Hi guys and welcome to Week 20 of the series. Managed to stick together a strong week of training during the third week of my low cadence block, though I was struggling a little by the end of the week. Next week will be a deload week to hopefully recover from the increase in intensity. I have also officially joined a club and got my British cycling race license and signed up for some early season races. I’ve got lots more races in the calender, but I want to first assess how the racing progresses before signing up for them.
Week 20: 21:19 hrs, 618.9 km, 6543m elev.
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Morning guys Monday week week 20 of the series out for 4H hours zone two today actually a really nice day for it it’s uh it’s Mega cold like getting getting close to zero like 2° or so um so I’ve properly wrapped up got all all the
Layers on it’s also Mega windy so that’s making it feel colder than it actually is haven’t had rain for the past couple of days and since it’s proper windy it means the roads are nice and time which is good nice change during the winter so yeah just cracking out cracking out my 4
Hours today finally warmed up a little bit after 40 minutes so ible like Bree through my nose at the start I’m like oh my God so cold that can bear to breathe in through the nose but thankfully it’s it’s warmed up a bit I’ve warmed up a
Bit just taking five just about an hour left to go in the ride nice and steady yeah just tagging on an extra stint to top myself up to 4 hours before I head back home so peaceful and quiet right now like just before sunet out in the middle of the
Peak even my drive train is being really quiet this is lovely morning guys it’s Tuesday I’m on the bike for another located session today so um ni day for it Dy very windy though um just on my 12 uh 5sec Sprints those were pretty good struggling on on
A few of them early on I was Cadence was way too low cuz I was getting in the wrong gear and going so slow into head um so I realized really need wanted to pick the Cadence up so for the last four reps or so I really focus on having a
Being an easier gear easier than you’d think you w um and then really being able to spin it out with the high Cadence and yeah I think the power was not there on those last ones so need to be aware of the Sprints had be in a
Lower gear than you’d realized you want to be at a nice and high page well I know for me to get the most power I’m going to be at a quite High Cadence so yeah something to good to realize that move out to a hill to do my uh low
Cadence and high Cadence efforts 3x 6 minutes low Cadence um and then 2 by 8 minutes High Cadence yeah 18 minutes low Cadence and then some actual work the high I think the drive side bearing in the in the rear wheel needs replac is there’s this Flex towards the cassette
So there isn’t the flex go really the flex going the other way so I’m assuming it’s just one of the bearings but I’ll have to get those replaced relatively soon so yeah 3 6 minutes located done that was good uh just doing a bit of an
Easy Spin and then G with the 2x 8 minutes High Cadence same road legs are already feeling nice and flushed out so really getting good at recovering after the the high torque work which is PR good this what 50 rpm looks like 2 8 minutes done that was all right as well
Um just hour easy Zone 2 now and Sun’s come out as well which is nice change of pace shopping now fa the coming back heading to the gym now for rec session um was planning on getting my haircut first so got to hairdresses at half 4 and they shut five but they
off already so can’t be doing that need to get hair cut later this week very much overdue what head to the gym now and get a good session in good gym session I’m feeling better than when I got there so it’s a they positive feeling a bit ropey at the
Start but then just got into into the swing of things and yeah it was end up being a decent session so I’m pretty sure this dri side bearing needs replacing so going to take that to the bike shop tomorrow also need to I think the bearings on this wheel
From the the TT bike I got need replacing as well so um just take both of the wheels down tomorrow and have them uh get them fix this TT bike back to having 20 mil of spaces and then I’ve also finally put the um the mount on
There as well when I’ve been in the TT position with the helmet on I’m pretty sure that’s where I want the computer to be basically as high up as possible um just finally um did the little adjustment of finding the correct number of spaces um for the the length to fit
It in there so yeah that’ll be good rather than just having my computer on the on the table so going to put this little disc in the in the saddle 100% happy with it being on these back rails rather than the the the closer one rotate this disc anticlockwise so jam
And Allen key in there and rotate anticlockwise to have the two pieces come apart hi guys it’s Wednesday just doing 3 hours Zone 2 on the CT bike today weather’s not atrocious outside but it’s looking nice the rest of the week so probably going to be getting out every
