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.

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.

Long tempo

Good session today. I earn't my Sunday dinner today.


TSS - 228
IF - 0.824

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!

<iframe height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='http://app.strava.com/runs/4269381/embed/9ec77c57f284e0c25a87bb35e384c4cb03af75b9'></iframe>

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. 

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.

Any Raiders out there?

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone that has completed the Raid Corsica previously - any recommendations, advice or photos to use on the blog would be gratefully received.

How does Corsica compare to other raids?

Which are the most memorable climbs?

Most importantly: your food and wine recommendations please?

I look forward to hearing from you.

And we're off - team booked for Raid Corsica

Well, we've booked the event and we are heading to the gorgeous island of Corsica on 19th May 2012 to follow the official Audax Club Parisien route which circumnavigates a punishing 1000km's in 6 days with 14,600 meters of climbing. That's over 100 miles a day in proper units making it a total sufferfest - see #sufferfest.


Here's what we've got to do.

Day 1: Bastia to Calvi  (196km with 2369m of ascent)

Day 2: Calvi to Calacuccia (158km with 2860km ascent)

Day 3: Calacuccia to Santa Maria Sicche (132km with 2690m ascent)

Day 4: Santa Maria Sicche to Sartene (160km with 2410m ascent)

Day 5: Sartene to Solenzara (156km with 2342m ascent)

Day 6: Solenzara to Bastia (169km with 2141m ascent)

The team is made up of Simon Fletcher, Tony Silman, Dr Julian Cole, Mark Sprintall, Mike Malliagh and Paul Seaborn. The Raid is being organised by the  great team at Marmot Tours.


Regular updates to follow - we've got some training and fundraising to do.