Wednesday was a rest day. Following the Time-Crunched Cyclist plan, you have two days a week off the bike. I have changed the plan up a little to move the Monday rest day to Sunday. So, I end up having two interval type workouts close together early in the week and then pick it up again on Thursday. That Wednesday off was just what I needed going into Thursday’s interval session — maybe too much!

The plan for Thursday was 1.5 hours at Endurance Miles pace with 3 x 10 minutes Steady State intervals. I would get 6 or so minutes of recovery between the intervals and then ride out the rest of the period at the Endurance Miles pacing. That is pretty much like my last workout on Tuesday, but this time I got to do it on the road in gloriously warm weather!

What a difference the road makes! That is good and bad. The good part of it is that it is just plain funner. The bad part of it is that it makes it harder to be precise in following the wattage parameters.

This is especially true in Greenville where there are very few spots that are flat. As a matter of fact, it is impossible for me to leave my driveway without having to do some climbing. So, I find myself spinning easy to keep from going over the average while climbing and then spinning like mad to get up the wattage while going downhill.

I ended up not caring and focused on my perceived exertion. I’d see later whether everything averaged out to the plan. My main goal was to make it to the Swamp Rabbit Trail where I knew the terrain would be more manageable. I would start my first 10 minute interval there.

“Joy” is the word I would use to describe how I felt. It had not been a good winter for me on the bike. Lately, I had been doing all my work on a trainer. To be out on the road was so freeing and energizing.

It was probably a good thing I was on the SRT as I began my first interval. It forced me not to go crazy. You have to be careful that you don’t go too fast and you have to be watchful of the other runners, walkers and riders.

Amazingly, on this beautiful day, there weren’t that many people out. Perhaps it was because of the time of day. Anyway, I had no trouble keeping things consistent as I wrapped up that interval at around 260 watts. Once again I was over the designated max average of 226 watts.

After the recovery spin, I started up my second interval. I was nearing Furman about halfway through it. My plan was to get off the trail and go back home on the road using the Paris Mountain climb to finish off my last interval. I had to get off the trail with about 4 minutes left and had to take a detour on a side road in order to finish up the interval without having to sit a the light on Poinsett Highway. I wrapped it up perfectly to finish the interval and sprint through the green light. Inteval 2 = 270 watts.

Now it was time to recover for the final interval on Altamont Road. I determined that I was not going to push it all the way up. I knew that would require me to exceed my wattage for 14 minutes or so. Plus, I didn’t think I could do it.

Knowing that I wasn’t planning to go the whole way, I went a little harder in the being. It isn’t that I thought I was going hard. It didn’t feel that hard, but I glanced down and saw I was bouncing around between 300 and 330 watts. I realized that this pace would be a PR pace last year if I could hold it to the top. I also realized that this year it wouldn’t be.

I’m at least 10 pounds heavier than my weight of last year. 10 pounds is a HUGE difference in the amount of power I would have to put out to reach the top in under 12 minutes — not to mention under 11:30. Still, I was happy that I was holding the wattage beyond the water tower section.

When the 10 minute mark showed on my computer, I was at the end of my stamina. That “Steady State” interval came in at 300 watts. I was very glad to start spinning as easily as I could on the incline. Within a few minutes, I was recovering and reached the bottom of “the wall” at just over 14 minutes. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself. “The last time I climbed this thing, I did it in 15:30 something. I told myself then I would beat that time the next opportunity I had to climb it.” So, I stood and pushed it up the meters to the KOM line.

I looked down and saw 4:57 in the lap time field on the Garmin. Hey, not bad, I came in under 15 minutes. Then my heart rate caught up with me and I just about puked! That 40 seconds or so was the hardest I had pushed since last race season! Still, my heart rate didn’t exceed 181 bpm. So, I know I am far from my potential fitness level.

Coming off the mountain was a blast. I had stopped to talk to a fellow rider at the top. It gave me a chance to calm down before descending. It also meant that as I started down, I was caught by another rider who was moving! I was soft pedaling when he came flying around me. For fun, I accelerated to jump on his wheel.

The next few minutes was like a synchronized descent. Once again that word “joy” starting creeping into my mind. THIS is why I loved riding. Sure, when the road kicked up and I had to push along to stay on the rider’s wheel, I started feeling that sick feeling. However, I stayed on the wheel. The power was there… it is just my stamina hasn’t caught up with it.

I’m ready to go again, but I’ve got to be careful not to over do it. The plan is about building up and if I don’t build up correctly, I’ll hit a plateau a bit lower than the height I could reach. Whoa there, young man!

 

Tags: Time-Crunched Cyclist

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at 9:46 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.