There’s no skirting around the issue: I’ve been putting off doing the SST session for a good while now, always finding an excuse to skip the workout. Why? Well, last time I did this I was at the wrong FTP and ended up being unable to fully complete the session. That was back in December.
There’s nothing quite as demoralising to me as a DNF.
Even though I knew I was at the wrong FTP setting back then, it definitely contributed greatly to the anxiety of repeating the session. That’s a shame as I used to hammer the SST workouts, feeling they were the 80% in the standard 80/20 rule when it came to a general uptrend in my fitness.
Well, today’s ride wasn’t at any point feeling like I wouldn’t be able to finish it. That’s not to say it was easy, however. Put it this way: I’d hate to do two of them. The SST Medium workout, where you repeat the 40 minutes twice… boy howdy, no thank you.
What I thought I noticed today was a generally higher heart that previous sessions. So prior to the uptick in FTP, I’d run this session at 225w / 205w vs today where I was at 235w / 215w. That ten watts difference doesn’t sound like much, but I was convinced my heart rate was significantly higher this time out.
However, checking against the Strava stats from last time
Turns out it was really close.
Only an average increase of 1bpm over the session. Mores calories burned due to the higher intensity of the workout.
What I feel I need now is more of these sessions.
I’m wanting to get back to the old feeling of these not being quite so challenging.
At that point I’ll know I’ve seen a sufficient uptick in my fitness once more.
As it was, I found this one took me about 90% to my limit. I was hurting by the third on block, and in the fourth I was puffing. But as above, I never feared not finishing, just was very glad when that last interval was over with.
Have to say though, that 5 minute cool down block felt like the longest of all.
Strange that.
Anyway, rest day tomorrow. Unsure what to do next… I guess it’s weather dependant.
