Friday night riding is not my usual cup of tea, but this week has been a bit slack – predominantly due to a sore left knee. So I felt I needed to make up for lost time.
My aim for this ride was 30 minutes or greater, ideally 45 if I could squeeze it in. However, I was on the bike late, due to an after work commitment. If at all possible, I was aiming for 500+ calories burned.
Diving right into it, I decided I’d go for the Richmond UCI Course, so both flat sprints and both short sharp climbs. I planned on hitting all four at max intensity (give or take), but unfortunately totally messed up my entry to the first sprint so was no where near my best time on this one.
Still, it got the sweat pouring.
Second up, Broad Street, and whilst I did make a better attempt of the start of this one, I’d thrashed myself on the first one so struggled to keep on the gas to the very end.
Still, I was much happier with this one than the first sprint, overall.
My knee still isn’t 100%. I shouldn’t really be putting it under this much pressure. I’ve been a bit silly this week, really.
A smarter move today would have been another admittedly boring FTP Builder / active recovery session. Longer, but low, and slow.
Food for thought for tomorrow.
But for today I was into the first climb of three:
Definitely struggled with this first climb today. Messed up my gearing, and was generally lower energy than I’d have liked. I knew I’d messed it up pretty much from the start. There’s always another day, so no big deal.
And anyway, I wasn’t aiming for new records here, just a calorie burning workout.
I definitely did better in the second climb, got my gearing right for this one and whilst I faded as I got closer to the line, I was much happier with the second effort than the first.
Finally, coming round to wrap up the lap, I knew my pace was off, and for once didn’t try to push myself to “make up” some imaginary time.
I’d definitely be better off going round at a steady pace than these shorter burst efforts given my current knee situation. Again, silly me.
I had to cut short at 45 minutes. I shouldn’t be too sad about this, it’s better than the 30 I thought I might only get.
Still, I was disappointed to come that short of 500 calories. I guess it’s a time thing, as much as an intensity thing.
Overall, happy enough with this session. It felt shorter than 45 minutes for sure. Glad to get up to 70km on the week, not bad in 2 rides.
I’m at ~4000 of the 10,000 calorie challenge at this point.
Tomorrow’s ride will be FTP Builder, almost certainly. As long as time permits, anyway.
I’m looking forwards to the start of the Tour of Zwift 2020 on Sunday. I’m booked into the 10am slot (GMT), so if you’re on then, I’ll see you there.
From my point of view I’m going for the ~40km ride, and I know it has a climb in there… maybe two? Again, it’s all about the calorie burn for me, not so much about the racing. Probably not smart to push too hard with my knee as it is. Been silly enough already this week.
Until tomorrow!
