A big month. I started with the lofty goal of 1000 miles. That would put be back on track for 10,000 miles in a year. It was a big ask and I didn’t want it to derail my training by just adding junk miles.
In the end I added a couple of double days and and rode recovery rides on my rest days and with that I rolled over the 1000 mark.
Not easy but there were no major issues.
Recovery Week post Strada Rosso.
Monday TrainerRoad Lazy Mountain. 1 hour of easy, steady effort between 45-55% FTP.
Tuesday TrainerRoad Mont Gosford. Today should have been a FTP test but legs not fully recovered from weekend and feeling a little beaten up from last night's massage so pushed it off. Added 15 minutes warm up and rode Mont Gosford is 1.25 hours of Tempo intervals spent between 70-80% FTP with intermittent, 2 to 3-minute recoveries at 55% FTP.
Tuesday evening TrainerRoad Taku-1. Quick ride to double down today
Wednesday Mont Gosford (yes again). 15 mins warm up followed by Mont Gosford which is 1.25 hours of Tempo intervals spent between 70-80% FTP with intermittent, 2 to 3-minute recoveries at 55% FTP. Focused on lower cadence and climbing drills.
Thusday Mount Hope. Usual 15 minutes warm up and then 5x10-minute intervals at 95-99% FTP with 5-minute recoveries between intervals. Just below target, felt a bit bloated. Ride was in the afternoon rather than before breakfast
Friday Royal Loop TGIF Quick loop around the locale. Picked up a slow flat didn't change it just stopped to give it a quick pump twice. Pushed hard on a couple of sections and put on too much sunscreen, it made my eyes sting!
Saturday Royal Fruit Loop. Royal loop segment to Fruit Stand and loop back past the Missile Base. Pushed hard on some sections and enjoyed the tailwind. Eased off with 3-4 miles to go
Sunday Buck and Change. Used the new Crusin' The Conejo double metric as a base. I was going to come up short as it starts further away. After yesterday's hard ride this was a deliberately long easier day but with a couple of good climbs. Paced myself pretty well and could have carried on. 300m+ week
Massive week, probably my biggest ever with over 316 miles and 19:38 of saddle time. It was a big push to close out March with 1000 miles! So mych for recovery!
I hadn’t put in any really long rides so far this year and with an open weekend I decided to have a couple of days with solid miles. My Saturday ride was a well-worn ride with a little extra. Outbound while downhill had a headwind so it was a wash. I enjoyed the tail wind on the return leg and was riding hard for 60 or so of the 68 miles getting home in just under 3:45, of interest (at least to me) I covered 56 miles in 2:55 which would be a pretty solid Ironman 70.3 ride. For Sunday I decided to head out early, the objective was distance but at a sustainable pace. I was trying to simulate the High Rouleurs ride in April which has two big days in the hills.
I am always left scratching my head a bit when I need a long ride and I tend to default to tried and tested routes. This time I was looking for something new and came across a new route for the local Crusin’ the Conejo ride “Crusin for a Brusin” a double metric century so around 122 miles. Sounds perfect I thought. There was a good 30 miles of road that was new to me and a couple of familiar climbs thrown in for good measure.
I downloaded the file into my Garmin 810 and loaded up my bike for the ride managing to hit the road and the reasonably early (for me at least) 9:30. I had a pocket full of Lara Bars and Skratch and an USB battery charger. The first thirty miles took me out into the local orchards and it was a pretty route through the lemons and limes.
From there I rode through open arable farmland including the ever spooky sod farms, just acres of nothing except…grass! After a quick stop at the local missile museum I picked up PCH and had a headwind for the next 8 miles, so that sucked!
From there I turned inland on the first of the two climbs; Mulholland, this was my Everesting segment so nothing new here a quick descent down the new resurfaced Encinal Canyon and I was back on PCH for another 5 miles before turning back inland for the 9 mile climb up Latigo. Latigo canyon usually sucks it’s switchback after switchback and I have ridden it enough that it’s not a challenge it’s just a pain in the ass. That said I felt like I was happily cruising up, not crushing it but that wasn’t the objective.
After Latigo I should have descended Decker back into Westlake but I was getting conscious of consistent braking on the carbon wheels. They had already been a bit squeaky and the pads need reseating which will happen when the DuraAce upgrade happens in April. So with that in mind I choose to go back through Kanan and along through Westlake Village and from there the usual route home.
In the end I rounded up with just over 112 miles on the clock. By far not the fastest ride ever but my average Heart Rate of 112 was exactly what I wanted. So with that ride I also made my goal of a 300 mile week which put me back on track from a 2500 mile quarter.
