Prettay prettay prettay good.

Yeah, have to agree with that one.

Laying in bed waiting for a sleep aid to kick in.

The race at the end of this month was canceled due to lack of entrants (what would have thought), so I decided to get some volume in on a route I mapped out last season. About 4 miles of it was closed to cars because they tore the road down to gravel for a repave. About a mile of it was covered in visqueen (thick black plastic tarping to prevent water damage), which was weird as hell to ride on. Pushed a bit in the last three hours because I knew I’d be racing the sunset at the end.

Length: 124.3 miles
Elev: 9551’
Time: 6:53:24
NP: 236W
TSS: 355
Kcal: 5314
Avg spd: 18.0 mph


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...650013217.jpeg

Cypress Excellent ride. That is a really good average solo speed for 124 miles with 9551 feet of climbing.

oof, checked my PMC, last Sunday CTL was 81 TSB -9, today CTL 68 TSB 35. Came back from our trip on Thursday and was supposed to pick up my son from my parents' house Friday but we all ended up staying the weekend, so lost 2, and probably with today 3, days of riding. Not sure exactly where to go with training, I finished base phase but I probably won't have fun going right into high power build stuff, not at 100% anyway.

5.5 fat burn stuff Friday, 4 yesterday with 4x23 tempo, 5:10 today fat burn stuff. Today was my first outdoor ride since sometime in early December I think? It was quite nice to take in scenery.

Gonna rest up and begin the usual vo2/race specific stuff next weekend.

Rain on Saturday and a 2.5 hour endurance ride on Sunday featuring team time trial with long pulls. Next week is supposed to be warm with temps in the high 70s.

1.5 hours Saturday, 2 hours yesterday. Felt good.

Cypress That ride would serve as a sleep aid for me, as in I'd sleep for a week. Really high average speed for that ride.

Work has been all-consuming lately, and I literally had not ridden my bike for the last 2 weeks other than a couple of commutes. (And one of those was on a Jump bike) But we passed a milestone on Friday and I was actually able to ride on both Saturday and Sunday. No intervals, no structure. Just riding around, enjoying the fresh air. I forget sometimes how nice it is just to go for a ride, so that was a nice reminder.

Tried for new 8min PR. Failed. It's an erg bike. I made the mistake of going out of saddle at around 5min in and it ups the resistance to match the cadence to hold the power. But, when starting to spin again it doesn't let off very quick and you're left with a mammoth effort to get it spinning again after already dying for 5min. It made me spin over 400w for a few seconds before it "let off" and that was too much. That put a fork in it. Also, going up a full 30w in one bit was a bit adventurous. Maybe 10 or 15w more and I'd have made it.

I will do it this year though. 8min at 350w. Sometime.

Sold my ERG, Fluid 2 for everything now. Much prefer it...can output whatever the body will allow.

I use a fluid at home. This is in the gym at work. They have some stationary Cycleops Pro 400 bikes with Powertap hub based power meters on them. My "control" of it is essentially a +/- button on the display. Some folks have added gears to these and hacked them so Zwift can control the resistance........but I ain't got time for that.

At home, yeah, fluid all the way (until budget will allow for a smart trainer, then just do a test in Zwift).

First anaerobic workout of the season is tonight. I'm actually nervous, as I have no clue how it'll go.

3 intervals of:

30 seconds @ 720W
4 mins @ 405W
30 seconds @ 720W
5 mins of 205W between intervals

If I don't check back in, just know I died doing what I love.

That's a substantial watt sandwich. That is a tasty burger.

If you happen to like the taste of a burger coming back up...

This looks like an interesting workout, some late solo break vibes. What is your estimated FTP right now? I might want to try that scaled down a bit for me (145 lbs, 305-ish FTP at the moment).

Rest week, did 75 min on the TT bike this morning with 1x15' on Fiesta at my road FTP just to keep the blood flowing. I'll do a short jog tomorrow, a couple other easy rides and then kick things off again with a 80 min P/1/2 crit on Sunday.

FTP is around 350-355 at 152 pounds. You've pretty much nailed the idea behind this workout. The 30 second spikes are 200% of FTP and the 4-minute middle bit is 115%.

For you, it'd be:

30s @ 610W
4 mins @ 350W
30s @ 610W
5 mins @ ~168W, then repeat two more times.

3 hours of endurance with a long time riding friend plus one chocolate covered donut. Amazing day. I need some 600 watt crap. Next week is two sessions with my coach in Carson.

Legs took a hike. Combination of getting off of work 1.5 hours late and not riding since my Bogus Journey on Saturday. As soon as I started pedaling I knew any real workout was out of the question.

Total bummer.

Excluding post-ride dehydration, I just saw 156lbs for the first time I can remember?!

being back from vacation and a whole week off has resulted in feeling like garbage. Did 3.5hrs monday, yesterday did 30 z2 before bailing and today did 40 of just endurance before bailing. Hopefully will start to feel like myself, supposed to start build phase but at this point I'm barely tolerating endurance.

Did some tempo/ss crisscross on a rolling road last night to shake out the legs. I wanted a sporadic cadence to break up whatever was gumming up the muscles, so I spent about 30 mins bouncing back and forth between 85 and 120 rpm at ~300W. My rear derailleur got a hell of a workout.

Did 68 miles with 4000 feet yesterday with swirling winds and, ultimately, headwind with 5 faster riders. None of them were hurting this time but they took it easy on me. They said they could tell I have improved and I can feel it, but I don't collect data.
What I have found is after hard efforts I feel pretty beat. I'm climbing better than I have in a long time and have gas in the tank late in the ride but it takes a lot out of me.
The last time I went with the fast group on a Saturday hammerfest I was able to keep them in sight longer but I was toast for days after that.

How do you manage recovery after hard efforts? I always have rest days and sometimes a short spin on those days. Maybe this is the new normal for my fredliness.

I try to ride the day after. It doesn't always work out though. Just an hour in Z2 does wonders for breaking up muscle damage. Are you fueling during these rides, and are you eating healthy immediately after the ride?

If I don't get a lot of wholesome food in me within 1-1.5 hours after I get off of the bike, I consider the ride a wash. My go-to is rice, baked chicken, and hella broccoli. I tried the plant-based diet and couldn't hack it.

I had a good lunch on the ride yesterday and wasn't starving when I got done. I do have trouble fueling correctly when I do the faster rides. I've also wondered if I get enough protein after hard rides or if adding more protein would help.
Years ago I used whey products like Perpetuem on hard days, maybe I should try that again. Don't like gels.
Doing what I did yesterday was fine. I was tired but not destroyed. They waited after the steeper climbs and we had plenty of chances to get water.
Now that I am a little more fit I am inclined to chase faster people on some Saturday rides and that is when I get spanked. Less waiting for stragglers, less stopping for water, etc.
I've considered just not doing those rides when hammerheads are there, but they can be a lot of fun. Getting old sucks.

On longer hard rides, I usually do 100-130 calories every 30-ish mins after the hour mark. Easier to put down one mouthful of something every 30 mins than to have to juggle and force a small meal down while holding wheels in a line.

Before I even take my kit off, I'm mixing and slamming Vegan Recoverite (plus pills) from Hammer Nutrition. That will at least allow me the time to get undressed, take a gander at Strava/TrainingPeaks, shower, then make my real food.

(sorrynotsorry for the sponsor shilling)

got on again for more z2, again went 30mins where 65% felt like tempo. Can someone's FTP fall 10w in just a week off?