The key session - 3 deadlies

Had a great session yesterday. I got in a 2hr session in the morning riding to Wollongong. Then - post work - I rode back to my car taking in Mt Keira and what is known as the 3 Deadlies. Three short sharp climbs that take are around 9% gradient and put the sting in the legs.

Felt really well going over Mt Keira, and kicked arse over the 3 Deadlies. I have not felt this strong in a long time. Have been paying a lot of attention to keeping a higher cadence whilst climbing and focussing on unweighting the pedals on the upstroke and am feeling smoother and not fatiguing as much.. It takes more concentration maintaining the rhythm, but pays dividends.

Kept the pressure on the pedals all the way back to the car, clocked up 40km in 1hr 25min ~ 28km/hr average. Not bad considering the terrain (750metres total ascent). Normalised power 270w !!!

Feeling fatigued now, recovery ride friday, then another key session on Saturday. Either a tempo 3hr ride or a criterium. Then taper for the Calga time trial the following week.

Coming together nicely...

Mt Keira

22.30m FTP 315W, 80rpm ave.

My second best time ever up Mt Keira this morning. To be honest I didn't think I would even come close to this time as I was only holding 300w for the first 2km which usually indicates i'm off form.

I think holding back initially helped in the later part of the climb.

I held a _much_ higher cadence than usual, I felt a lot better and was able to accelerate through the different ramps rather than power grinding.

Power data just in, FTP of 315W with an average cadence of 80rpm. Power delivery this run was much smoother than previous attempts.. Probably something that has aided the better time.

Has given me a big morale boost!

calga

43.26, NP 294w, ave speed 33.8km/hr, ave cadence 88 rpm

Felt average today, legs felt heavy. Usually when i'm onto a good time I can taste a bit of blood in my mouth, thats when i know my lungs are at capacity.

No blood today.

No race wheels either, sold those unexpectedly last week, so I was able to get some good data with the standard training wheels. Probably cost me at least 30 seconds I'd say without the deep rims.

This is the first time the powertap has recorded the entire course, last time I had some dropout problems.

Power graph shows that I started off ok, perhaps a touch too hard for my given FTP, and i dropped the ball half way from home, power went down significantly over the fastest part of the course.

Also I had bad gearing with a top gear of only 50x12, so i was coasting on a few of the downhills.

Finished off strongly, but too little too late.

At least I have some good data now that I can mull over and focus on. I'm going to spend the next month focusing on my TT'ing.

5 minutes

5 minutes isn't a long time, but it can seem like a lifetime when you are hurting.

Managed to pump out a few 5 minute intervals at my FTP of 300w. Not impressed? Yep, neither am I. But to add some flavour I did this 8 times (with 2 minutes z1 recovery in between) all on my brand spanking new time trial machine pictured here:

Managed to get through the first 6 intervals without much effort, but interval number 7 and 8 sure did hurt. Adapting to my TT position has been pretty straight forward, I'm in a comfortable position which is the most aerodynamic i have ever been, my effective head tube height is 12cm, i'm sure with some more time I can get down to the top of the head tube which is 10cm. 

The only thing I'm bummed out about is that I don't have a set of race wheels with a powertap installed. This is where crank based power measuring has its advantages as your not locked into one wheelset. This means the time trial next week will be on race wheels, and i'll be judging my effort levels with heart rate and perceived exertion. My interval training will help me judge my perceived exertion and hopefully i retain some muscle memory of what 300w feels like.

Time (no pun) will tell!