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.
A decent week overall, even if it wasn’t a five day riding week. My stats came in lower than last week, but higher than the week before.
This week’s rides were as follows:
- Tuesday – Cycling After Dark (Indoor / Zwift)
- Wednesday – Norseman Workout #2: Eidfjord (Indoor / Zwift)
- Thursday – Nice and Easy (Indoor / Zwift)
- Sunday – James Bond Up North: Cold ‘un, Aye (Outdoor)
Three of this week’s rides were indoors. Only two weeks into the Norseman training program and I feel like I’ve settled into that routine now. All being well, I will keep this up for the next 4 weeks, taking me roughly to the end of the year. That should mean I finish around the Christmas holidays, where I will have more time to ride and vary things up anyway.
Looking at the remaining four workouts in the Norseman series, it does look like I’ve done the hardest of the six at this point. That said, I can’t say that the remainder look easy, but they should be slightly less intensive.
The Norseman workouts have been good so far. Taxing, for sure, but not killer. I’m happy with my choice, and in a way I wish the series was longer. There’s always the possibility of repeating the workouts, but there are so many other workouts to choose from on Zwift that this does appear unlikely.
Managing to get outdoors on Sunday was great. For once I got a longer ride outside as well. This was partly to make up for my lack of riding on Sunday, but also partly because I’ve been craving a bit of a longer ride outside for ages now. Roll on Summer. Or Spring. I’m not fussy.
After that ride I spent some time digging through my post archives and seeing where else I’d been outdoors this year. It’s not quite gone to plan, but I’ve had some great outdoor rides to look back on and am super grateful I’ve blogged almost all my biking activities up to this point. The year in review should be fairly upbeat this year 🙂
In some ways I wish I could take a bit of time off work and go for a long / 3 hour+ ride outside before the true winter kicks in. I’d love to do the Trough of Bowland again, but with ice on the ground now most mornings I’m thinking that wouldn’t be such a swell idea. Taking a tumble out there, with no phone signal… well, that wouldn’t be ideal.
So the plan for the week ahead would be more of the same, if at all possible.
I’m going to kick start the week with another Norseman ride, and probably an SST session for good measure. That’s nice as it leaves Thursday for a lighter / recovery ride, which does give me time to recover for any outdoor action on the weekend.
I’d like to get a blast around the new Zwift Neokyo route in this week, so hopefully that’s on rotation. I’m sure it will be. And as ever, I’d like to do a race or perhaps a sustained climb. A solid ~20 minute effort, without it being an FTP test. I’ve not done Innsbruck climb in a long while now, maybe it could be that one… but the pull of New York seems greater at this point.
Anyway, all good fun. Nice to have some choices. Here’s to the week ahead.