2/24 -- Pedaling with Virenque

Thursday's workout was a ride on the trainer. 20min warmup to L2, followed by 2x (10min L3/tempo, 2min recovery, 4x1min L5+, 1min recoveries). I thought this would be easier than this past Tuesday's threshold workout... But hmm, I was certainly wrong! I had the heavy-ish feeling from Wednesday again during the warmup, but after about 10 minutes I was spinning up to the ideal rpms (around 95-100). The first tempo was fine, staying right within L3 (223w avg, 98 rpm), and the 4x1s at L5 were good also (312, 330, 334, 323w avgs, 100+ rpm). Second set was a little harder, but got around the same for the 10min tempo (229w avg, 100rpm), while I was better on the L5s (330, 334, 348, 339w avgs, 106 rpm). I got stronger and my cadence increased near the end, which is what I really wanted to accomplish, especially in the L5s. It was also nice to average 300+ comfortably in the 4x1s. I seem to be developing more control of my cycling legs and pedaling so I can hold higher wattages longer.

Just like on Tuesday, I had a training partner, sort of. I cycled to the 2003 Tour de France Stage 7, where Richard Virenque broke away from Rolf Aldag about 30km from the finish. He was really pounding the hills but staying relaxed. I'm trying to learn to do that... pace myself better on the hills to be stronger on flats and downhills. Too often I try to sprint up the hills because I know I am strong on hills. I need to be strong up, but also keep that same wattage going down and on flats. If I go up too hard, I'll coast on the downhills and be weaker on flats. That has to change if I want to succeed at Columbia and cycling races.