This week was set to represent the last week of hard training before a recovery week next week so with over 1,965 quality kilometres completed for the month of January and a solid 110km the previous Sunday, a recovery day was probably a great way to get the week started - well at least a recovery ride.
Not being woken Monday morning by the irritatingly drab tones of the smart phone alarm was welcoming but somebody forgot to turn off the body clock and I woke almost on queue at 4:45am thinking it was time to get up and go. It was equally welcoming to be able to roll back over and go back to sleep for another hour or so.
Seeing the earsterly winds, I decided I would get on the bike and use the commute to work for my recovery as it should prove to be relatively easy going. I would take my chances on the afternoon winds easing up a bit for the ride home but I should probably have consulted the online weather forecast as the ride home was straight into a howling wind - still coming in from the east.
Monday was complete with a rather healthy sized serving of pasta in preparation for Tuesday morning's group training which Brad had promised to be a painful session of speed and lactic endurance work - ouch!!
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Kathy's pasta storm was perfect. I don't know what she put in it but it certainly had me more than ready to face the group training session on Tuesday morning. I arrived at the top of Mount Street in Kings Park feeling really strong, full of energy and more than ready to take on whatever Brad threw at us.
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| Click to view larger image. |
Nine of us started with a "warm up" circuit of Lovekin-May-Lovekin in small groups of 3 riders with the stronger group heading out last. The idea being for each group to catch the group in front. I was surprised when Brad had me going with the second group instead of the first but I guess the form I demonstrated in the Early Bird Time Trials convinced him that I was ready to step up a level.
Brad was right! I felt more than comfortable taking my turns at the front and we caught the first group 3/4 of the way down May Drive. We kept the power on until we reached the top Forrest Drive intersection for the second time and recovered while waiting for the last group to come in. A great start to the morning but the hard work was yet to come.
We made our way back down Lovekin Drive and stopped at the bottom intersection of Forrest Drive and prepared for a session of sprints all the way up Cardiac Hill. This required us to sprint as hard as we could from a standing start and maintain maximum power until the top of the hill (past the DNA tower) and repeat the exercise 3 times while trying not to add on too many seconds to the time it takes for each effort. All I can say is that by the time you complete this for the last time, the legs are screaming at you to stop but the recovery is an amazing feeling.
After a recovery lap of the Park I could still feel an energy build up from the previous night's carb intake so I decided I would try and use the energy to fight the easterly wind with a ride out to Shelley Bridge and back home via the Narrows. The wind seemed relentless and felt as strong as it had been on Monday afternoon but this made for a good workout to finish the morning's training.
In the end, I figured that while I was "enjoying" the pain, I would tack on a commute to work to round the morning off with a 100km total distance and a respectable HR level throughout. It required a ride home of about 22km in the afternoon and as my luck would have it, it was into strong easterly winds again, but it was worth it as I just managed to attain a 1,000 mile achievement on the Strava Base Mile Blast being run over a 25 day period in January. A nice way to finish the month.
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Other than a commute to work and back again, there was nothing worth reporting for Wednesday training. I will note, however, that THE NEW BIKE HAS BEEN ORDERED!!! Read more here.
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Hurtsday had me back into the hills again with 4 repeats up Crystal Brook Rd. The humidity was disgraceful and it felt like I was riding through thick custard. By the time I completed the repeats, I was more sopping wet with sweat than if it had rained heavily - which probably would have been welcome in my book.
A quick ride out to the base of the hills included an all out sprint along Star Street in Carlisle which is an 800m stretch of road with slight undulations. The effort was rewarded with a King of the Mountain time on Strava for the segment (segment details here). There's only 11 riders who have done this segment which is a bit of a shame as it's probably an ideal segment for sprint training and one that I will keep in mind for my next sprint intervals session.
A standing start for each of the four efforts up Crystal Brook Rd would allow me to better compare each effort equally and the first attempt was managed with a personal best time of 00:04:17 (or 00:04:15 @ 15km/h avg for the Strava segment placing me 10th overall). The image here shows my splits (2, 4, 6 & 9 are the climbs) but what is not shown is the consistent HR across each climb - not a beat difference in averages between each of the four climbs. It was lower than I had anticipated (keeping that to myself) so hoping that's a sign that the fitness and strength is still improving.
It's funny what goes through your head up there. I recall thinking after finishing the first climb: "How the hell did I do four of these last time?". But you push on and get through them even though the one you just completed hurts a lot more than the previous one. By the end of the last effort, you have mixed thoughts of "god the pain is terrible" and "can't wait for the next session up here" all while trying not to empty your stomach!
Very happy with Thursday's effort and the achievements gained so will be interesting to see how I go next time - possibly on the Venge!
