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.
Due to a combination of bad weather and trying to recover my sore right calve, I spent the majority of the week doing indoor rides on the turbo. Not such a bad thing – it’s the first time in a very long time this has been the case – but unfortunately I’m still not fully healed up.
Here were the week’s rides:
- Tuesday – £2.50 A Ride (Indoor / Zwift)
- Wednesday – Makuri Islands: Two Village Loop (Indoor / Zwift)
- Thursday – Mid Afternoon Matters (Indoor / Zwift)
- Saturday – The Lazy 100 (Indoor / Zwift)
- Sunday – Fresh Air (Outdoor)
Starting the week off, I reminded myself how expensive indoor training sessions are when you don’t do very many of them. At £12 a month, it’s hardly gym tier expensive, but with only four rides or so a month, that’s £3 a session. Given how much I used to Zwift, I had my cost per ride down to pennies.
Then on Wednesday I got to experience where (a small fraction of) my money is going. And that’s to new content such as the Makuri Islands expansion. I enjoyed that ride, visually. Certain parts of the new map are really well done, and I’d have to agree it’s amongst the most visually appealing parts of Zwift.
Thursday was more of the same – as all four of the indoor rides this week were FTP Builder / low end endurance rides. I’m not convinced any of these did my injury that much benefit. I experienced a cramp-like sensation several times after each ride, and suspect a more sensible option would have been to not ride altogether.
That said, no regrets about riding. I’d rather have done the exercise and suffer, than not. Stupid as that sounds.
On Thursday I had to cut the ride short due to work commitments, so on Saturday I repeated Thursday’s rides without the interruptions.
Even so, not a great deal to say about any of these sessions.
Getting out on Sunday was nice, but I definitely over exerted and likely undid all the recovery work I’d done midweek. More stupidity.
I feel a bit low at the moment.
After I completed the 4DP test things seem to have gone largely down hill.
I’m aware I hit something of a plateau and would need to push myself harder to see a continued upward trend.
Do I want to do this?
Kind of.
See, I wonder what’s the point? In terms of physical fitness, I’m way ahead of where I started and where I’m at now, for a fast approaching forty, effectively middle aged man, I’m fine with my current abilities. Faster? Harder? Stronger? Better? Sure, all would be nice but I’m not going to gain that much from any of them. Diminishing returns springs to mind.
So what then?
What to do?
I don’t know. I’m kind of feeling in a rut. Maybe it’s the whole pandemic covid BS that seems never ending. Maybe four days on the turbo is enough to drive a man to crisis revealing levels of introspection.
For now, I suspect I will keep trying to recover, keep trying to get outdoors, and worry about working harder when I feel both physically and mentally back in a good place.
In short: some weeks suck. I’ll just have to deal with it.