Well, Thursday night’s ride went out of the window. This was due to some work related commitments. By the time I’d finished up, it was time for tea, and after tea I never want to get on the bike.
So here we are, Friday night, where I’d really rather not ride the bike and instead, have a beer or two.
OK, but I’m committed to my fitness schedule.
And that means riding 5 times a week.
And meeting my weekly riding goals.
Now, last night, later on – whilst I was led in the bath, as it happens – I decided that yes, I would attend a group workout called 3x 13 minute climbs.
This workout looked great. So, what went wrong?
Well, it started at 16:10.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I only get home, on average, just after 16:10. There was no way I would make it home earlier than this, especially on a Friday where traffic tends to be the worst of the week.
I was still on the motorway at 16:10. Silly me.
So, rather than fanny about trying to come up with a suitable replacement workout, I decided to hell with it, I’d just repeat the Sweet Spot Training ride.
To vary things up a bit, I decided to ride this at 90rpm average.
Typically I prefer to go closer to 95rpm, if at all possible.
Sticking to 90rpm was more challenging than I expected, and as many of these screenshots will attest too, I didn’t do a particularly sterling job of meeting that target.
However, the Strava report at the end of this post shows I did hit a 90rpm average, so … job done.
For this ride I opted for Yorkshire’s Queens Highway. I think I’ve done this route before. I can’t quite remember.
At ~37m of climb per lap (according to Zwift Insider) I only managed to put down ~25km on this ride. So, as yet, I have not hit either my weekly time nor distance goals.
Tomorrow would typically be a longer ride. Maybe 1.5 hours. Unfortunately, however, I am out tomorrow afternoon so I’m really not quite sure if I will ride at all.
That sucks.
I do have a couple of rides in mind for Sunday, however.
I’m not riding 2, but I have two to choose from.
I’ve found my 30 day trial membership for the Tacx Software, so I can either hit the next hill in the list, or I might opt to do Three Sisters. That’s the Hilly KOM, Epic KOM, and Volcano KOM.
The idea of the Zwift ride is perhaps a little more appealing to me at the moment, but that’s because I’m really not sure what the next Tacx Software ride would be.
Aside from the usual stats – calories burned, time on the bike, that sort of thing – I’m really happy to see my average heart rate for this ride was 149bpm.
This feels like good general improvement in my fitness. Although perhaps this is unfair as lower cadence apparently means lower heart rate?
I think I need to find a few more workouts in a similar vein to this SST ride. I like it, but I do also like variety.
Are you aware of a similar workout I could try? Please do leave a comment if so.
I’m also getting to the point where I really need to do an FTP test again.
I’m considering doing one of the 2x 15 min FTP interval workouts just to put myself through my paces before hand.
I’m feeling that my FTP must be above 195w at this point.
However… I have been overly cocky many times before, so these 15m blocks would be a solid test I feel.
Hopefully this won’t be my last ride until Sunday.
We shall see.
