So it started raining right around 5:00 today.. Damn and blast it.. had to drive home. No 3 minute hill repeats for me.. not on the road anyway.. had to do them on the wind trainer. Holy shucking fit.. that was hard.. After 20 min warm up I did the first one.. figuring that 300 watts is deep enough into my VOmax, that's what I tried to hold for the first 2-1/2 minutes.. after which I go full gas for the last 30 seconds.
Interval No 1: 313 watts average at 88 RPM
Next comes 8 minutes of recovery, and I needed every second of it.. but not a second more..
Interval No 2: 305 watts average at 108 rpm average
Ouch. After this one, I felt like my head would explode. Spun it out for 8 minutes afterwards, resolving only to do one more of these..
Interval No 3: 296 watts at 96 rpm
I really felt myself fading during this one.. and for a change, instead of charging out of the gate at 350 watts, I tried to start out slow and build up.. Didn't work too well. I felt so cooked afterwards.. but little voice in my head said "finish what you start".. Coach said four of these are required.. so I did a fourth..
Interval No 4: 308 watts at 94 rpm
That was better than interval no 2! Proof that being warmed up can add watts to otherwise tired legs.. IMHO.. I must say.. I've done these same intervals on actual hills and they never felt this difficult.. As Coach Scheske put it on the phone today.. taking a rest week isn't about coming out of it faster or stronger.. it's about being prepared and fresh and responsive to the next period of adaptation (or "build" as some call it) There's a big difference between tapering and taking a rest week. My expectations were not realistic. I don't think I'll be 100% at Attleboro, but that takes a little pressure off, which is a good thing right now. I am gunning for a top ten,.. no, a single digit finish in at least one event on Saturday.. which will be no easy feat with the caliber of the fields I see developing on Bikereg.. I wonder if the old man and the clydesdale raced at Working Mans in this rain?
America's #1 Balance Bike Destination
America's #1 Balance Bike Destination
2 comments:
No racing Thursday night. Called off due to flooding at the track and dangerous conditions. GC as it stands.
If you don't mind my asking, what are you building toward? Is this just a building year? The road season is over in two months...
My "A" races are the Keith Berger Crit and Bob Beal. So the remaining duration of the season is irrelevant. I still have room (and time) for improvement.
Forget the races SB, it's a matter of principle too. I now pay a coach money every month to give me a proper training program, advice, feedback, etc. Obviously I take it pretty seriously.. that is, the matter of staying on the upward curve as much as I possibly can. So much untapped potential. No more "junk miles" passed off as training. That's the beauty of training with power.. Even with no one to impress and no races to win, you can still get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from seeing the numbers tick upwards, week after week.
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