Welp. So much for a restful evening.
Having had to start work two hours earlier than normal today, I finished one and a bit hours earlier than usual, which meant… bike time!
I didn’t have a huge amount of time to ride this evening, and also didn’t want to do too much. After all, Monday is supposed to be a rest day.
But what’s an Emily’s Short Mix between friends?
This is the first time I’ve done Emily’s Short Mix at my current FTP: 196w, so this was a bit harder than any previous attempt.
Actually, I’d totally forgotten what this workout entails.
So let me quickly bring you up to speed:
I’m no expert, but I guess this qualifies as High Intensity Interval Training / HIIT training?
It’s a really good workout for the time amount. It’s increasingly intense. And boy do those 1.5 minute “rest” blocks at 145w fly by.
What’s hardest about this workout, for me, is that the intensity cranks up. There’s no let off between the green, yellow, and red sections. It just gets harder, and then harder again.
If anything, I think that it highlights that my FTP may still be a little too low.
Don’t get me wrong, I was thrashed after the final 3 minute effort. But it makes me wonder if there really would have been much difference between 3 minutes at 225w, versus say 3 minutes at 235w?
I still had more to give, but not much. That’s all I’m saying.
What I particularly like about this workout, and Jon’s Mix / Jon’s Short Mix are the on-screen prompts and motivational snippets. They aren’t life changing, but they do help take the edge off the intensity of each block.
Again this ride highlights that not all kilometers are created equal.
Whilst blasting away with my legs, the choice of course meant I only covered ~9km in total. I got in a fair amount of climb at ~300m, but didn’t have any real desire to see the climb through to the top. Once the workout was done, so was I.
Of all the segments, that final three minute at 225w had me absolutely paggered.
There was huffing, puffing, groaning, and grunting. It was bad enough to have my wife come in and check on me. It must have sounded like a dirty movie. Good lord.
I’m going to have a look through the other workouts available later this evening and see if I can find something else to do this week. I do like these workouts. They give great bang for your buck.
I really need to work on my endurance, so maybe the sweet spot training plans could be a good fit? Something to think on.
What I found really interesting about this ride was the end of ride stats.
Typically on a workout ride, the stats have been on the low end as I tend to use a specific workout ride for recovery days.
Not so on this ride.
Those 1, 2, and finally 3 minutes at 225w were great in helping keep the ride average to a 172w according to Zwift, and 181 weighted avg according to Strava. Really pleased with this. 30 minutes or not, that was a push.
Also on this ride I kept a really high cadence (by my standards). Strava has me down at 86rpm average, and 110rpm maximum. That was sweat inducing.
I’ve been putting it off for weeks now, and I keep going on about it, but I really need to do a proper FTP test.
That will mean some days off the bike before hand, I think. Maybe early next week will be the best time for it. Take a full day off, then ride early afternoon and see how I get on. It could be a plan.
So all in, not a bad bit of indoor cycling for a Monday.
I’ve got myself 8km on the board, that’s 8% of my weekly 100km goal done and dusted.
I’ve done some good climbing, and burned some calories. Maybe an entire piece of chocolate cake’s worth.
On the weight loss front, I’m not trying to lose weight, but have lost another pound. Down to 11 stone 5 now. I think cutting beer out of the picture except on weekends has done most of this, however.
Who knows what tomorrow has in store? I certainly dont. Maybe a ride. Maybe not. Have to see how I feel. I know one thing, it won’t be an early morning ride. I am knackered.
