Everesting Week 7

This was going to be a big week, it’s was the last build session before a rest week and the penultimate one on the TrainerRoad Sustained Build (High Volume) Plan. Here is how it shook out;

Monday. Off. One thing I am finding is that a zero miles rest day makes the next day really hard so I am now going to add a gentle ride/spin just to keep the blood flowing.

Tuesday. TrainerRoad. Jacks. 4x8-minute intervals at 105% FTP with 1-minute recoveries between intervals. Total time @ intensity is 32 minutes. Seated climb for first interval, dropped cadence and gearing and had standing climbing for last three intervals. 2 mile extra warm up and extra 3 miles cool down.

Wednesday. TrainerRoad. Senaca Rocks. Lots of seated effort. 3x15-minute intervals @ 85% FTP with 5-minute recoveries between intervals. First Interval at 60s RPM second 80s RPM and tried for 90s RPM for third! Extra 2.5 miles W/U/C/D.

Thursday. TrainerRoad. Mount Goode. 3x15-minute intervals at 97-99% FTP with 8-minute recoveries between intervals. Extra 3m WU and 2m CD. Struggled with wattage. Fell off on second interval, rode third as 5mins standing, 5mins seated @85rpm and 5mins standing. Added 1000m rowing to finally cool off

Friday. TrainerRoad. Pettit. Pettit is an hour of aerobic Endurance work spent between 60-75% FTP.Optional form drills include Form Sprints, Endurance Spinning intervals, and quadrant drills like Pistons and Kick & Pull drills. Started to see some Power drop outs?

Saturday. TrainerRoad. Meteorite. 5 mile warm up then 4x20-minute over-under intervals with 2-minute valleys at 80% FTP and 3-minute peaks that ascend to 95-100% FTP; endurance intervals between over-unders are 15-minutes long. Lots of technical issues with this ride? My Power and HR kept dropping off, a problem with my sensors more than anything? I stopped rebooted, restarted and after two hours on the bike it was all I could do to not step off and kick my bike over and then as if by magic things came back online. I guess a Unicorn must have flown overhead at that point!

Sunday. Today's ride was about saddle time. I had planned for 6 hours but 5:30 was fine. First 60 miles were flat and fast, albeit with a headwind for 3 out of 4 directions! At Mile 60 I turned inland from PCH and rode through Decker. Nearly lost my cookies and had to stop twice to get my HR back below 95% max. Finally got to the top and rolled back the next 20 miles to home. A good day on the bike and a massive week with 240 miles racked up. Becca was out on the route SAGing me and she also had our DSLR, she grabbed a couple of great photos!

Here’s another look with a Grade profile turned on with emphasis on the climb;

This really was great training, a lung busting climb after 60 miles (3:20) in the saddle! Nobody said this was going to be easy but this ride was a solid reminder of exactly how hard it is going to be!

So a pretty big week, in fact I think it’s my biggest ever!

239.93 miles in 14:53 including 1000m and five minutes of rowing!