Rock Cobbler Week 5

Post travel and sickness I was anxious to have a solid week and these seven days didn’t disappoint. Monday was a holiday and so it seemed rude not to hop on the bike, anyway here’s all the details:

Monday, TrainerRoad Obelisk. Monday recovery ride makes Tuesday a better day. Obelisk is 4x3-minute intervals of leg-speed drills at a very low 60% FTP with 3 minutes of rest between intervals. Focused on keeping the pressure on the pedals light and the intensity low to moderate regardless of the cadence. Hopefully will set me up for a good FTP test tomorrow.

Tuesday, TrainerRoad 2x8 FTP Test. Second FTP in four weeks. Last time was a bust and I threw away the result and stuck with what I had, so I am happy to have today's marginal gain after 3 and a bit weeks of solid training, a week off traveling and a yucky cold thing. Solid first 8 mins second 8 was tough and I had a couple of unnecessary gear changes. Usual 15 mins warm and then another 28 minutes of warm-up, a couple of 8-minute time trials are used to assess Functional Threshold Power (FTP) & Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR). The recovery interval between assessment efforts is 10 minutes. 234FTP (+1) 146LTHR (-4). Should put me back on track for 750m month.

Wednesday, TrainerRoad Flattop. A 4:00am alarm, an espresso and 3 hours of Aerobic Endurance spent almost entirely between 60-70% FTP including an early round of Power Sprints. Struggled at the end threw in some low cadence climbs to mix it up. Consider riding late last night early today I'll take it.

Thursday, TrainerRoad Tray Mountain. Took a while to get my legs up to speed and had to get off during second set to resolve something but other than that no problems. Week is shaping up nicely. Tray Mountain is 3x20-minute intervals at 85% FTP with 5-minute recoveries between intervals.

Friday, TrainerRoad Gibbs. This is turning into a big week, Gibbs consists of 2 hours of aerobic Endurance spent between 60-70% FTP. Optional form drills include Form Sprints, Endurance Spinning intervals. Lost some focus during third quarter, pulled it back at the end.

Saturday, TrainerRoad North Pack. Lots of hard work with this one but even after 5 big days I felt good. Usual 15 mins ramp warm up and I was into it. Group ride-like workout where riders spend a total of 59 minutes in the Sweet Spot (upper-Tempo/lower-Threshold) @ 85-95% FTP with the remaining time riding Aerobic Endurance between 55-75% FTP; 7-minute AE stretches between Sweet Spot efforts. 3x10-second Strength Sprints are included at the beginning of the ride to continue Force production capability as well as thoroughly warm rider.

Sunday, TrainerRoad Cheeseboro Loop. Six days on the trainer and the sun was out, this was a no brainer. Rode up Palo Comodo, over on Sheep Coral then back down The Ridge Trail. Had a sneaky double to Modelo and then from the Parking Lot picked up little loop round the back to round up mileage. Probably pushed the Lynskey through too many rocky sections and there was a bit of hike-a-bike. No problems on the fire roads though. Ran out of gears, need to look at bigger cassette. Great finish to the end of a big week.

Lots of good dirty fun and a couple of things learned;

• I need a bigger cassette, I have ordered a 12-36, that will replace my 11-32 and the extra gearing will help on the climbs.
• If it is in any way muddy I will need to change out my tires. I have very little clearance between the tire and the chainstay. I have a set of 33s and 32s both of which should give me the clearance I need.
• I have swapped out the saddle bag from my Moutain Bike to the Lynskey and it rattles, nothing major but the contents need strapping down.

So like I said a solid week with just under 14 hours and 226 miles in the bank. This brings my year to date up to 606, I am about 50 miles behind the daily volume needed for a 10,000 mile year.

There is two weeks to the Rock Cobbler 3.0, they have been posting some funny videos of late, check out their Facebook page here.

Other than that training marches on!