Road to the Raid - Redux

ROK ON

Stuck at home with a couple of vomiting twins, so nothing better to do than pen my thoughts for next years goals.

I plan on doing the Raid Pyrenean with Capt Havoc and a few other reprobates during the summer. I will hopefully use the event to fund raise for Down Syndrome Ireland. For the past two summers I have used the Tour de Munster to fund raise for DSI. As my nephew has DS I see at first hand where the funds are spent.

Anyhow. I have had a mixed year on the bike. Some highlights were doing my first race and having some reasonable fitness for Mt Leinster Challenge, Etape Ras Mumhan. There were plenty of lowlights. Injury, Wicklow200 (which had me questioning why it is I cycle, Iveragh 200 (hopelessly lacking fitness).
I am now 1 & 1/2 stone heavier than last year.

This log is to help keep me honest.
I need to drop to a maximum of 13.5stone.
I am not scared about 4 days cycling in that I have done that a fair few times and know what is involved. Having been once to the Pyrenees I have an idea what is involved (other than lunacy).
Training regime will be a mix of diet and time on the bike.
On the bike will involve building up distance and back to back efforts.
I will take in as many 200km Audax events as I can, plus a few things such as Mt Leinster challenge and whatever else I can take in.
I won't be focusing on power but on HR. For me a steady effort will be climbing for 60-90 mins at 165-172bpm. The aim is to climb 300m in 20minutes. Usually it takes me about 20minutes to do 200m based on the climbs that I know. The training here will be a mix of turbo training and hill repeats.

This is a redux in that I had planned on the Raid two years ago but for work related reasons couldn't make it. That is not an issue at present.

ROK ON

Almost 80km done on the 28th. Kerry to Limerick.
Legs felt great. Powered up drag outside Castleisland in the big ring. Even after 80km legs felt as if I hadn't even been on the bike.
However aerobic fitness is beyond a joke. AvHR for the trip at 162, which is about 20-25bpm north of where it should be. Just puffed and blew whether going up hill or down dale. Now I am coming back from a bad chest infection and I have put on about a stone in a month.
All in all happy with how legs felt in that I didn't feel tired at all once I finished.
15.5 stone now. Need to sort out a diet and reasonable trainning schedule.

Would have hit 110km but punctured badly and wife was 25mins behind me so she picked me up outside Limerick for the final leg of journey in the car.

Going to try 110km in the morning.
I will try set up this strava thing to create a log.

ROK ON

83km done today with 922m of climbing (basically a loop with 2 8km climbs/drags).
Kenmare - Kilgarvan - Borlin Valley climb - Comhola - Glengariff - Caha Pass climb - Kenmare.

I normally do this ride in 3 hours, but today it took 3h47m. While I climbed as I do normally (avg 200m in 20min), I was very poor on the flat and the desents. Always gasping for breath. I feel as if I have no aerobic fitness whatsoever. I cannot summon any effort worth talking about. There was a lot of wind today, but even taking that into account, I am left with no illusions as to where I presently am in terms of fitness compared to where I need to get to.

My first event of the year is probably going to be Midleton 200 Audax. So I have about 8 weeks to work up to being comfortable over 200km.

Today was horrible, in that I had wind, incessant rain, cold, hailstones, sleet. In the past 6 months I have avoided going in in poor weather, so I am pleased that I HTFU'd and just got on the bike.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

http://app.strava.com/rides/3057975

http://app.strava.com/rides/3057976

Calculated power output is lamentably low. I know from turbo sessions that I shluld be capable of 190-220 riding tempo to sub threshold. I was held back on these rides through an inability to keep going for any length of time due to running out of breath.

J

chakattack

Nice log, jealous of the scenery you have for your training spins.

It might be worth taking 6-8 weeks to build an aerobic base instead of murdering yourself with hilly tempo rides now. I did this properly this year - long spins sticking like glue to the top end of my endurance zone always pedaling but never too hard - I had to avoid the urge to blast up small hills but after 3+ hrs you still feel like you've had a good workout.

I feel much better aerobically than last year - less huffing and puffing at higher intensities.

niceonetom

I'll be following this log with interest. The Raid is one of those things I plan to get around to once I get this racing thing out of my system. I've only done one day in the Pyrenees but it left me really wanting to go back and do it properly.

I'd agree with chakattack that a block of aerobic work might be better for you right now than riding hard all the time and trying to always climb at threshold. This is the first winter that I've spent significant time riding steady (not easy, steady) and, although I haven't done enough hard riding to know for sure yet, I feel like it has done me a lot of good.

