The UCI World Cycling Tour is behind me now and I am certainly happy with the post-race results analysis of my effort. There were a number of positives that I took out of that race that were enough to lift my spririts again after confirming that the top 25% of the 70 riders would see the first 18 receive an automatic invitation to participate in the final in South Africa - missed it by one place! So it was back to training and it was a mixed week with a some significant efforts interleaved with some rest and recovery.
Monday was certainly going to be nothing but recovery and the legs were feeling a little fatigued but there was a hint of soreness in the tendons behind and to the outside of the left knee. I rode the majority of the recovery ride in RE with a few spikes into E1 here and there but it was not completed with the usual vigour and the legs suffered a little bit - even in RE.
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Tuesday was a monster of an effort and really forced us to work the guns. We were punished by Matt Illingworth in Kings Park which is not the place you want to visit again so soon considering memories of Sunday's sufferfest were still lingering.
After Brad's introduction of the man I believe to be a true Terminator (a machine inside living tissue), he happily informed us that we would be completing a 20km team time trial. What!! You're kidding right? You know we were suffering as it was because of Sunday and you wanted us to do that? Yes, three laps around May and Lovekin Drive at a tremendously painful 38 km/h average.
After the TT, we were given some time to recover as Matt began to disclose to us his plan to make us suffer even more. He almost looked like he was enjoying the painful expressions that he was observing on our faces as he demonstrated what he wanted us to do. 5 repeats of the Lovekin Drive hill at reasonable pace but in 53/17 or a gear that would produce a cadence of just 50-60 RPM. Was he toying with us? He said he'd like to see 5 repeats but he understood that some of us had completed the UWCT Qualifier on Sunday so 4 might be OK. Of course, we all knew there would be no settling for less than 5.
It started out OK with the first one but the memories of the 8 painful climbs of that menacing stretch of road came flooding back and the subsequent efforts were excruciating. It was a supreme level of suffering that the hamstrings had never felt before - and I mean never! Not even Malcolm St produced this level of pain (damn close though). By the time we had done four of these torturous intervals, the fifth one was not something I was looking forward to completing but I finished it strongly and was completely satisfied with my effort across the repeats and the pace at which I completed them.
The end of the session brought a mixed bag of feelings. Satisfaction and achievement along with various forms of pain and suffering. The tendons behind the knees were fine while we tapered off to the end of the session but by the time I got home, they were screaming at me and I spent an incredibly uncomfortable day at the office concerned that I may not make it home. I rode straight to the physio to book in a remedial session to help the legs recover but I would have to wait until Thursday.
A small consolation came through in the form of a Strava PR on Lovekin Drive and a 7th Overall on Lovekin Drive to the Roundabout (at least until Damir and AP spoiled it). Two segment achievements I am still very happy with.
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No ride on Wednesday allowing the ligaments around the left knee to recover - and the rest of me. Brad had me down for an easy end to the week with a significant reduction in my work load so what better what to start.
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I decided to join the group at the Bell Tower on Thursday morning for a roll around the river but someone forgot to tell the rest of the group and it turned into quite a workout. The group set a strong tempo as we headed out Mounts Bay Rd and it seemed to set a standard for the rest of the ride for me and I noticed I was consistently holding a gap on the group starting with the short climb up The Avenue in Nedlands.
I would complete each of the usual route efforts with a gap on the bunch and then maintain the gap for a little while before easing up and allowing the group to catch up again. This resulted in two Strava PRs for the two more noteable hill sprints on Preston Point Rd and Majestic.
By the end of the ride there was no sign that the effort had aggrevated the ligaments in the knees and a visit to the physio in the afternoon confirmed that there was no damage there and that the indications were that the pain was more from the load on Sunday that had caused some ligament friction resulting in some soreness. So good news that nothing is out of the ordinary however I will stop in to see Nick on Saturday to check my cleat alignments.
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Another early rise on Friday morning for a zip around the SPR Friday Canningvale Loop. The wind seemed to have picked up over night and was blowing a south westerly as I arrived under the Narrows.
The group rolled out down Mill Point Rd and onto Labouchere Rd into the wind which kept the pace down a bit. I'm not sure how strong the wind actually was as somehow I had ended up on the back of the group so the effort to keep up was not significant. I was happy to sit in as I didn't really need to be riding any significantly strong efforts.
The pace did pick up a little as we rode along The Esplanade down to Mount Henry Bridge and through to Leach Highway however there were calls to "ease up" as we moved along Leach Highway itself and it was a little easier pace-wise as we reached Webb St and rode off Bull Creek Rd and onto the west end of Riverton Drive.
This is where everything changed! I was second wheel in the group as two or three riders came streaming around us at a significantly faster pace and were winding up for what would be a Strava PR for me along Riverton Drive out to Shelley Bridge (Short Shelley segement).
As the pace hit 40+ km/h, most of the pack had jumped onto the lead riders in an effort to keep with the pace and take advantage of the breeze being almost directly behind us. It was a totally unexpected 4.5 km sprint along the river and the pace got to a point where there was absolutely no coordination in the effort and it was just a case of hanging on if you could or get demolished as you were spat out the back in a wake of destruction to be picked up by the stragglers.
