NO LOVE HANDLES ALLOWED!

'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.' Theodore Roosevelt 23 April 1910

Sunday, 30 August 2009

The BIG Fortnight - The End

Well it's over and it really caught up with me today. I did 75km on the road but felt a bit flat and my legs were definitely tired. Week 2 was not as successful as Week 1 for a variety of reasons - bike serviceability issues cost me 1 road ride, a hangover cost me 1 turbo session and we had 1 family day out. So only 200km clocked this week but it did include 2 of my 3 key turbo sessions, so it wasn't a complete disaster. Over the 2 weeks I have ridden approx 640km. The family day out was to the Isle of Wight and although no formal training was done we walked a very long way and I was on my feet for some 10 hours, so a bit like an endurance session. That said, I feel confident about Barcelona, and intend to ride the TT bike out on the road a lot more over the next 4 weeks.

One question for the coaches please. I am only planning to taper in the last week, but am unsure what the taper should consist of. I fly to Barca on the Thursday arriving late in the evening and Friday I will collect my bike from Kelda and have a short ride to confirm all is well with it. We are staying in a hotel with good sports facilities so gym bike session on Friday and Saturday are certainly options. I was thinking something along the lines of:
Monday - 3 x 6 mins @ 105% FTP + extended warm up and warm down with periods at recovery and IM race pace.
Tuesday - 90 mins at recovery.
Wednesday - 2 x 20 mins @ 95% FTP.
Thursday - Rest and travel
Friday - Short road ride and gym bike session.
Saturday - Very easy gym bike session, approx 30 mins. Sleep a lot.

What do you think?

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