by SickBoy » 28 Jan 2014 19:11
2014.
So I'm in Canada and it's stupid cold and snowy and icy in the winter. When an ex collegue invited me to do the ToS on Facebook I accepted thinking I will have done lots of turbo work and this is a good motivator to do some cycling indoors and give myself a little test.
Preparation has not gone totally according to plan, I had a good little phase just after Xmas while still on holiday but the reality is 2 x 1 hour sessions each week is about as good as it gets and I have been pretty inconsistent since Jan, what didn't help was getting flu a couple of weeks ago, just as I was starting to pick training up again, had a week off all training and then another week where I just did some swimming. When the first day of the tour rolled around I'd not been on my bike for 2 weeks. Yes I know, it sounds like I'm getting my excuses in early but this is just the reality of it...
Stage 1 - Rubber Glove (20min FTP test)
It was with some trepidation I got down to stage 1. I had tested my FTP back at the end of December and it had dropped from 241 to 221 and the test didn't feel good, even the warm up was way too tough, probably due to operating at the level I had set back at the start of 2013. But this was mostly down to being a bit unconditioned and with a few 'fests done in Dec and Jan things were starting to come together.
Stage 1 was Sat afternoon, after I'd taken the kids to their swimming lessions. We have a pool around the corner and they have lessons one after the other, 5yo for 45 mins and 3yo for 30 mins. I was in the water with both of them and the pool was cold, even more so when you are mostly standing around. My little boy didn't enjoy that part of it but he perked up when they were playing at going over a floating mat and then jumping in. To his credit, even though he was asking me to get him out of the water a lot he did do what he was asked. My daughter also did really well in the lesson and I was really pleased with both of them in the end so when they asked to go to McDonalds after, how could I say no?
Incidently the public pools here are free, we're paying for the lessons, I think it was $90 CAD each for about 10 sessions IIRC. The lessons are also all in French as we live in Rosemont, a predominately French neighbourhood but I am having lessons at the office paid for by work (3 hours each Monday evening at the moment) they're brining back a lot of the French I learnt at school, the upshot is I can understand the majority of what's being said in the lessons and it's easy enough to follow along.
At McDs I had some triple burger with cheese, bacon and mayo, the Ghalleger Trio (as in with fries and a coke), he is some player for the Canadiens (Montreal's hockey team I believe), Ice hockey is a big thing here in case you didn't know, maybe I'll give it a go one day but still learning to skate at the moment.
So back home from McDs and swimming I had about 90mins for my food to go down before starting stage 1. I wanted to get it done before dinner and bathtime so I could relax in the evening and also attempt to maximise my recovery before stage 2.
Rubber glove actually went a lot better than expected, a lot less difficulty in the warmup section compared to last time, my HR over 10 BPM lower at the end of the warm up and going into the 20 min section. it helps that the target levels were lower by about 20W but I was actually putting out roughly the same amount as the previous test during the warmup.
I managed to stay pretty consistent during the 20 min block, it felt fine for the first 5 mins and got progressively tougher, the last few minutes I was really breathing hard. The temptation was there just to lay off a little, make things easier but I kept on, probably because it was going better than I had feared. I set a new FTP record of 245 (my previous high in early 2013 being 241) putting me back just under 3.5W/kg which I'm pretty happy with - I don't feel as strong as I did this time last year but I think I maybe nailed the test better - the 20 min block was very consistent, a 5W higher on average in the first five minutes but the new 15 and 20 min bests were 259W and 258W, the first 15 mins of the test, and the full test duration. Held a nice high cadence too (96 RPM), I wonder if I would be able to set a higher FTP by grinding out a lower gear, my suspicion is ves but I like to do the test like I race.
Stage 2 - ISLAGIATT
I did this early-ish on Sunday morning so I could take the kids out somewhere later in the day, there was a free kids space themed exhibition at a museum downtown, including some crafting workshops which my daughter loves so best to get the ride done and out of the way.
