Each week I try to review and reflect on my previous week on the bike. This allows me to see how my fitness and ability is progressing on a wider timescale than day to day. For previous weekly reviews please click here.
I think the way to summarise this week just gone would be to say I didn’t do enough. Certainly I should have ridden on Sunday, but laziness and a lack of desire to spend another day on the turbo.
That said, better than a week on the couch.
Here are this week’s rides:
- Tuesday – Anger Management (Outdoors)
- Wednesday – Err, What Was That? (Indoors / Zwift)
- Thursday – Them There Bugs (Indoors / Zwift)
- Saturday – First SST In A While (Indoors / Zwift)
Things actually started really well this last week. I managed to get outdoors during a lunch break for a proper 30km smash. Hitting one of my favourite local roads with spectacular views of the local fells and getting nice weather to boot.
It’s a shame that ride was off the back of a bit of a stressed out / anger management situation. Once out on the bike I do find I can really work out my frustrations by slogging away at the pedals, and I put in a solid effort that day.
Following that, though, I largely slacked off.
It’s been a while since I’ve done mostly indoor rides, so I took the opportunity to do the bare minimum for the rest of the week. Hey, a rides a ride, right?
Well, kinda.
Yes, doing something is better than nothing. 60 minutes on the bike is better than 60 minutes on the sofa, even if just pootling along at 1w/kg.
But it’s not helped me feeling like I’ve been lazy lately.
That’s (partly) why on Saturday I switched things up and did an SST session. That was one I was apprehensive about, largely because I haven’t done one in ages. And they have a tendency to be a bit “hurty” later on in the ride. Well, it wasn’t as bad as I built it up to be, but I did definitely feel it.
And that was for the best, as that night I went out for my brother’s birthday and ate a big fat curry.
The downside to eating that big fat curry, and drinking that nasty pint of draft lager, was that on Sunday morning I woke up with a headache.
Not able to go outdoors due to rain, I thought I’d take an easy morning, then do a Zwift ride later that day. However, that kinda just never happened. I am well aware that if I don’t do an early ride, the longer I leave it on a Sunday, the less likely it is that any kind of riding is going to happen. Silly me.
Not that I feel too bad about this. Ultimately I did meet my riding goals for the week, but I do feel I should be pushing myself just a touch harder. Too much easy life isn’t good for me.
There’s an opportunity to tick off one of my yearly goals in the forthcoming week ahead. I’m not too sure how I’m going to manage it, and I’m not going to say too much about it at this stage, but fingers crossed I can get one of them off the list.
Aside from that, business as usual. Or maybe no business, which will be unusual. Long story, see how the week pans out. I may get more riding time than usual in the weeks ahead, which could be ace for seeing out the last of the summer sun with some longer outdoor rides. I’d really like to hit the Trough of Bowland before the Autumn starts, if at all possible.
But yeah, target > 100km, ~5 rides, all good.