It had no trouble keeping with the faster riders and I sat 3rd wheel for a while with one or two short turns on the front before other riders would come around and take their turn. As we approached the last roundabout leading up to the east end of Riverton Drive, a car approached the roundabout on our right which balked three riders in front who hit the brakes causing riders to spray off in any direction they thought was safe. But the car had stopped and allowed us through so I kept the burners blazing and rode pretty much the last third of Riverton Drive (to Shelley Bridge) on the front between 45-48 km/h.
We hit the point that signified the start of the final sprint and the effort on the front had had an effect on the legs and two riders came off my wheel and around me to take the sprint honours at the end of the stretch. This didn't bother me as I was positive that I would have racked up a PR for the segment - 45.2 km/h with an average HR of 149 bpm over 4.6 kms. Kind of made me wish I had done this ride on the Venge and really cleaned up!
That effort seemed to have cooked the group as it seemed to be the last and only significant effort of the ride. I mixed it up with Heath Bell a bit as we hit the climb up Hayman Rd and onto Douglas Ave and again up Mill Point Rd to the top of the hill near the Zoo which rounded out the ride nicely.
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So a couple of solid efforts amongst some rest and recovery resulted in a good week of riding. I kept the kilometre count up with a number of commutes to and from work and the knee ligaments are back to normal and any soreness has completely gone.
Next week will see another session with Matt Illingworth on Tuesday morning and it's back to the hills again with repeats of Crystal Brook Rd on Thursday.
--
No ride on Wednesday allowing the ligaments around the left knee to recover - and the rest of me. Brad had me down for an easy end to the week with a significant reduction in my work load so what better what to start.
--
I decided to join the group at the Bell Tower on Thursday morning for a roll around the river but someone forgot to tell the rest of the group and it turned into quite a workout. The group set a strong tempo as we headed out Mounts Bay Rd and it seemed to set a standard for the rest of the ride for me and I noticed I was consistently holding a gap on the group starting with the short climb up The Avenue in Nedlands.
I would complete each of the usual route efforts with a gap on the bunch and then maintain the gap for a little while before easing up and allowing the group to catch up again. This resulted in two Strava PRs for the two more noteable hill sprints on Preston Point Rd and Majestic.
By the end of the ride there was no sign that the effort had aggrevated the ligaments in the knees and a visit to the physio in the afternoon confirmed that there was no damage there and that the indications were that the pain was more from the load on Sunday that had caused some ligament friction resulting in some soreness. So good news that nothing is out of the ordinary however I will stop in to see Nick on Saturday to check my cleat alignments.
--
Another early rise on Friday morning for a zip around the SPR Friday Canningvale Loop. The wind seemed to have picked up over night and was blowing a south westerly as I arrived under the Narrows.
The group rolled out down Mill Point Rd and onto Labouchere Rd into the wind which kept the pace down a bit. I'm not sure how strong the wind actually was as somehow I had ended up on the back of the group so the effort to keep up was not significant. I was happy to sit in as I didn't really need to be riding any significantly strong efforts.
The pace did pick up a little as we rode along The Esplanade down to Mount Henry Bridge and through to Leach Highway however there were calls to "ease up" as we moved along Leach Highway itself and it was a little easier pace-wise as we reached Webb St and rode off Bull Creek Rd and onto the west end of Riverton Drive.
This is where everything changed! I was second wheel in the group as two or three riders came streaming around us at a significantly faster pace and were winding up for what would be a Strava PR for me along Riverton Drive out to Shelley Bridge (Short Shelley segement).
As the pace hit 40+ km/h, most of the pack had jumped onto the lead riders in an effort to keep with the pace and take advantage of the breeze being almost directly behind us. It was a totally unexpected 4.5 km sprint along the river and the pace got to a point where there was absolutely no coordination in the effort and it was just a case of hanging on if you could or get demolished as you were spat out the back in a wake of destruction to be picked up by the stragglers.
It had no trouble keeping with the faster riders and I sat 3rd wheel for a while with one or two short turns on the front before other riders would come around and take their turn. As we approached the last roundabout leading up to the east end of Riverton Drive, a car approached the roundabout on our right which balked three riders in front who hit the brakes causing riders to spray off in any direction they thought was safe. But the car had stopped and allowed us through so I kept the burners blazing and rode pretty much the last third of Riverton Drive (to Shelley Bridge) on the front between 45-48 km/h.
We hit the point that signified the start of the final sprint and the effort on the front had had an effect on the legs and two riders came off my wheel and around me to take the sprint honours at the end of the stretch. This didn't bother me as I was positive that I would have racked up a PR for the segment - 45.2 km/h with an average HR of 149 bpm over 4.6 kms. Kind of made me wish I had done this ride on the Venge and really cleaned up!
That effort seemed to have cooked the group as it seemed to be the last and only significant effort of the ride. I mixed it up with Heath Bell a bit as we hit the climb up Hayman Rd and onto Douglas Ave and again up Mill Point Rd to the top of the hill near the Zoo which rounded out the ride nicely.
--
So a couple of solid efforts amongst some rest and recovery resulted in a good week of riding. I kept the kilometre count up with a number of commutes to and from work and the knee ligaments are back to normal and any soreness has completely gone.
Next week will see another session with Matt Illingworth on Tuesday morning and it's back to the hills again with repeats of Crystal Brook Rd on Thursday.
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