The last couple of winters I was struggling with injury and the weather etc. and what little riding I did was all HARD. I was going with the Carmichael idea that hard intervals and the like can stimulate the same adaptations as endurance riding and that I needed to make up for lost time by jumping straight in. I don't think it was the right approach. I got faster but then plateaued and spent the whole year riding in the red. I could stay in the red for a long time but went into it too easily. I felt like I was 'running hot' all the time, like the fuel/air mix was off. I put that down to a lack of aerobic base. Now, having been on the small ring for a since November I find that my average speeds are pretty respectable considering that my HR is lower than I used to allow for long rides. Hopefully, once the tempo and threshold riding phases in more the speeds will rise again.

I'm not only pootling around btw, there is some intensity sessions and some strength work in the mix too. I'm just saying that there are benefits to moving away from the fast-as-you-can approach to every ride, and the winter has been very mild so far so it's possible to take advantage of it. I can't ride steady on the turbo.

Just my 2c. Anyway, good luck with it!

ROK ON

chakattack wrote: »

Nice log, jealous of the scenery you have for your training spins.

It might be worth taking 6-8 weeks to build an aerobic base instead of murdering yourself with hilly tempo rides now.

The scenery would be fantastic if only the incessant rain would stop long enough to actually see the countryside. Thanks for the advice. I have to say that I have come to the same conclusion, in that the two rides done thus far have brought home to me that I have no base, particularly compared to this time last year.

niceonetom wrote: »

I'd agree with chakattack that a block of aerobic work might be better for you right now than riding hard all the time and trying to always climb at threshold. This is the first winter that I've spent significant time riding steady (not easy, steady) and, although I haven't done enough hard riding to know for sure yet, I feel like it has done me a lot of good.

The last couple of winters I was struggling with injury and the weather etc. and what little riding I did was all HARD. I was going with the Carmichael idea that hard intervals and the like can stimulate the same adaptations as endurance riding and that I needed to make up for lost time by jumping straight in. I don't think it was the right approach. I got faster but then plateaued and spent the whole year riding in the red. I could stay in the red for a long time but went into it too easily. I felt like I was 'running hot' all the time, like the fuel/air mix was off. I put that down to a lack of aerobic base. Now, having been on the small ring for a since November I find that my average speeds are pretty respectable considering that my HR is lower than I used to allow for long rides. Hopefully, once the tempo and threshold riding phases in more the speeds will rise again.

Once again, I have to agree. I find that I am as strong on the hills as I ever was (not very strong), but that when I get into the red (too quickly tbh) I can stay there for a while. But I have no endurance. That 'running hot' analogy yoou use is interesting, in that that is how I feel. Always gasping and panting, always feel as if my lungs are burning, when I am simply pedaling along. HR has been elevated when there is no reason it shouldnt be (other than gross unfitness).

This time last year I hit 13.5 stone, the lowest that I weighed in over 12 years. Now I am two stone heavier. Diet and building endurance are the obvious ways to improve my situation on the bike.

Should I knock back on the turbo. I do two to three work outs per week (two are in classes). It is all strength building stuff/hill repeat simulations etc. I seem to be able to go deep into the red (too quickly though), recover and repeat in one hour. Not sure that given underlying weight and fitness that I should be doing the turbo classes.

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

I was going with the Carmichael idea that hard intervals and the like can stimulate the same adaptations as endurance riding ...I got faster but then plateaued and spent the whole year riding in the red. I could stay in the red for a long time but went into it too easily. I felt like I was 'running hot' all the time, like the fuel/air mix was off

It's not just Carmichael...

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/power-training-levels,-by-andrew-coggan.aspx

See "Table 2 - Expected physiological/performance adaptations resulting from training at levels 1-7"

Nowhere in that table (or the rest of the article) is there any mention of fat utilisation or glycogen sparing, which is surely important for a hard multi-day event.

The closest "going hard for longer" adaptation listed is "Increased muscle glycogen storage", but that only goes so far.

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

It's not just Carmichael...

I didn't think it was just him, though he's the one I most associate with the intervals-all-the-time approach. And I didn't mean to imply that it doesn't work either - there is science to it up. This my first time really comparing the traditional 'pyramid' idea of training and the more Carmichaelly way of going about things and ROK's description of how he's feeling at the moment reminded me of how I was feeling for large parts of last year. And how I'm not feeling now (though only time and training will tell if this base can be used to build upwards).