I threw down a nutella sandwich, normally I would have a banana but we were out of stock. Everything setup downstairs, most of the ride is below threshold so I decided to leave the seting at 100%, after all should be doable right? Perhaps I had filled myself with a bit too much confidence. I could feel the fatigue in my legs right at the start, HR climbing a little higher than expected in the warm up section. The first 2 climbs went ok, I was able to stay with the attacks, hit all the targets but HR was getting high, rising on the attacks and not really recovering to the crusing level but coming down ok in the recovery. I remember it was hard work, I was focusing on the 5 min recovery block at halfway, just focussing on getting there, having a gel and then carrying on, the second half didn't look so tough.
Took on a gel at the hour point, perahaps I should have prepared better nutrition-wise but I think really I learnt the lesson a long time ago in my first standard dist tri that I can't expect myself to keep going for two hours if I've been training max one hour at a time.
Instantly Mt Sufferlandria was hard, it's at 93% of FTP roughly and I'm struggling to hold that, the first attack comes, I try to go with it and then legs just give up. I can't go out on stage 2 I am thinking to myself. This is rubbish. I'm worried that pausing like this will mean my ride will be DQ'd, I start pedalling and 30 seconds later legs are stopping, a bit more rest, I let my HR drop back down. I look and see how long is left, "I can't do this" I say to myself. There's another 15 mins on Mt Sufferlandria alone. I push on again, make it a few minutes to the next attack which I cannot hit the 357W power target for and again legs stop, I got up to about 300W for a second or two. And so it goes on, wait 10, 20 seconds for HR to drop to 140, pedal a bit further up the mountain. This is crushing, I can't do it, I can't do it. I've got to do it. I don't want the last hour to be for nothing, I want to stay in the tour. I don't have time to rest, I've got to take the kids out later, 50 mins of riding ahead and it's going to take me over an hour at this rate. I stop another 10 times going up Mt Sufferlandria...
Even the recovery block between here and the final climb it hard, I can't even maintain 162W. Every time I sob that "I can't do it, I just can't do it" now I hear my kids shouting from upstairs, "You can do it daddy!" I don't know if this makes me feel better or not. I struggle on like this to get to the end, I can feel my legs coming apart. TR keeps telling me that I'm riding the intervals with 0 precision and below that target. I don't even have the headphones on anymore, I look at the screen on the laptop occasionally but mostly I cry into my aerobars.
It just reminds me of a time I bonked at the end of a solo ride about 8 miles from home and it was just an eternitiy to get back. I just wanted it to be over, I was so disappointed that my legs weren't responding to what I was asking them to do. I crawl to the end of stage 2, broken, disheartened. Teriffied of the Angels/Hunted double header on Friday and worried that even if I am going to continue that I've just mashed my legs up so badly I won't be able to.
Stage 3 - Revolver.
Monday nights, I get home about 9pm as I have my French class straight after work at the office. It's a long day, bed time is usually 10pm, we're up around 6:30am or before if the kids are not sleeping. At least revolver is 45 mins I was thinking. I can turn it down a bit. Suprisingly though, after the horror that was ISLAGIATT my legs don't feel too bad, when I look at reducing the % back to where I was before my amazingly great FTP test at the start of the tour the targets are not that much different, only 30W so I decide to leave it on 100% and see how I get on.
It goes great, I hurt sitting down on the bike to begin with and notice some pain in my aductors but I am maintaining good form, I am pretty close to the targets, a few W below but in the green on TR. The first few intervals go by quite easy but that's how revolver works, progressively it gets harder and harder, the first 10 seconds of each interval go quick last 5 to 10 seconds last an eternity, I watch the counter on the screen and it appears to be stuck time moves so slowly then. Comparitively the recovery minutes go so quick, before I know it I've 20 seconds to go to the next push, I take on some water, get settled. The 3rd quarter of the workout is the toughest but then when the CX section comes around and I can see I only have a few intervals left I feel good, pedalling well, able to reach the power targets. It goes by so fast compared to ISLAGIATT, I'm actually liking revolver and I'm riding it the best I ever had. It's a great boost to complete the stage more decisively today.
After I sit up in a puddle of sweat for a while looking over my performance, no time for dinner, just drink some milk and get ready for bed but sleep doesn't come easy. Sure I can do 45 mins but I don't want to think about the longer stages coming up.
Sent from Canada using my Nexus 4
Globally dominating Canada