Sometimes you just know that you have had a good week of training. It may be the volume, it may be the quality, but you just know that you have hit all of your targets for that week and the training is now 'in the bank'. Well for me, this week was one of those weeks. I usually overload my programme and work on the assumption that I will lose 2 or 3 sessions per week (sometimes more) due to work or family commitments, but this week I made every session (with some adaptations to allow for fatigue). So the volume was good and the quality was good - RESULT!
In plain terms it means I have clocked up over 13 hours of training and 333km (206 miles in 'old money') on the bike; there have been lots of low intensity miles but also 2 good quality turbo sessions. I have continued rowing and my pace has steadily increased in recent weeks and this week included some 75 minutes of rowing as well as a stretch and flex session that I have neglected in recent weeks. I also bagged a long road ride with Coastal Controller (thanks Jonny), notching up over 3 hours and 80kms on a very pleasant Saturday morning; surely it can't be long until shorts and t-shirts are the order of the day? It's amazing what confidence a good training week gives you, and a few other changes in my life have also seen me lose 3 pounds of lard this week and am now within just a handful of lbs of my 2010 target race weight.
One of the sessions I adapted was this morning's turbo session; I had planned to do an hour at 38kmh (Challenge Barcelona target race pace) and take the average HR and see how this reduces through the summer. However, there was some fatigue in my legs this morning so instead of overloading them with another hard session I decided to build gradually and then only do 10 mins at 38kmh. I picked a gear and went up one gear every 10 minutes and at 50 minutes I was at 38kmh and maintained that through to the hour point; the HR was stable at 151 (give or take a beat) or 81% of max HR. I'm very pleased with this as a starting point and hopefully with fitness gains over the next 6 months I can reduce this by a few beats; ideally I would like to get this figure close to 140 but have no idea if this is possible in 6 months.
I've also made arrangements for my Litespeed to receive the TLC it deserves at the local bike shop and it should be ready in plenty of time for the New Forest Spring Sportive next month (18 April to be precise). I am so looking forward to riding this bike again after a long winter on gym, turbo and training bikes.
2010 is shaping up to be a very good year on a number of levels; I hope yours is going as well as mine. Train smart.
In plain terms it means I have clocked up over 13 hours of training and 333km (206 miles in 'old money') on the bike; there have been lots of low intensity miles but also 2 good quality turbo sessions. I have continued rowing and my pace has steadily increased in recent weeks and this week included some 75 minutes of rowing as well as a stretch and flex session that I have neglected in recent weeks. I also bagged a long road ride with Coastal Controller (thanks Jonny), notching up over 3 hours and 80kms on a very pleasant Saturday morning; surely it can't be long until shorts and t-shirts are the order of the day? It's amazing what confidence a good training week gives you, and a few other changes in my life have also seen me lose 3 pounds of lard this week and am now within just a handful of lbs of my 2010 target race weight.
One of the sessions I adapted was this morning's turbo session; I had planned to do an hour at 38kmh (Challenge Barcelona target race pace) and take the average HR and see how this reduces through the summer. However, there was some fatigue in my legs this morning so instead of overloading them with another hard session I decided to build gradually and then only do 10 mins at 38kmh. I picked a gear and went up one gear every 10 minutes and at 50 minutes I was at 38kmh and maintained that through to the hour point; the HR was stable at 151 (give or take a beat) or 81% of max HR. I'm very pleased with this as a starting point and hopefully with fitness gains over the next 6 months I can reduce this by a few beats; ideally I would like to get this figure close to 140 but have no idea if this is possible in 6 months.
I've also made arrangements for my Litespeed to receive the TLC it deserves at the local bike shop and it should be ready in plenty of time for the New Forest Spring Sportive next month (18 April to be precise). I am so looking forward to riding this bike again after a long winter on gym, turbo and training bikes.
2010 is shaping up to be a very good year on a number of levels; I hope yours is going as well as mine. Train smart.
2 comments:
Your secret's safe with me ...
All that decent training needs to be backed up with some real cycling shots! I think it's time for the 'how to pee on the side of the road' pic to come out T Man.
Post a Comment