For this afternoon’s ride I took on the 10-12wk FTP Builder Week 8 Day 3 ride. This was effectively a recovery ride – all blue zone stuff. The intervals here were:
- 6x 130w for 6 minutes
- 6x 100w for 2 minutes
As has become routine for me on these rides now, my aim was to keep a high cadence – ideally 95rpm+.
Aside from this, I was mostly alt+tabbed out to watching YouTube and reading the internet.
The one thing I did do differently on this ride, just to vary things up a little, was to do an immediate U-turn upon starting the ride.
For the route, I’d chosen Volcano Flat. This was simply to clock up as many kilometers as possible, aiming to grind down the 100km riding goal for the week.
Along the way today I did reach the 3 hour weekly riding goal. I guess this could be bumped up further at this point, but I really see no need. 100km is the real weekly target. I do wish Zwift had a weekly climbing goal as well, though.
Riding in reverse, I have to say I found the route more visually interesting than the typical forward route. I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve seen it all so many times by now at this point, or whether it really is more impressive looking in reverse.
The other thing I’ve noticed – after the recent patch – is that I seem to be leveling up a bit quicker. Is this in my imagination?
There’s definitely more drops since the recent patch. The other thing I saw in the recent patch notes was around rider’s blinking. I ride on high graphics settings but am yet to see this happen. Is it only on 4k ?
When all done and dusted, today’s ride was a really easy one.
I knew this going into the ride. Heck, that’s kinda why I picked it. It also sees me through for Week 8 on the FTP Builder program. I haven’t checked out Week 9 as of yet, but I imagine it’s roughly more of the same.
With 411 calories done, I’m definitely running shy of the numbers I need this week.
Each day my packed lunch has probably been a little too heavy on the calories. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s been around 1200-1500 calories some days. I’m no food expert, but I do know cheese, ham, eggs, and chicken are all pretty filling. Combined them with pasta, and on Friday, two slices of dominos pizza…. and yeah, I was a little disappointed to read 11 stone 4 on the scales this afternoon.
I’ll weigh in again before tomorrow morning’s ride, and do another one immediately after. From there, I may need to adjust my weight again in Zwift.
On the plus side, I do feel like I’ve lost a lot of the excess flab / fat around my legs as of late. They are feeling much more toned. It’s a shame it’s taken me till my late 30’s to get in shape.
Fun story on the ride graph today. Very early on in the ride the Amazon man arrived with parcels for my wife. The heart rate spike is, I’m guessing, related to having to be seen in lyrca.
I’m a little unsure what to ride tomorrow. I’m 50/50 on doing a 50km+ ride, or going for a climb. I guess I’ll see what’s on Zwift at the time, and how I’m feeling. Maybe I could even try out some RGT Cycling? Who knows.