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Friday morning presented a different type of "soaking", this time from the rain and not my own sweat like yesterday (oh, the humidity). What is it with the weather this summer? It's almost like we are getting back to the weather we used to get 20 years ago. Even the wind couldn't make it's mind up, blowing westerly one moment and then easterly the next. However, summer certainly makes the rain more tolerable than winter.
Despite the inclement weather, I headed out to the Narrows his morning to see if there would be anyone else interested in getting wet on the bike but as expected the meeting point under the bridge was deserted. I waited until 5:30am (still quite dark) to see if there were any other mad cyclists but no sign of anyone other than the people fishing off the river bank.
Rather than trying to compete with traffic on the busier roads of the Canningvale loop, I decided to play it a bit safer and do the Fremantle and Como river loop. There was no sign of the rain easing up so the sunglasses stayed at the back of the jersey and I ventured into the somewhat moderate rain and a slightly annoying wind to help angle it into my face.
In the end, it did seem as though I wasn't the only one brave enough to face the conditions this morning as there was the odd cyclist out amongst a surprisingly high number of joggers and walkers that weren't troubled either.
I got through to Claremont and decided that I would see if I could climb Shenton Rd Hill a little quicker and maybe take another step up the KOM leaderboard on Strava. Not an all out effort but just enough to move into second place overall for the segment with a 30.0 km/h average climbing pace. A bit of extra effort next time might see me take KOM.
As I swung through North Fremantle, I encountered yet another one of those friendly semi-trailer drivers that refuse to give you an inch of road space. Not to let it deter me, I used his draft to get me over Stirling Bridge at a casual 50km/h+ and up onto Canning Highway - nothing like a free ride.
As I passed through Point Walter I almost expected to see Brad towing some of the guys around for the Friday morning moto-pacing session but it looks like the weather scared them off as well as there was no sign of them - nor could I hear that distinctive sound of Brad's scooter running around bright and early through the quiet suburban streets.
And as Perth's weather would have it, I arrived home just in time for it to stop raining. Typical!
A quick ride out to the base of the hills included an all out sprint along Star Street in Carlisle which is an 800m stretch of road with slight undulations. The effort was rewarded with a King of the Mountain time on Strava for the segment (segment details here). There's only 11 riders who have done this segment which is a bit of a shame as it's probably an ideal segment for sprint training and one that I will keep in mind for my next sprint intervals session.
 |
| Click to view larger image. |
It's funny what goes through your head up there. I recall thinking after finishing the first climb: "How the hell did I do four of these last time?". But you push on and get through them even though the one you just completed hurts a lot more than the previous one. By the end of the last effort, you have mixed thoughts of "god the pain is terrible" and "can't wait for the next session up here" all while trying not to empty your stomach!
Very happy with Thursday's effort and the achievements gained so will be interesting to see how I go next time - possibly on the Venge!
--
Friday morning presented a different type of "soaking", this time from the rain and not my own sweat like yesterday (oh, the humidity). What is it with the weather this summer? It's almost like we are getting back to the weather we used to get 20 years ago. Even the wind couldn't make it's mind up, blowing westerly one moment and then easterly the next. However, summer certainly makes the rain more tolerable than winter.
Despite the inclement weather, I headed out to the Narrows his morning to see if there would be anyone else interested in getting wet on the bike but as expected the meeting point under the bridge was deserted. I waited until 5:30am (still quite dark) to see if there were any other mad cyclists but no sign of anyone other than the people fishing off the river bank.
Rather than trying to compete with traffic on the busier roads of the Canningvale loop, I decided to play it a bit safer and do the Fremantle and Como river loop. There was no sign of the rain easing up so the sunglasses stayed at the back of the jersey and I ventured into the somewhat moderate rain and a slightly annoying wind to help angle it into my face.
In the end, it did seem as though I wasn't the only one brave enough to face the conditions this morning as there was the odd cyclist out amongst a surprisingly high number of joggers and walkers that weren't troubled either.
I got through to Claremont and decided that I would see if I could climb Shenton Rd Hill a little quicker and maybe take another step up the KOM leaderboard on Strava. Not an all out effort but just enough to move into second place overall for the segment with a 30.0 km/h average climbing pace. A bit of extra effort next time might see me take KOM.
As I swung through North Fremantle, I encountered yet another one of those friendly semi-trailer drivers that refuse to give you an inch of road space. Not to let it deter me, I used his draft to get me over Stirling Bridge at a casual 50km/h+ and up onto Canning Highway - nothing like a free ride.
As I passed through Point Walter I almost expected to see Brad towing some of the guys around for the Friday morning moto-pacing session but it looks like the weather scared them off as well as there was no sign of them - nor could I hear that distinctive sound of Brad's scooter running around bright and early through the quiet suburban streets.
And as Perth's weather would have it, I arrived home just in time for it to stop raining. Typical!
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