Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Huff and Puff

About an hour of tempo, with five (5x) 5'minute intervals at 100-120%FTP are on the docket for tonight. Designed to work the lungs as well as the legs. I roll out with a veeery easy warmup. Easy to neglect a good warmup. But I find that as fatigue accumulates, it takes longer to warm up. Oddly, if I cut the warm up short, it actually takes longer before I feel good. Fifteen minutes of high cadence, low power and I'm prepped.

Thirty minutes of tempo and I hit the work intervals with gusto. The first minute or two are easy, and I go at the top of the target range. Then... the lactate sets in... hard. The previous days' fatigue is making an appearance. This is common after a few days of riding. Intervals start easier, but holding them gets harder. The fitness gains lie in holding them as they get harder. As a friend says "80% of the gain is in the last 20% of the ride." I do my best. By the last interval power has dropped off, and I'm knocking on the bottom of my target range. Doable. But just barely. As intervals should be done.

Tomorrow is an easy one, on dirt, before some recovery on Friday. First fall race is here next week!

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