One word that is absent from that Coggan piece that is nearly ubiquitous in Friel's stuff is "economy", which is something I feel endurance riding helps with immensely. Obviously this is important for long days and multi-day events but my subjective experience of feeling more "economical" is also that my HR is lower while just tipping along. I used to be that my HR was virtually never below 140, even while sauntering along - and any injection of speed would result in an instant HR response. That was ok because, thanks to endless intervals, high HR wasn't a big deal as I could sustain it. Now it seems like my HR lags a bit more and I can produce a little more power without the system immediately going into lactate-production-and-clearance mode. It's a different type of economy and again, this is a subjective account done without power monitoring etc.

The way I think about it, and this might be wildly inaccurate scientifically, is that there might be lots of ways to produce, say, 250w. You could be producing a lot of lactic and also clearing it very well, or you might be producing very little and only just managing to clear what is there - and both with the same HR. The first situation feels like sitting in a room with a furnace and an industrial air-conditioner - the room is a stable 25° but noisy. The second room has a small heater and a small air-conditioner - the room is still 25° but it's more pleasant. Carmichael training feels like piling ever more coal in the furnace and forcing your air conditioner to just deal with it. Friel feels like turning the air-conditoner up a touch until the cold starts to make you want a better jumper. Or something. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. It made sense to me when I started this paragraph... gah.

AstraMonti

The thing is that you will never need to go full out on this trip. It's all about surviving 5 days going up and down. I don't think intervals are needed if you plan on doing only this. If you plan to race meanwhile that's another thing though. Maybe a plan will be to go steady up until march with back-to-back training days while keeping your diet controlled and then from March until 1 month to go start doing more hard and longs distances just to stimulate the enviroment. Core strength is also a very very big thing, imagine how much energy you can save climbing if your core is steady and can support you properly.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to this trip as well.. but I am going to race as well, so I have no idea how this is going to work out for me. I 'll probably end broken and single

ROK ON

AstraMonti wrote: »

The thing is that you will never need to go full out on this trip. It's all about surviving 5 days going up and down.

I can do the distance on the basis that I have done it a few times before. I need to focus on losing weight to climb better, and thus recover better. Also losing weight will help dealing with the heat. I have spent last few summers here, so I have forgotten what heat is. I am pretty sure that it is pretty uncomfortable for fat people.
True I need to focus on endurance building, but some interval work will help. There will be climbs where the gradients change quickly. There will no doubt be a few keenly contested sprints to the bar!!!

thebouldwhacker

Hey ROK.
Good to see you got your mojo back, this will be no bother to you, did it before so you'll do it again.
For a few reasons I haven't been on the bike proper since the SKT but I dropped the bike into my new LBS today for a full over haul, back to the saddle proper when I get it back.
Let me know if you wander over to the south east at anytime and I can show you the scenery.
Best of luck!!

ROK ON

Dropped 3lbs this week. Didnt put a lot of effort in just cut out the nonsense. This week will start the focus on diet.

Last week I did two turbo sessions with the club. These are close to feckin useless for me at the present in that intensity is nice, but at this stage I need fitness and endurance. Going to think about knocking these on the head, for a few months to concentrate on building a proper base. However I work from home, so it is great just to get out for a few hours to have a chat with some people.

3 hour 74km ride this morning with clubmates. Felt a bit better, but have so much work to do.
http://app.strava.com/rides/3179826

Beautiful day, but a horrible wind coming over Molls Gap to descend home.
I am going to try getting out for a mid wekk spin from now on, but it depends a lot on my schedule.

ROK ON

I was due to head out for 90 mins today, but weather is simply awful. Instead I did 75mins on the turbo listening to Depeche Mode and TRex.
Followed an endurance session recommended on the Wheelworx website.
Usual warm up and R/L leg exercises, a few spin ups. Then start in small ring/easiest gear and spend one minute in each gear all the way up tp the 12 sprocket and then back down to the 25. HR to stay at 75%, so only cadence changes.
Then repeat on the big ring.
I chose a medium resistance on turbo for both.
Finish with a few spins ups to get HR up, and then warm down.

I think that it is good for e to keep doing these types of exercises in that my cadence is and has been awful for a long time now. I can push a big gear at slow dadence all day. Unfortunately when I change gears my cadence remains slow.

