Weight program: Explosive Power Build Week 1 out of 7
Monday: Indoor ride 25min warmup, 40min @ 96% FTP (Estimated Z4), 10min cooldown.
Tuesday: Weights (Introduction to the New Program)
Wednesday: 96min Z2 ride – 233W Avg/234W xPower
Thursday: 90min indoor Z2 ride
Friday: morning: Weights afternoon: 75min indoor Z2 ride (TT bike)
Saturday: 2:15h Long endurance Z2 ride 223W Avg/223W xPower (it was miserably wet and cold)
Sunday: Off
Total Bikescore: 335
Total Training Time: 7:30h bike + 2.5h weights
Weekly Summary
By the looks of it the signs of fatigue and possible overtraining are gone so for the most part I managed to do a normally scheduled week of training. I couldn’t do my 75min Z2 ride on Tuesday due to some other commitments, however, the week went pretty ok.
My new TT bike allowed me to get into a much more aggressive/aerodynamic position so my body was rebelling quite a bit, however, that should disappear as I ride the bike more and more.
I also started a new weight training program, emphasizing on building explosive power from the strength I have been working on the last 7 weeks. I will post full details soon.
For a while I thought spring was here, since it was sunny and windless in the middle of the week. And how did I allow the nice weather to fool me…
Since there was no scheduled team group ride on Saturday I was geared up to do a long solo endurance training. It had been raining for 2 straight days and the temperatures managed to drop to just above freezing (a lot of the local races got cancelled over the weekend including Dwaars door Drenthe and similar international caliber events). One hour into my ride all my clothes started to soak through and I was getting cold very fast. I decided to turn around instead of finishing the loop. My power was right around my target at that time – 228W Avg.
As I was heading back I was getting colder and colder, power was dropping and the headwind didn’t seem to make it any easier. I lost feeling in my right hand to the point I couldn’t operate the shifters anymore. I was not bonking for sure since I still had energy, however, I was very cold and I have only taken a small candy bar (~150kcal) as my “anti bonk measure” and just water in my bottles. Such a small amount of energy is not enough to keep my body warm when it’s wet and almost freezing. As I made it home I went straight into the shower. I didn’t even bother taking the wet clothes that were stuck to me. As my right arm warmed up, it hurt a LOT. I grabbed whatever high energy food I could find in the kitchen.
There is no bad weather, just poor choice of clothing
I have really underestimated the conditions, I felt fine as I left home so I was not aware it was going to get cold that fast. I was wearing one layer less than I should have on my upper body, (embrocation on my legs helped until I was very cold), and although a long Z2 ride is doable with just water and very little extra food, in cold conditions I should have taken more calories with me to keep my engine running warm. I was debating whether I should ride the trainer for 2h or do a 2.5-3h outdoor ride. I am positive an indoor trainer workout would have been more beneficial, since the last part of my ride was pure survival mode. Also my rain jacket needs to be “retreated” every once and a while so it retains it’s waterproof properties. I should have done that as well. As a wise person once said: “There is no bad weather, just poor choice of clothing.”
You can find explanations of the terms here together with explanations of the Training Zones.
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