Training Log 1/11

This was a big week. Basically I took the workouts from last week's work-free "training camp" and compressed them into a normal working week. And with less volume came greater intensity. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday were breakthrough days, for different reasons. This was the first Tuesday workout where I really felt like I was digging deep in true sprint-like seated efforts. No more small gear stuff. The power numbers seem pretty good for seated efforts (averages mostly around 650W for 20s, with the first at 750W) and after 9 repeats, my legs felt a lot like I'd done an all-out sprint workout (ie. felt like lead). Doing them shorter than last week meant I went a lot harder. Looking forward to next week's, which starts the transition from seated to standing sprints.

Wednesday I got up extra early, at 5:30 (went to bed at 9:30) so I could do a longer tempo workout, adding longer lower-power 12min repeats to the shorter reps I've been building since November. The shorter reps now peak out with a middle interval at 95% of my threshold/MSS wattage as measured in early November, so I am starting to do a bit of subthreshold work. These Wednesday workouts are the best example of what I wouldn't be doing without the formal coaching that's great for raising my threshold power. Nice bonus was that I was going pretty quick on flat to rolling terrain, so covered 40mi in 2h 10m. Feels good to cover a respectable distance during the week.

This Saturday was a monster climbing day. My coach, Peter, suggested I move off the headlands and do my repeats on Panoramic instead. It's a great climb for it, and doing the 10m intervals in the middle of a 20-30m climb feels more meaningful, since the interval is book-ended by solid aerobic work that serves as warm-up and recovery between the descents back down the hill. Here again, I've now worked up to doing sections at 95% of MSS. 

And I can't say enough how beautiful the views were from Panoramic. Riding does mean more to me than the numbers, and doing the repeats actually let me enjoy the details of the scenery, coming down the hill looking at the Pacific and breathing in the moist air of the redwoods groves on the way up. Liam and I stopped on Hwy 1 on the way to Stinson to take a picture with my Blackberry, but the lens was fogged up and it didn't come out.

Long week, and I was somewhat tired today. A 3.5hr base ride served a bit as recovery.