4th category climbs. Definitely feeling like April has put the nasty March virus behind me.


Big dinner at Tolo's this afternoon with the family was just what I needed after that.


Thanks to Simon Jones for this weeks sessions. 


Love it!

Guyat session from TrainerRoad

Back on the bike after a weeks lay-off - a nasty virus has been doing the rounds, which has been making it's way round the family, if it's not been me convalescing, I've been nursing the kids.


So it was great to get on the bike for a quality session, even if it was in the Torture Chamber (garage).  


Thanks to the guy's at TrainerRoad motivation is never an issue, so I ploughed my way through a progressive session of 10 minute, intervals moving through tempo, sweet spot and completing the block with a threshold effort. I added in a few power surges for good measure in the threshold interval.

Guyat - from TrainerRoad

Looking at my heart rate, I am clearly still getting over the virus, as it is about 20 bpm higher than where it would normally be. Best not push it too much this week.

Serious Tempo

90 min Tempo ride with 30sec seated stomps every 5 mins. This little baby gets tough towards the end. 


TSS- 176
IF - 1.00

Indoors with Guyat - from Trainer Road

I just love this session - although it is harder at 6.00am compared to 6.00pm!

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Geiger counter

Tuesday's are always busy with work, so it's indoor trainer time, something I am far more motivated for having found TrainerRoad. If you have an ANT+ wireless unit for heart rate or power and a laptop then it will transform your turbo trainer sessions.


I try and use my Tuesday and Wednesday indoor session to get in an hour of  quality work just below threshold in the sweet spot. The principle of sweet spot training is a balanced amount of intensity and volume that produces a maximal increase in functional threshold power (FTP). The “sweet spot” is found between the top end of zone 3 and low end of zone 4. It is within these ranges that cyclist will build their base the most and simultaneously increase power at threshold, giving the most bang for your buck, and thus the nickname, “sweet spot”.


Tuesday's serving from the TrainerRoad selection of sweet spot sessions was GEIGER: 60 minutes comprising 3 x 12 minute efforts in the sweet spot (target 237W) with only 3 minutes rest between intervals. Target TSS -67 with IF at 0.82 for the whole session.


Hitting the numbers:

I hit all the numbers prescribed for the session which is very satisfying - getting in over 30 minutes just below threshold power. I am already looking forward to my next FTP test in a couple of weeks time, I'm positive it will be higher after several weeks of quality sweet-spot efforts.


You can access the ride file on TrainerRoad here.

Session with the lads

Despite the cold weather and several mechanical issues over the weekend I managed to finally get a good turbo session ticked off on Saturday evening to test out my lovely new power meter - SRM on FSA cranks followed on Sunday by an early morning rise to be greeted by freezing conditions for steady endurance ride with ride with some of my Raid Corsica buddies, Tony and Paul.


First up on Saturday was GUYAT, a great 1 hour TrainerRoad tempo and sweet spot session. 


Here's the low down
4x10 minute intervals with 2 minutes rest between intervals. Each one increases in intensity starting at tempo and ending at sweet spot.

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/29001

This is one of my favourite indoor sessions - not hard but you know you've had a workout!


Here's the Guyat ride on STRAVA.


Next up on Sunday was a very early start - heading out at first light to rendezvous with Tony and Paul for a 50 miler in the frost. I wasn't expecting a  puncture repair in the middle of a blizzard - something I doubt we'll encounter in Corsica on the Raid!


It was good to get out in the fresh air and ride in company - I managed a couple of good efforts, including getting 6th place on the Pounden Hill SRAVA segment. Cool.



I was a bit pasted towards the end. Jet lag and a late night was taking it's toll; I was hoping to hit a TSS of 250 for the ride, but only managed 200.


Another quality week in the bag. 


More detail of the full ride can be found on STRAVA.

Suffering in Paradise

This is my last day in Dubai after a great week with the family on the beach. Now it's back to the UK to get wrapped up for a weekly diet of Sufferfest and TrainerRoad combos mixed with a couple of longer tempo rides on the road laced with a shot or two of low cadence stomps.


I managed another session in the luxurious gym at the Atlantis Palm today. No messing about; 30 minutes of FTP work. 5 minutes tempo to warm up then 165 bpm for 25 minutes. The guy on the bike next to me was reading cycling weekly while I was totally soaked in in sweat. When I finished we had a brief chat - he thought I was mad - I just winked and said 'IWBMATTKYT'.


Back to Blighty and proper riding on Thursday. 

Eclipsed by dragon slayers and my sweet spot

Thank's once again to the guy's at TrainerRoad (@trainerroad) for this great session and 'on screen' motivation when it was -10 outside and snowing. I can't remember the last time I did a turbo session for more than an hour, let alone 90 minutes! 

Eclipsed: here's the gig

3 x long, Sweet Spot efforts (SST) - 20 minutes each - with 5 minute recoveries between each. Added, optional emphasis on cadence with one interval spent over-spinning and another spent under-spinning. (+15/-15 rpm).  

That's 90 minutes to produce TSS 90 at an IF of 0.84. 

For added entertainment, Reign of Fire on Sky Go Desktop - 97 minutes long, so just the right length for this 90 minute sufferfest. Pretty entertaining (while I could see during the first two intervals) with a story line about modern day dragon slayers that didn't take much following, particularly by the time I got round to the 3rd 20 minute SST interval. No Oscar nominations for Christian Bale in this movie!

What actually happened (with the session rather than the film)

The chart below is automatically produced by the TrainerRoad software that sits on your laptop. Ride data is synchronized with the TrainerRoad website at the end of the session, where you can compare yourself with the TrainerRoad community of riders that have completed the same session. Nothing wrong with a bit of competition.

The good news is that I managed to hit my target av. power (236W) in all three intervals, despite the lactic build up in the final effort. Gritty as my friend Simon Jones (@jonessimon2000) would describe it. I just know this kind of session is banking me some credit for those long climbs on the Raid Corsica come May. (Keep talking positive Steve).

The full data file is available on TrainerRoad here.

Not long now until some winter sun in Dubai. I'll need to nail a couple of solid sessions on Monday and Tuesday. I checked out the hotel and they have a good gym with Armstrong spinning bikes so I can sneak a couple of sessions in while away.

Gieger Sweet Spot Session - TrainerRoad

This is a great indoor session when you only have an hour to ride, or in my case it's snowing outside! 


This is what I had to do - following the session on my laptop via TrainerRoad 


Geiger Session 


3x12min efforts spent in the Sweet Spot - a little harder than tempo work but not as exhausting as threshold work - to improve aerobic fitness (both power & endurance) in minimal time. Recovery between efforts is brief, just 3 minutes.


The session includes on screen instructions and included a focus on pedal technique - 'kick and pull' with a smattering of high/low cadence work for variation. I can't believe how quick an hour went by - turbo training has never been such fun.


You can see the ride data here on TrainerRoad
Rides - TrainerRoad:


All my sessions are available on Strava.

New FTP test PB with Trainer Road

This evening I completed a functional threshold power (FTP) test using the 2 x 8 minutes test session on TrainerRoad which links my laptop in real time via ANT+ broadcasting the data from my heart rate monitor and powertap power meter - very scientific and very motivational. I highly recommend it. 
The data file can be seen on TrainerRoad here. 
Below is the data file on STRAVA.