Each week Zwift sends me an email summarising my activity for the week. For previous weekly reviews click here.
Easily this weeks biggest achievement was giving a ride on to 510 people.
I hope my sarcasm comes across as strongly as I intend it too.
Last week consisted of four riding days, one of which was outdoor, and the rest were on the turbo.
- Easter Monday – Lapping On Lockdown (Outdoor)
- Wednesday – Sweet As A Nut (Indoor)
- Friday – Cramp Stamp
- Saturday – Israel Start-Up Nation Medical Aid Ride (B)
Unusually I didn’t ride on Sunday.
And that was because I was knackered.
It’s been a mixed week really.
I had more riding days on the previous week compared to this week, but this week I did more work in a shorter amount of time. To put it into hard numbers, 200 calories more work in just shy of an hour less time.
However, I suspect I have several more weeks worth of exercise / training left until I return to where I was pre illness.
And it’s that mental / physical dip that’s been the over arching factor of the week.
The hard numbers say my FTP has dropped from 218w to 211w.
7w doesn’t sound like a big drop really (it’s 3%, if you’re a nerd) but it feels way more.
The graph below kinda gives some indication as to the impact.
I should state that when I hit 218w I was absolutely maxing myself out in racing. There is a chance that at least some of that figure involved a bit of out of the saddle work. I can’t really remember.
Right now my aim is to get back to 214w and resume from there. I have kept 214w in Zwift, and have done SST sessions at that FTP – though I highly suspect a few watts would make next to no difference in the required numbers either way.
Physically I can accept the decline that a few weeks off the bike is going to have.
Mentally I am finding the dip more challenging. Obviously I cannot get that time back. And I should be grateful that I am now back riding. I could still be suffering – but in a different way.
Certainly during the Israel Start-Up Nation Medical Aid Ride (B) ride this week I really felt like I was struggling. There was barely anything left in my legs, and I can’t remember being happier for a ride to come to an end than on that one.
On the plus side, however, I did get back in to the SST routine last week, and kept up a high average cadence during both. I feel the SST session on Friday somewhat hurt my ride on Saturday, but not by much.
In outdoor news I am still waiting for Tredz to dispatch my order. It’s a bit of a shocker to be waiting 9 days at this point. I’m sure some of this is down to covid, but it’s making me think twice about ordering with them again currently.
I may or may not ride later this evening. Still undecided yet. Perhaps two rest days in a row would do me good.
The other thing I’m kinda keen to do right now is try out some other platforms. I’ve seen various riders live streaming different platforms, and I have Rouvy, Veloton, and The Suffer Fest on my list.
I have also ordered some final bits and pieces to move my kids to their new bedrooms, which means their old bedroom will soon become my office. This then enables me to use my gaming PC and monitor for Zwifting – 4k here we come – along with being able to properly stream capture my rides. Right now I’m still struggling with this on platforms other than Zwift, so I’m quite excited about that.
Ultimately I think I have a tough few weeks ahead in terms of grinding back up to where I was. I think 218w is still a few weeks off, but we’re only 4 months into 2020 and my 12 month target is an FTP of 230w, so I feel I’m still on track. So long as at the end of June I’m above 215w, and ideally at or above 218w, I’ll feel happy about the first half of the year.