I really notice it between bikes.
One bike has 50/34 with 12/27. The other has 53/39 with 12/25.
My time on the 4.5km climb on both bikes to the Caha Pass Tunnels (5%) or the Molls Gap climb (3.2%) is almost identical. This tells me that I do not get any cadence benefit from the easier gear on the same climbs - I just work a little less hard. This needs to be rectified to get up long Pyrenean climbs in reasonable shape I feel.
It may seem that I am putting an emphasis on speed while climbing. Maybe, but that is not the intention. My simple thesis is that the longer on the bike the less time to recovery. recovery is godd. I want to do more of what is good. I have done events where a 160km stage would take 12 hours due to stops for the weaker cyclists and lunch breaks etc etc. My view is that weaker and less fit cyclists would benefit from a more brisk pace and more recovery rather than being out all day.

I have also put together some events in order to keep the mind fresh.
19 Feb Blarney CC - Donal Crowley 1ookm
10 Mar Midletin 200 Audax
17 Mar Utterly Butterly (a club organised sufferfest in the mountains around Ballyvourney, Millstreet and Rylane).
1 Apr Ardattin 200 Audax
7 Apr http://www.etaperasmumhan.com/
15 Apr http://www.karetourdefoothills.com/
29 Apr Blackstairs 200 Audax
19 May MtLeinster Challenge
27 May Mick Byrne 200
16 June http://www.tourdeburren.com/

This is an ambitious enough list for a father of three to complete in, so it is aspirational rather than fixed. A lot of negotiating will have to be undertaken.

ROK ON

7 hours down this week.
4 on the turbo. 1 intense turbo session at club spinning class.
3.15 using an endurance based work out with max HR at 85%, but much at 70-80%. focus on cadence and strength exercises.

Hoping to get out for 3.5 a 4 hours tomorrow.
Lost 4 lbs this week which isn't bad considering a night out at local restaurant.

ROK ON

3.5 hours over 83km today. I am not sure if that is correct, in that when I stopped for a quick coffee in Ardgroom my garmin recorded me drinking an espresso and eating a slice of brown bread at 10.1km/h.

Anyhow a flat route. The rain and wind were pretty brutal, so I am simply content that I just managed to saty out in it. Two punctures. On my winter bike I changed from my standard 23mm Conti GP4000s, to Conti 25mm Four Seasons. Rarely punctured on the lighter, grippier 4000s, whereas I have had 7 punctures on the 4 seasons - I have punctured on every cycle where they have been used bar one. (Tyres are cleaned inside and out and glass/stones are plucked from the tyre). Annoyed.

For first time in a while I was not puffing and panting for breath - legs were a bit tender but that is more than not due to 4hrs + on the turbo this week. I prefer tender legs and more stamina than the other way around.

http://app.strava.com/rides/3363756

Strava data is corrupted in that it doesnt adequately record the last 25km.

Next week I will hope for three turbo sessions (1 intense and two endurance/strength based). Hopefully get to 100km/4 hours at the weekend.

ROK ON

Down half a stone since this training log began. 15 st on the button.
Only 21lbs left to go in five months.

Thus far this week I have done two structured turbo sessions (both sufferfest DVDs). Tomorrow and Friday will see two spinning classes with the club.

Goal for now is to build endurance and add little bits of intensity.
I want to stick with 7-8 hours of training per week. 3-4 turbo sessions and one long bike ride.

As the evenings lengthen I will substitute turbo for longer evening spins. As I live in the countryside I prefer not to cycle after dark. When I lived in Dublin this never bothered me as there was always some form of lighting (for example there is light all the way out to Enniskerry, Leixlip,Maynooth and Saggart for the most part).

I am hoping for a longer spin this weekend with two 6km climbs at between 4 & 5%. I want to go up at a comfortable pace HR wise and see what that is.

seve65

Have you signed up for the strava base mile challenge for Jan, you may get some amusement/motivation from moving around several hundred places with each ride you log. Its vaguely interesting to check out what some of the other gals and guys are up to around the cycling world.

thebouldwhacker

seve65 wrote: »

Its vaguely interesting.

Ha, admit it Seve, your addicted!

ROK, fair play, sounds like your making great progress!

ROK ON

Today I started out with great intentions. Heading out with a few clubmates for 3-4 hours. I dissuaded one of my clubmates to avoid doing very steep climbs such as Ballaghbeama and Ballaghisheen this early in the year. It was important for me to build a good base on long shallow climbs and kick on from there. All was going well until the coffee stop at the half way point. Over a very strong dopio espresso I had a brainwave brainfart. I persuaded the guys to avoid the main climb from Glengariff to the Caha Pass tunnels (8km at 3.8%) to try a climb that covered all of that in 1.7km.
Two of the guys were very very eagre climbers and said no bother (and to them it was no bother).

