Being up north for some time this winter meant it was time for cold training. Luckily my time home came during a major warm spell. With only two days left in the block at the time of writing, I am at a mere 2 hours of trainer hours on the year, both of which were not due to weather, but rather daylight.
The focus for this block was pushing the z4 watts up. This was done by working on either side of the zone. Tempo with surgery workouts as well as some VO2 style 4-minute efforts with lots of recovery. It is always challenging to hit these workouts coming off straight volume and having no intensity in the legs for so many weeks but I was super happy with how things went. I had the best 4-minute session I have ever had and consistently built my tempo efforts with the power spikes throughout the 3-week block. My best sessions are inserted below for each workout.
4 minutes on, 8 off (380, 402, 412, 422, 441, 440) and then 12 at 340.
Sit at 335 for 3.5, spike to 500 for 30s x 4. Added a bonus effort up another climb at the end.
On either side of these workouts was zone 2 hours and a few easy strength maintenance workouts to keep me feeling strong. Total hours were 19, 23 and 15. I called the final week a few days short as I felt some sickness moving in. I feel as though the cold weather taxed the body a little more than usual and this may have led to me feeling the way I did come to the end of the block.
I have 1 month to go until my first race and am feeling awesome about where my fitness is. To finalize my form I will do two things. The first is to spend substantial time on the mountain bike as I need to refine my skills and efficiency after being up north for so long. Secondly will be mixed in a few high-end anaerobic sessions so the body can handle the lactate demands of XCC and XCO racing. Hours will be maintained, with a lower z2 output and higher interval output. On top of that, I will get myself down south so I don't immediately melt when I race in warmer temperatures. I am looking forward to getting into the race swing of things. I will also tidy up the diet a little bit to ensure I come into the season with some great form as the early season races will be proper quick!
Highlight ride of the block… It's hard to pick one. All are extremely average (we’re talking about training 20 hrs a week in Canada/Vermont in January/February). I can't say I have experienced such warm weather up here ever which made this block possible. Excited for the season to come!
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