Recovery

Coming off of such a horrible training weekend, I entered this week with a little bit of trepidation. Was I sick? Was I over training? Was I just plateauing? I took Monday off after another sub-par day on Sunday, and entered Tuesday's schedule looking an interval session straight in the face.

Tuesday:

Fiesta Island, smooth, flat, and plenty of wind. 4x10 minute efforts at 95-102% of LT Threshold. I pushed the first one pretty hard to see if everything was working. Seemed good. I settled down for the remaining intervals - and was pretty happy that they were consistent. The big thing was that all the efforts were right at 96% of LT. Might be time for another LT test!

Interval 1: AvgWatt: 322, AvgHR 177, AvgW/Kg 4.2, AvgSpd 23.9

Interval 2: AvgWatt: 296, AvgHR 176, AvgW/Kg 3.8, AvgSpd 23.4

Interval 3: AvgWatt: 302, AvgHR 179, AvgW/Kg 3.9, AvgSpd 23.4

Interval 4: AvgWatt: 297, AvgHR 178, AvgW/Kg 3.9, AvgSpd 23.

Later, I did a short TT effort up Mt. Soledad. This is quickly becoming my daily Lunch Time ride - short, somewhat steep (6%), and close by. A fast 1 mile run down Garnet, dodging potholes and freeway bound drivers, then a hard right onto Soledad Mt. Road. The clock starts here doesn't stop until the lights @ the intersection with La Jolla Scenic Dr. It's 2.9 miles long and 650' tall; that makes it pretty close to the Lookout Mountain route in Golden, Co - my old training grounds.

Soledad: AvgWatt: 333, AvgHR 169, AvgW/Kg 4.3, AvgSpd 13.24 Time: 12:36

So, some solid training on Tuesday, even though I wasn't feeling 100%.

Wednesday:

The Cyclovet Wednesday Ride. Turn out for this ride has been growing and growing. This week's ride had members from Swamis, Adam Avenue GS, Slow Step, Cyclovets, solo riders, as well as a few semi pro and pro "ringers." My game plan for this ride was to keep it slow and steady. For the past few weeks I've been trying to tackle the ride up Highline Truck Trail by riding steady tempo at or just under LT. It may seem counter-intuitive, but putting in less effort on the climb has made the trip up much quicker. I guess I'm more of a Jan Ullrich than a Marco Pantani.

So, this meant staying back when the group accelerated on the beginning slopes of Highline; keeping the effort around 290 watts. It saves the power until later in the climb (when the road ramps up to 8-9%). It also gives me a few quick flats and downhill sections to recover.

After connecting with the first group I put in a bit more of an effort, gaped the front, and soloed towards the 4 corners. I was caught by the group on the decent (I was going over 45, but...). The rest of the ride I tried to put in solid efforts and concentrate on building strength.

Thursday

I hadn't done one of my favorite rides in quite a while, Mt. Helix, and so headed out to La Mesa for some Climbing Intervals -5 x 10 minute intervals at 90% of LT. Helix is a forgotten gem of San Diego cycling. It has ramps of 15-16% as it winds it's way up to the summit amphitheater; good climbing!

Oh yeah, and the views are too bad either.

I was "feeling it" a little today so the first effort stung a little. The second was done with a little more smoothness. On the third I flatted, and no CO2. Pump kinda worked, but on the decent the tube went flat again. I limped home without doing any more intervals, but pushed it a bit up into Linda Vista.

Some stretching and using the foam roller and I'll be good as new. So far a good week of training.