Golden Gran Fondo (GGF) Week 2

A full week back on the bike and the miles are accumulating quickly. This week was the start of the TrainerRoad 8 Days in California challenge so I slipped off my training in the latter days. It will finish up next Saturday and the I will just slot back into the plan. So here is how things broke down;

Monday. The Sufferfest Elements of Style, always good to work on form and develop good habits.

Tuesday. TrainerRoad Glacier. 3 sets of Anaerobic capacity intervals; 5x2-minute efforts at 130% FTP with 5-minute recoveries. 6-minute recovery valley, 5x1-minute repeats at 150% FTP with 3-minute recoveries. 6-minute recovery valley, 5x30-second bursts at 180% FTP with relatively long, 3-minute breaks between them.

Wednesday. TrainerRoad West Vidette. 45 minutes of aerobic Endurance riding ranging from 50-80% FTP. A couple of stops futzing with cleats as they slipped, they need replacing.

Thursday. South Guard. 5x12-minute sets of 30-second steps which rise by 3% until 115% FTP is reached. Then, you'll step back down via those same 3% steps until you've descended to 91% FTP. The second ascent will only take you to 106% FTP before again stepping back down to 91% FTP. Recoveries between intervals last 4 minutes each. Switched to Tri shoes and felt better, reinforces need for new cleats and/or review of road shoes. This was hard but doable. Dropped off my bike at Wins Wheels for a tune up.

Friday. Off. Like. A. Boss!

Saturday. 8 Days of California. Day 1 of 2015's 8DC is a pan flat course which includes 3 intermediate sprints on the way to a spectator-friendly set of 4 finishing circuits including 6 turns per lap and culminating in a final, all-out sprint effort. Picked my bike from Wins Wheels, shifting is so smooth now! Also fitted some new Speedplay cleats…so much better!  I changed things this time and went with their new Walkable cleat, review to follow.

 

Sunday. 8 Days of California. Day 2 of 2015's 8 Days in California is a course that rolls substantially over the first half of the course and flattens out into a sprinter-friendly finish over the latter half. This course includes 3 intermediate sprints as well as a single KOM/QOM. Once I had finished this ride I went out on the road with Becca and added another 36 miles and after that jumped on my Mountain Bike and tagged along on Becca’s brick run. It was a good cool down ride!

In contrast to the regular TR ride the 8DC rides are proving to be challenging simply due to the fact that is minimal downtime, you can see that in the images above.

So for the week:

8 workouts, 168.94 miles in 10:25 I missed my strength work, which I need to do otherwise it will come back to haunt me!

Still on track for somewhere north of a 600 mile month.

In case anyone is interested all screenshots are from SportTracks.