I’ve been struggling with finding the energy to ride this week. Frankly I’m amazed that after this ride I managed to hit >100km on Zwift for the week. It’s really felt like one to forget.
For this ride I was going to do an hours Zone 2 FTP Builder effort, and use the time to type up the Yearly Review post for the blog. Two birds, one stone.
However, when it came to it, I figured why not just do a 30 minute effort instead?
Well, it turns out I haven’t done Emily’s Short Mix since 2020, and that felt like a motivating factor to kick start 2023 in some kind of way. I’m sure there’s some meaning in there, or none, depending on your point of view.
Anyway, I know Emily’s Short Mix is a brutal workout.
I was expecting it to be tough.
What I was also expecting was 1’s, then 2’s, then 3’s.
By which I mean 1 minute of green, 1 of yellow, then 1 of red. Then 2, then 3, and so on.
I had very much forgotten it is always 3 minutes of tempo, then into the harder stuff.
Oh, also I figured the second block of the three would be the hardest. Not so. The last block is brutal. Three minutes at tempo in to three minutes at threshold into three of VO2 max is just not pleasant, regardless.
So yeah, not a strong end to the week, and not a hugely strong start to 2023. But it is a start, and that is something. I feel like I need to recover, and yet I’ve just had a week of basically recovery… barring that awful race.
I’m going to take my usual Monday rest day and then try and get back into something more challenging starting Tuesday. I think, though am not sure, that by then the Tour de Zwift will have kicked off. That looks suitably brutal this year, so it’s good to have something to look forwards too.
Anyway, I’ve just spent the last hour or so writing up the yearly review. My fingers hurt more than my legs, and that’s saying something.