Day so need to want to get some time in the time TR position so made sense to just riding doors today hard session yesterday and then also at the gym so legs learning how to get rid of that fatigue definitely doing better than I was last week and the week before but
Still something to consider that I’m not going to feel fantastic on these rides at the moment it’s going to take getting use to the training no need to push it in these sessions it’s all about getting some decent zone two miles in while it’s being recovered for those sessions cuz
At the end of the day those sessions are what’s going to be moving the needle so that’s why I want to prioritize my recovery going towards going to put the helmet on do some drills just 2 minutes in the position 2 minutes rest for maybe 90 minutes I don’t know see
How see how I’m doing that’s that’s a long time but if I get into the into the swing of things then can do it for a while just done an hour of uh 2 minutes in position 2 minutes rest and so now for the last hour I think I’m going to
Do bit longer in position so maybe 3 minutes in position 3 minutes rest for the hour and get another 30 minutes of work done in the position another 30 minutes of time trial position work there so doing 3 minutes on 3 minutes off for the for the third hour of the
Ride so an hour of total work in a pretty aggressive position so shoulders are pretty knacked but yeah it’s going to be really helpful to get a lot more comfortable in that position over time so yeah really happy with that and it’s a lot easier to focus on these
Indoor Zone 2 rides when I’m working on something like that different stress stimulus rather than just pushing hard on the pedals it’s focusing on that body position and it is also comfortable to ride mid to high Zone to when I’m in that sort of position um just to put a
Bit more torque through pedals so yeah uh really nice solution to doing these indoor zone two rides working on the time tral position and yeah it’s gonna really pay dividends in the summer as Thursday just indoors doing another low Cadence session today 12 5c Sprints and
Then move on to the low Cadence work continuing to increase the volume at low Cadence so it’s 2x 10 minutes low Cadence so big long effort but did 2×9 last week so it should be absolutely fine to do this after that just 2×9 minutes High Cadence to yeah keep the
Legs ticking over flash out flush out the byy products not I’ll have super heavy legs when I go to the gym in the evening that’ll be good built up to be able to do these longer efforts so should be absolutely fine for 10 minutes but yeah it’s not going to be easy for
Sure done my 12 5c Sprints now uh legs are feeling pretty heavy at the start and then I do the Sprint and then my legs feel so much better after doing it it’s kind of weird um I just need that stimulus to get them warmed up and then feeling a lot better
Going into these low Cadence efforts at least that’s what it feels like two big low Cadence intervals now so it’s 2 by 10 minutes and then 2 by 9 Minutes High Cadence after that so yeah 2 by 10 minutes done I think the main thing is like on a day like today
Where I’m never I’m not feeling 100% there’s definitely fatigue in the legs I’m still able to do a session like that um that’s the main part of the session I mean I’ll do the high Cadence work and see how that goes but um know it’s so good that I’m just able
To get those efforts done to a high quality no matter how I’m feeling sort of thing really nice um happy with that Bloody hard work but yeah should be like you’re pushing really high T like 70 newon me spin the legs out and then have a crack at the high Cadence stuff see
How that goes few 9 Minutes SK hike in done there um not going lie that’s was pretty hard uh yeah um didn’t help I had to do like an extra little effort cuz started the first one and the power just wasn’t coming up um that’s cuz I the resistance
On the trainer was too low and I feel like you couldn’t get up to 400 watts with that resistance so had to bin off that effort and start again so that a bit of waste of energy your legs are so fatigued from the from the low Cadence
Efforts that those High Cadence ones are really difficult so if I knew that I knew they might be really hard ends up being harder than the the loow efforts cuz you’re doing it later on but yeah got done still decent still like good power um nice and under
Control like heart rate’s very under control it’s very much just a muscular thing still just another solid session in the bank um so I can’t complain really and then rest week next week to flush some fatigue out the system and then go hard again for another 3 weeks so yeah good
Stuff hi guys it’s Friday just out for 3 hours zone two today um not the not the nicest day but definitely wanted to get out on the bike today um yeah super foggy but it’s actually very mild wind compared to what we normally have even though there’s no there’s hardly any
Wind there as the roads are actually surprisingly dry which is making a nice change um yeah so should be a nice 3 hours legs to legs are feeling surprisingly good after after my uh hard talk session yesterday and then the gym as well so um yeah that’s nice just but
Yeah just keeping it steady today so that I can be nice and recovered for my uh my session tomorrow so yeah and why there many be a lot nicer at the weekend so that’s a plus also got the the peak torque approved wheel set up with the
