I made my goal of reaching 800 kcal for an hour on the spinner at the Y. Late last year, when I was training for the Endless Mountains 1200k, I got as high as 736 kcal. Eight hundred seemed like a reasonable goal. I got to 760 in May during the base period, then steadily increased during the build period to 776 and 783. Last week I made it to 795. This morning for the first time I rode at my goal pace for the entire hour and ended up with 820 kcal. This translates to 228 watts, supposedly, although I don’t know how accurate the spin bike is. The important thing was I was able to raise the readings about 11 percent this season. That’s a significant gain, though it’s easy to read too much into this.
Last week began well with that 795 kcal hour on the spinner on Tuesday, followed by a Morris Freewheelers ride Thursday where I left my power meter home by mistake. I must have been riding well, because I stayed with the first group until the end. Saturday I planned a very hilly 64-mile ride, followed by a hilly century on Sunday. I rode alone the first day. Saturday’s high 90s heat and high humidity slowed me down, though. The 8,000 feet of climbing, including the third climb of Iron Bridge Road in three weeks, was too much. Not only were my power numbers disappointing low (135w/183w) but the ride itself really knocked me for a loop. Here is a shot of the descent of Ludlow Station Road, which parallels the Iron Bridge climb and is just as nasty.
I scrapped the century and scaled back to a relatively flat 60-miler with the Cyclepaths on their regular Sunday morning ride. It turned out to be a good call, as I gradually recovered my strength during this week. And today I reached my big goal on the spinner. We’ll see if that translates to better riding outdoors.
Jud
WEEK 12 hrs 56 min
GOAL 15 hrs
Finished last week of second and last three-week build/intensity phase. Have taken it down a notch this week, but because of unexpected cancellation of a trip out of town plan to ride a 200k Saturday in PA. I will have to be careful not to overdo it after that. It’s just 16 days before Quadzilla.