So into Glengariff forest, faff around getting lost. Ask a farmer how to get up the climb. Made it to the climb.
U was now entering the 7th circle of hell.
1.7km at 14%. I made it up from 40 to 170m and I spasmed very badly and toppled over and fell. Took my about five minutes to work the cramp out. The gradient here was about 25% so I had to walk. Walked about 0.5km and got back on at a flattish point (12% being flat). After a few hundred metres cramped very badly. I was no on the ground trying to stretch to work the cramp out.

More walking.

Got back on and made it to the top.
In the 1.7km I imagine that I walked for about half.

Quads are now in a world of trouble. Trobbing and stinging. Spent about 10 minutes stretching after I limped home.

The reason this climb was a bad idea is that
(i) I am 14st 12lbs. Too fat for it even with 34/25 gearing.
(ii) There was no reason to do it, any time I do these super steep climbs I get very very bad cramp that fuc*ks me up for days.
(iii) On the Raid which is my primary goal I do not believe that there will be too many stretches of road that have an average gradient of 14% over 2km (I can think of 1 on the Hautacam, which is not on the Raid route. None on the Tourmalet, Aspen or Peyresourde). So maybe they exist on the Solour etc I dont think so.
(iv) I am going to be in agony tomorrow and it does nothing for my base fitness.

Stoopid stoopid stoopid.

Never again. (Last time I did that climb I did it 3 or 4 years ago on my cross bike with gearing that was 30/27 - it was hard then. Today it was much more difficult).

http://app.strava.com/rides/3501333

The Forest Climb (a lot of walking, cursing and shouting involved).
http://app.strava.com/rides/3501333#63161769

Other than that this week was good.
4hours of turbo sessions, 3 of which were cadence/base fitness building and one was reasonably intense but not crazy.
4 Hours on the bike 3 hours was worthwhile.

Next week I am going to try an easy climb like the Healy Pass!!!!

thebouldwhacker

Fair play ROK.
I think I'll print off your post and stick it at the base of every climb I eye up between now and April!!

*edit* scrap that, I looked at the map again and I see which climb your on about, nasty alright.

Hope you recover soon, if pain is weakness leaving the body you must be real strong now!!!!

ROK ON

Thanks.

Quads feeling tender today, but thats to be expected. Happy that poor state of fitness is gradually improving - but still have a long way to go.
Strava is good in that I can see my performance versus other times that I have done the same climb.

I am up to #6 on the descent of the Caha Pass. I am highly confident that I can beat that in that the descent yesterday was slowed by a string headwind and that there were county council workers out line marking so that I had to slow to aovid them on a straight section were I would never normally touch the brakes.
Its nice to have a challenge.

seve65

you have taken on what looks like one of the most difficult climbs in the country there, 2.4k @ 10.8%. irelands answer (outside of priests leap) to the Angliru. You now hold what must be the slowest av speed for a kom on Strava Well done

seve65

couple of others down there not quite as tough as your ride:

app.strava.com/segments/678856 mt gabriel 2.7k @ 10.1
app.strava.com/segments/730731 barley lake, 2.5k @ 10.3

thats where your next training rides should not be going

mloc123

I see you have a power meter, which one did you get?

Any reason you are not training based on power figures, have you ever?

ROK ON

mloc123 wrote: »

I see you have a power meter, which one did you get?

Any reason you are not training based on power figures, have you ever?

Hi
I dont have a PM. I have done some turbo classes, where there was a power calc on the computer attached to the turbo (but I do not know how accurate it was).

At this stage given my goals I wouldnt use a PM, in that I dont believe that I would use it appropriately.

Also, having done a few very long climbs (10-15km) I would add that my aerobic fitness will give out before the legs will. So on that basis I am reasonably content to use HR.

There are certain HR zones below anaerobic capacity that I can stay in for a reasonably long time.
When climbing in the Pyrenees I want to be able to climb mostly at subthreshold as opposed to super threshhold, but I would like to climb a bit more briskly than I do at present. For example, on climbs near where I live it would seem that my calculated VAM is between 500-600. This makes sense as it takes me about 20 minutes to climb 200 meters (regardless of the gradient).

I want to move that figure up. So a PM maybe beneficial, but weight loss, endurance building and training on climbs repeatedly will also be required and I can do these without a PM. Whereas even if I had a PM I would still have to do these.

mloc123

Ah, I saw the power details on Strava and presumed you did. It must guestimate power maybe.

lennymc

only noticed this now ROK ON, good reading, and good inspriation for the raid!!

