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 comprised 5 days riding across a mix of indoors and outdoors. The big one this week was the 4DP Full Frontal, whilst all other rides were in anticipation of / build up to that one.
This week’s rides were as follows:
- Monday – Monday Night Raw (Outdoors)
- Tuesday – Problems Problems (Indoors / The Sufferfest)
- Thursday – In And Out Burger (Indoors & Outdoors)
- Friday – T-Minus 2 Days And Counting (Outdoors)
- Sunday – The Sufferfest: # Full Frontal (4DP Test) (Indoors / The Sufferfest – obvs!)
Last week’s goal was to complete The Sufferfest’s 4DP Full Frontal fitness test.
Truth be told, I had planned to do this ride on Thursday. Now, I would be telling a big fat lie if I said I was mentally ready to do this one on the Thursday. I’d been at work all day, not really eaten properly that day, nor drank enough fluid. As such, by ~4pm I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the prospect of doing the Full Frontal.
But I was going to do it.
That is until I opened the Full Frontal test and started to read the workout notes.
The gist of this, and if you’re interested I did go into more detail in the post, is that there is a suggested routine to follow ahead of taking the 4DP Test. And as it turned out, I had been loosely following it. So, using that as an excuse, I wimped out of the Thursday ride – opting for a much easier spin instead.
The one thing to report about Thursday is I did my easiest ever outdoor ride – and it was bizarre. Basically pootling around in the very easiest gear, trying my utmost not to do much at all. It was so unusual. Not something I’d want to do again in any hurry, really. Much easier to do that kind of thing indoors.
Whilst I was roughly following the guidance provided, I decided I would go out on the Friday evening for a road ride. This was because it was a 3 day weekend, I wanted to get out of the house, and the weather was lovely.
Most likely I went harder than I ought to have on this ride. But I can’t think it adversely affected my performance on the Sunday. Honestly, I’d rather have risked my metrics and taken the outdoor ride, than stay indoors and get a few watts more.
There is always something nice about getting out and about at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend. Amazingly, the last few Bank Holiday’s have been blessed with lovely sunny weather. A true rarity. With the sun shining, people in a good mood, and a general feeling of freedom from the day to day grind, the atmosphere was very enjoyable.
Saturday was a rest day. Though it wasn’t a true rest as I had Sunday’s big day on my mind. That was most prominent when I went out for a family meal on the Saturday night. First time in a restaurant with the family since… well, since I don’t remember when. It was so nice to get out, and I didn’t hold back – big starter, some garlic bread, pizza, and a beer. No pudding. I was stuffed.
Probably overdid it on the salt intake.
And the alcohol.
And going to bed at 1.30am wasn’t a good idea, either.
Anyway, I’m not trying to make excuses. I gave Sunday’s 4DP test the very best effort I could muster. And honestly, I am happy with the results.
Perhaps the most surprising thing out of the whole affair was that my 1 minute effort was the best of the bunch. That put me down as an ‘attacker’ type of rider. Really interesting, and not at all where I would have said I thought I would come out. I expected to be a generalist – i.e. not very good at anything.
This now completely influences my structured training, and I’m super keen to get stuck into some of the workouts that focus on my strengths, and what to do to improve my weaknesses.
As such, that’s the plan for this week. It’s supposed to be bloody hot, so I’ll be outdoors when permissible. But the indoor stuff will follow The Sufferfest’s suggested structured workouts. I’m hoping the new metrics fix up the ERG mode issues, too.
I’m also going to order a Polar H10 heart rate strap. I’ve got sick of wasting my time trying to get the Wahoo Tickr to work. Annoyingly, it’s very much like my friend always says, buy cheap, buy twice. I wish I’d just spent the extra cash on the Polar H10 to begin with. Live and learn.
Anyway, it will be good to get back to using Heart Rate data again. Just a pity it wasn’t included in that 4DP test result. Maybe I’ll have to do another once it arrives… ha. Only kidding. Never again. Until next time.