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

Friday, 21 August 2009

The BIG Fortnight - Friday Week 1

No Sags, that isn't you either!

Today was the session of pain, both mentally and physically, the 40km turbo TT. I woke up feeling a bit lethargic and my legs are beginning to feel the mileage I've put into them so far this week, but after breakfast, a walk along the beach and a strong coffee it was time.

I mentioned yesterday that I was hoping for a good result as PoD has more appropriate gearing for this sort of effort, but it still hurt. A lot! I started off at a sensible pace of approx 310 watts and after 8 minutes flicked it up a gear and was producing about 335 watts. I couldn't sustain this, though, and had to drop it down a gear and back to 310 watts but I found I could recover at this power level (just below FTP) and I was able to put it up a gear after 5 minutes. And this is how the session progressed; 5 minutes at the higher power level and then 5 minutes recovering. With about 8km to go, though, there was no place for recovery, just pain, pain, pain.

At the end I was spent, so spent in fact that I failed to note the average power for the session - what a muppet! I did, though, record the time. And yes, it was another PB. I am really chuffed, coming as it does at the end of a big week. The time? 50.33! Get in there!! Back of the net!!!

Tomorrow will be a very easy day; I was planning 2 hours but it may just be an hour as we will have visitors staying. And then on Sunday it's the New Forest Rattler, and 78 lumpy miles. I hope that DOMS doesn't put in an appearance because I want to feel fresh and strong and am targetting a Gold standard finish. Bring it on!

Train smart folks.
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2 comments:

Sags said...

Brilliant!! Well done Mick. That must have been hard! Still, if the time is a PB, I am sure that average power must be up? Enjoy the Sportif and let me know how it goes - ride strong

Sub-5 Sub-5 Sub-5 ............

21 August 2009 at 13:10
Turbo Man said...

Cheers Sags. Yes, the figures are just numbers on a scale but they are getting bigger so I am improving. I know now that the sub 5 target time at Barca is physically achievable but need to get the pacing and feeding right, although as I will not be swimming or running there is a little more flex in the nutrition strategy.

21 August 2009 at 14:39

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