ROK ON

8.5 hours this week.
Compromising of 4 turbo sessions (All Sufferfest).
2 were with a few mates so I pushed myself pretty hard and worked thru all of the intervals (not sure how wise that is given my lack of aerobic fitness or endurance!!!).
2 were on my own. Here I operated at about 75-80% of the recommended level for the duration of the session - I focused more on spinning. SPinning is an area that I badly need to work on, but I can see some benefits on the climbs. I am actually thinking about putting a cadenence monitor back on my bike - I took it off a few years back after the bike (Orbea) or the wheels (Shimano RS20) flexed and the cadence sensor ended up in the wheel destroying it.
http://app.strava.com/rides/3671965

Hit about 100km in 4h15m this morning on a club spin. As is usual I was dropped on every climb. However on two of the climbs I pushed myself as hard as possible without going anaerobic and was happy that my speed was steady and my HR was steady but at aerobic capacity.
In the two climbs in question (Caha Pass) and Healy Pass I know have markers as to where I am.

The only problem with going hard on the climbs is that my legs were in pieces and I was very disappointed with my descents. Normally I can push hard on the descent and also recover.
I would be able to sustain 50km plus but at a very low HR.
Today I could barely turn the pedals and was almost 10km slower, but my HR was still elevated from the climb.
My avg HR was 160. That is too high for this type of cycle and illustrates just how unfit I am. By May I would like to be able to do the same cycle far more efficiently (say at a similar pace but at a 140 avg HR*).

Today was a tough reasonably uncompromising route in very cold rain all day. It was not the wisest move in the world to do a turbo session on Friday night followed by a hilly 100km cycle on the Saturday morning.

No real weight loss this week having dropped 9lbs in first three weeks in January. Weight did not rise however so remains at 14st 12 or 13 depending on the scales.

Next week I will possibly cut back on the turbo to three sessions as opposed to four. While this week has probably done me good, I know that I am going to pay for it. Cest is wheezy, have been sneezing since I arrived home and my legs are in pieces.

Next week I will aim for 8 hours over three turbo session and one long real bicycle ride.

* I am aware that HR can vary for very very many reasons and that it is an imperfect measurement of effort. However I dont need perfection. Something that is an affordable gauge of my effort will do just fine for now.

ROK ON

A chest infection and general feeling feeling wrecked all week meant I had only 1 hour on the bike (turbo session).

In the 4 weeks leading up to last week I averaged 8hours per week between turbo and outside on the bike, so I think I am due a spin.

Feeling little bit better this morning but still very tired as I did not manage a lot of sleep this week due to inability to breathe properly with the infection.

Despite inactivity I still managed to shed another pound so now weigh in at 14st11lbs.
I would like to be 14st7 by end of Feb.

Debating whether or not to bead out today.
Plan for the week is 3-4 turbo sessions and a 4hour spin at w/e.

ROK ON

Not a bad week so far.

4 Turbo sessions this week. Legs are throbbing a bit, but Ive never really minded that. It feels good in a way. Thats the first time that I have done a turbo on four consecutive days.

I may get a sessiion in tomorow night with the club. Then hope that I can get out for a decent spin at the w/e.

A few years ago, I found the thoought of someone like me training on a turbo abhorrant. I thought it was a daft idea. However it rains a lot where I live and I cant be bothered to cycle in the dark and p!ssing rain. In a way I have grown to actually like the turbo, I now look forward to spening an hour beating my ass. I find the work outs mentally very easy - I guess you just get used to cycling indoors.

ROK ON

9 hours this week logged. 5 consecutive sessions on the turbo - the last one on froday was a very easy session just to work the stiffness from the legs.

Today, just under 100km in just under 4hrs.
About 100m of ascent.

Very happy with todays ride.
First climb is about 5km at 4.2%. I took 1 minute off my previous time, so thrilled tbh. Ended up climbing at 1km/h faster with a similar HR profile. SO I must be getting somewhat fitter.

On the second climb of the day (Glengariff to Caha Pass tunnels) I took 8m35s off my previous attempt. Now in fairness I was in a group and was paced up for much of it. But I do feel good. Some much stronger climbers made it to the top a pretyy short time before I did.

All in all pretty happy with todays workout. Feel tired now, but good tired as opposed to wrecked tired.

Plan for the week is 2-3 turbo sessions (although if I can get out for a spin later in the week I will try that instead). Then first sportif is Sunday (Donal Crowley Memorial in Blarney).

http://app.strava.com/rides/4097710#75962374