The warmup was 17 minutes L2, 4x60sec 120+ rpm, 2min max effort, 5min recovery, leading into a 20min time trial. I hit 125-130 rpm for the high rpm bursts, and 335w for the 2min max effort (what I can hold for 2min, not all out) @95rpm. I felt... OK. I wanted to feel snappier, but I was already sweating quite a bit and breathing harder than I should have for a warmup. The 5 minute recovery felt too short and I had to get right into the 20min TT. I started out too strong... first 5 minutes at 292, settling a bit to hit 285w for the first 10min. Almost immediately my legs felt like they were overcome by a wave of lactic acid and power started dropping. RPM was ok, high 90s in the 53-19 and low 90s in the 53-17, but I was starting to struggle. I knew at this point I wasn't going to keep 280w, and watched my power slipping into the low 260s/high 250s. I just hung on at this point, feeling overheated and dehydrated and overall TIRED. I averaged 259w for the second half of the ride, which while it WAS my previous 20min best (FTP), it wasn't what I wanted to be doing... surviving to the end. All said and done, averaged 272w for the 20min... a 13w improvement over my previous best from January, but not quite what I wanted.
So my training zones get tougher, which is good, but I feel I let an opportunity to make my training better slip a little. I need to be more conservative when I start out next time, a good lesson and practice for race day as well. I'll also try to be more rested. But I'm happy with improvement. I am getting strong and the training is working!
When the going got tough in the last 6 minutes or so, I turned to one of my favorite songs to cycle to... Big Sky by The Reverend Horton Heat:
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ReplyDeletei break it into twentieths it is oddly reassuring for me. 20 minutes is really not that long of a time. This helps reassure me after one minute is up and my legs already hurt that I am a portion through it.
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