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.
Probably a little bit better than expected this week in terms of overall activity. Things started slowly, but picked up from Thursday onwards.
I was intentionally taking it somewhat easier as I started a new job on Tuesday. Fitting in longer rides has therefore been a bit of a challenge as I can’t yet easily predict what time my dinner break will be, nor whether I would get a full, uninterrupted hour.
But overall, happy enough.
Here are this week’s rides:
- Monday – Zwift Race London: Stage 1 – Greater London Flat (B) (Indoors / Zwift)
- Wednesday – Jon’s Brutal “Short” Mix (Indoors / Zwift)
- Thursday – Tour of Watopia 2023 | Stage 1 | Short (Indoors / Zwift)
- Saturday – Tour of Watopia 2023 | Stage 1 | Long (Indoors / Zwift)
- Sunday – Tour of Watopia 2023 | Stage 1 | Standard (Indoors / Zwift)
We started the week with the Zwift Race London series. For some reason I had expected this to remain as Race Scotland, but it seems we have covered all the routes there, not to mention it’s the start of a new month. So, on we go.
Being a flat course I was expecting to do alright in that race.
That race had a strange pace to it. Almost a fast group ride for all but the last 3kms, and even though I’d managed my exertion fairly well (or so I thought), I was nowhere near in contention when the front runners picked up the pace towards the end.
Finishing 60th out of 79 (according to ZwiftPower) doesn’t feel great, but I was only 20 seconds off the pace by the finish line. A good workout all the same.
As above, thanks to the work situation I didn’t have a huge amount of spare time during the day. So when I got ~30 minutes for my lunch break I took a maximum effort in a minimum timeframe approach, tackling Jon’s Short Mix.
That one nearly killed me. Or at least, the first two efforts – the 1 minute blocks and the 3 sprints – I really struggled there.
It didn’t help that I was mentally tired, and had (and still have) a bad cold.
Even so, I found that a challenge.
By comparison the Tour of Watopia rides felt much more enjoyable.
I’ve used each of the three as a high tempo or low to mid endurance workout, almost like a regular Sweet Spot Training session workout. I felt all three were beneficial. I still haven’t looked at what is in store for Stage 2, but before we get to that I have Stage 2 of the Race London series to do badly in.
After a couple of weeks in the 67kg range, I appear to have dipped back in to the 66s.
I was saying last week about this, about how I had planned to get back up to 67kg and then when I did, I felt bad for putting weight on. Ridiculous. But true.
Anyway, cutting out the nightly beers is almost certainly what is making the difference, because not very much else has changed.
I’ll wait to see how I get on this week, then drop the Zwift weight down accordingly if it remains at ~66kg.
Beyond that, the plan is the same as last week: Don’t over do it.
I am still very much settling into have a regular day job again, and not having endless free time to myself.
The Zwift plan is simple: Race, and do the Longer Stage 2 ToW ride. If I can get in the other rides, all the better. I don’t plan to do all three rides each week though.