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.
This week consisted of three rides, and two long walks. All in, I still hit my 100km weekly goal, though ~13km of that was walking. Even so, the two walks combined to be equivalent to a solid hour on the bike, each being ~600 calories burned. More than happy with that.
This week’s rides were as follows:
- Tuesday – Oh, Sweet (Indoors / Zwift)
- Wednesday – Best Not Overdo It (Indoors / Zwift)
- Saturday – Blistering Pace (Indoors / Zwift)
Of the three rides I did this week, two were SST sessions. And boy, did I feel them.
I’ve said before that I consider the SST workout to be the best bang for your buck on Zwift. That’s 50 minutes and ~600 calories burned. Super efficient, and not too taxing either.
My initial thought, hitting the SST session on Tuesday, was that I felt fine after it. Really good, even. And that I would jump right back into another one on the Wednesday. Not so.
Come Wednesday night, I felt tired and assured myself I’d do the SST ride on Thursday. Instead, I opted for one of the FTP Builder endurance rides, one that I would consider my recovery session.
On Thursday, I just didn’t fancy riding. I’d been on the computer all day, it was not a great day work-wise, and the thought of another hour indoors, stuck in front of the PC just wasn’t filling me with joy.
However, outside it was raining, as it had been all week, and continued to do so for the rest of the week.
I moped around the house, finding myself laying on the bed, when my wife said – why not go out for a walk?
And so I did.
Off I went on a circuitous route of my local area, covering 6km in just over an hour. Not the worlds best pace, but it was a nice walk all the same. A wet walk, also. I quite like walking in the rain, call me odd.
Anyway, for my sins I ended up with horrendous blisters on both heels, because I rarely walk anywhere anymore, and I’d worn my crappy old trainers to save spoiling my new ones.
I took Friday as my regular rest day, and then on Saturday, I felt good enough to do another SST ride, which again, I enjoyed. That one felt harder than Tuesdays, but not overly so.
Then on Sunday, I did nothing all day.
Fortunately, my very good friend showed up from down south, and we went for another long walk and a talk. Really good, another ~600 calories burned, covering off my daily exercise minimums. Absolutely wrecked my heels again, though. Blister city.
So all in, a good week, albeit a bit different to my usual.
My Zwift subscription expires today or tomorrow, so that’s me done with Zwift for the time being. I’ll be switching to The Sufferfest, and I’ll be forcing myself to do their 4DP test as the starting task. Fun times, ahoy. But I feel it’s important to get a solid baseline.
In some weird kind of way, I’m looking forward to it.
Let’s see how I feel about that crazy feeling, this time next week!