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.
Overall a really good week with a mixture of different rides, all of which feel like they had some benefit.
Here are this week’s rides:
- Tuesday – Reset And Ride On
- Wednesday – Building Back Up
- Thursday – Zwift OG Racing: Stage 4 – London Loop (B)
- Saturday – [First Ride] Zwift Climb Portal: Col des Aravis
- Sunday – Luxury Sundays
It felt good to get back into what I would consider my usual routine.
Sweet Spot Training kick started the week. Although I’m working at a lower FTP now – dropped to 235w I believe – this workout still felt like it was worthwhile and sufficiently tiring.
My plan is to gradually ramp up the FTP figure, moving to 240w by mid to late July, with a plan to push it back to 245w around mid to late August.
This should give me time to adjust back to the old / previous PB numbers, and put me in good stead to give a solid effort at the end of Quarter 3 / end of September.
For now, it’s all about getting in those weekly / bi-weekly SST sessions as a way to build that base back up. I would have done two SST sessions this week, but another ride pipped it – more on that in a second.
After doing the old usual SST session, I was feeling pretty tired on Wednesday so opted for a base building endurance ride, following my long neglected 10-12 week FTP builder program.
Again, more of the usual. Back to the routine. Back to that old, reliable and proven method.
From there I took in a race on Thursday. I’d say that’s actually the biggest departure from my old routine. But as kind of not beneficial as racing is in terms of solid, efficient training, they are by far the most fun rides of the week from my point of view. I love the competitive element, even though I am by no means competitive in terms of placement.
I feel this week’s racing write up explains that point of view pretty well.
By Friday I was definitely glad of the rest day.
As above, I had planned to do another SST session on Saturday.
But Zwift dropped a brand new feature: The Climb Portal.
I had to check that out.
And I was glad I did, as that was a fun, yet challenging ride which I am definitely going to do more of. There are four to pick from this month, so I am hoping to do most of them. A couple are very long – longer than AdZ I believe – so I won’t be committing to doing the whole lot.
Was that more beneficial than an SST session?
Again, in terms of training efficiency I do have my doubts. But it was fun, and I am allowed to have fun.
Then Sunday was a longer ride outdoors. That was a good ride, albeit a very windy one. I’d have liked to have stayed out a while longer, but road traffic was crazy due to an accident on the motorway, so I called it quits earlier than I wanted too.
The Week Ahead
Honestly, I’ll be more than pleased to repeat this week’s setup.
The plan is basically that. I know there are some other rides available in the new month on Zwift. I’m not yet sure what the July racing series entails, but there are some group rides I am signed up for. How many of these activities I will get too are up for debate, but I do know I will prioritise my planned stuff over the Zwift suggested group rides.
It’s all going well anyway. Even the weight is trending back in the right direction.
Overall then, a great week. Here’s to another.