That was painful.
I did a Half-Monty on Friday to get completely fresh numbers for the tour and started my Tour on Saturday.
Interestingly, the first half felt hard as my legs took some time to wind-up from the previous days’ efforts, but the second half was, dare I say it, “enjoyable”.
The most painful part was that I’ve been rebuilding my fitness after a break having only used HMs, so while my FTP and MAP are new for this tour and a stretch over recent numbers, my AC and NM are still at old (high) numbers, so those last intervals were killer
Systm having identified my riders weakness as climbing, decending flat road, sustained efforts and sprints, downward spiral was always going to be difficult. I decided to dial down during the warm up, my legs were screaming no not again… but a recovery scuppered that plan.1st effort had me decide to dial down again, where was the bit where you walk about while watching a penguin waddle, brain not thinking right…pesky recoveries always convince me to try one more effort, then Job done nuclear plan intact exploding will have to wait for another day
Legs a little sleepy to start with but the first interval woke them up! Found this one a relative relief after yesterday’s tougher one (…for me anyway). Loving this tour so far. Tomorrow profile looks (mad) fun
Set up the app, hit play, jump on the bike and the first acceleration sound comes though. Warm ups, yeah we’ve heard of them…
The soft light of an early season classic, cobbles, and electro-dance music. What a fantastic workout - vintage Sufferfest.
Stage 3 complete. Started at 100% of all settings. Legs felt a little rough during the warmup so I set the it back to the focused version settings. MAP 90%, everything else at 100%. Did the first set and felt pretty good so I pushed MAP up to 98%. Did this thru the first half of the second set. Still feeling good, I put MAP back to 100% and finished it off.
Felt very old school getting my @#$% (well, legs) kicked by the Original. Survived at % again, but I think The Downward Spiral is a good counter-argument to the Sufferfest “you can do ANYTHING for xx minutes” mantra.
Never thought I’d find myself longing for a nice, sustained FTP effort.
Stage 3 in the bag. I’ve never done Downward Spiral Before. It was fun and manageably brutal in Focussed mode (90% MAP). Overall, I’m having a weird tour. I came down with a cold on Sunday (not COVID–I’ve tested twice). Not the worst ever, but annoying. Bizarrrely, I feel crappy all day except for when I’m doing the TOS stages. I hope I’m not slowing my recovery too much.
Third stage complete. I am really feeling it in my legs - enough to wake me during the night with some discomfort. Today’s Nominal Power was 9% more than my Downward Spiral from 1 year ago … so I am making progress. Glad I went 100% on this through to the end, though I definitely learned my lesson and will try to avoid the penalty sprints next time across the tracks. Looking with great anticipation & apprehension for what is in store for us tomorrow. At least the person on tomorrow’s video looks to be smiling … so it can’t be too hard, right?
Oh, and lest I forget - was so happy to see the finish line today, made a donation to World Bicycle Relief in Grunter’s name. Thanks for the pain shakes, GvA!
% again, but I think The Downward Spiral is a good counter-argument to the Sufferfest “you can do ANYTHING for xx minutes” mantra.