The shallower wheel on the back and uh the deeper wheel on the front cuz I got my training wheel rear wheel in the shop so got to be on the on the new race wheel on the rear standing wheel real I got morning guys Saturday absolutely
Lovely day and out for probably around 4 hours today but got some efforts to do as well loc more loc efforts to do um so yeah did the first two hours with the club start off with and then they stop to the calf I’ll crack on with my
Efforts now start with the low Cadence efforts cuz I’m out by the the hills that are good to do it on and then uh once I get back so long as it’s not I’m not 4 and a half hours in I’ll do my do my 12 uh 5sec Sprints um see how they
See how they perform at the end of the ride rather than the start um but yeah I aim to still get those is done so 3x 8 minutes low Cadence and then 2x 10 minute High Cadence I’m actually going to take my jacket off and stash it um
Cuz it’s Suns come out and I think I’ll get a bit too bit too warm during those efforts got my 3 by 8 minutes low Cadence now um yeah that was all right actually the last low Cadence uh work I’ll be doing for the next week or so
Cuz next week on the on the rest week I’m just going to be doing High Cadence to remove that fatigue of the of the high torque work so um yeah happy with that last set and um so now it’s just 2x 10 minutes High Cadence now and then
Then head back 2x 10 high Cadence done um yeah finished it off but that was quality really just wasn’t there um definitely not worth doing any Sprints cuz they’re yeah they’re just not going to be very good um be a waste of time cuz if the quality is not there for that
Highend stuff it’s just not worth doing you’re just adding extra fatigue with no benefit first effort legs are like super fatigued and left hamstring basically on felt like it was on the verge of cramping um and then that second effort was just yeah awful power no Cadence not
On top of the gear just wasn’t wasn’t happening and you know it’s not surprising good efforts on the low Cadence though so that’s the main thing but yeah just head home now top it up to well just be a bit over 4 hours so yeah like I said not bother with the Sprints
Now yesterday I actually signed up for my first couple of races so I’ve got so i’ got some races in the calendar now first race is going to be end of February um so that’s going to be a road race and then start of March got a 10
Mile time trial and then uh the next three weeks after that it’s going to be three different Criterium um all all all local to me which is which are really useful for those criteriums I’m going to do the the cap 3 cap 4 race rather than
The cap 4 only race just to get more experience competing with some slightly better Riders putting the the first first few weeks of raced in the calendar don’t want to sign up for one’s one’s way ahead because uh depending on how those first ones go I might decide to
Enter slightly different categories so if they go really well and I’ve moved up to cap 3 then I’ll enter what’s called nap B race so that’s um any one two three race um and try and get a better a good result there or I get more points
If if I did if I did better good to get some events in the calendar so that I’m like locked in okay I’m doing these but don’t want to can’t be thinking too far ahead because I haven’t done a race yet I need to get the experience and see how
It goes first of all um and then we’ll we’ll approach it from there so yeah um obviously looking ahead in the calendar to see what events I might be wanting to do but not signing up for them straight away um as I’m judging basic how I’m responding to the races and uh probably
Going I imagine it’s going to be the case for six Monon season and try and compete most weekends just to to get enough points really for maybe 30 to 40 races I’d say um British cycling races that is so that’s going to be most weekends I’m going to be aiming to
Compete really hopefully some like midweek um criteriums come up that’ll be really useful to get multiple races done in in in a single week when it comes to the summer um because yeah aiming to get to capat one so need to be getting lots of points and that just means entering
Lots of races basically it makes sense that at the start of the season end of the winter starting spring uh there’s going to be a bit less less races so um but still want to just get involved straight away way and it’s still time to
To get points um under the belt so and get the experience which is the main thing so yeah um looking forward to that a couple months two months out from the first race now so yeah um that’s probably the only be the case that I just don’t taper for these races at all
I just uh use them as a as a training session as part of whatever training block I’m doing um and then it will only be the the hardest race in the summer probably CTT Nationals where and maybe some road race that I want to Target
Where I try and taper for it but for the most part it’s just need to get racing and uh continue to improve the fitness for for the long term rather than just focusing on the results of the races