Q1 2020 Roundup


My original plan for this post was to summarise my winter training and preview the Catford 10. Obviously, given the outbreak of Covid-19, the race is off. So, in this post I'll muse about this winter's training, including balancing commuting, turbo, career and social life.

In my last post in early December, I wrote about my work:life balance feeling askew. Fortunately, the weeks leading up to the Christmas break were pretty quiet work wise, so I continued to ride a lot on the turbo during the week and get out on the TT bike, weather-permitting, on the weekends.

I rarely rode to work during December. From memory there was a lot of rain and I just didn’t feel up to it as I started to wind down for Christmas.

The Christmas break was great. I did some turbo sessions, rode outside a bit, ate lots of good food, spent time with friends/family and spent most of the break horizontal.

In anticipation of work getting super busy again, I put coaching on hold temporarily. I explained to Tim that I wasn’t sure what the best course of action would be, given increased work commitments. We agreed I’d take a fortnight just doing whatever I wanted and would get back to Tim.

In that two weeks I commuted by bike five times and felt really good for it (buying new kit also helped).

I got in touch with Tim and we agreed that we’d continue working together with the rough plan: 2 or 3 commutes during the week, Saturday AM turbo, Sunday outdoor TT ride.

Tim scheduled efforts during the commutes and the weekend rides, and provided alternative options to fit my constantly changing schedule.

The bike commute has been pretty consistently three times a week this year, with a few exceptions for late nights at work. Without doubt it has proved more sustainable. Ironically, my four-hour commute actually saves me time compared to an hour’s turbo in the evening. So that helps.

There’s also the social element. Commuting in with Andy regularly is a lot of fun, and I often bump into somebody on the way home.


Key Sessions
Dec 10 – 3x4' @ 300w, 310w, 315w (1' rec), 4:30 in TT position full gas.
Managed 339 watts for the 4:30 with the last minute @ 367 watts! This session was a big confidence boost to know I could produce sustained power on the turbo.

That's Numberwang!


Jan 1 – NYD 10
Decided to race the SDW 10 on Q10/1 as a test to see where I was at. Managed 318NP which was 20 watts lower than my best 10 back in September. This was to be expected though as my position was still a work in progress. Good enough for 6th on the day, but couldn’t help feel disappointed.


Jan 25 – 3 hours @ 250NP
Rode from home to in-laws at just below 100m TT effort. This was a draining ride after 165 miles of commuting during the week.


Feb 20 – 17x30" @ 480w (1' rest)
Really happy to complete this session. The last three reps were 500+ watts.


Feb 21 – 40' outdoor test – 293w
After a few days in the south of France, and a hard turbo the day prior, this was a real struggle. I had hoped to maintain somewhere between 300-310 watts, but straight away I knew that wasn't going to happen. It was a really windy day which didn't help, but my legs just didn't feel right regardless. (I’m pretty sure I realised my saddle had ‘slipped’ and was pointing down slightly around this time.)


Current Setup
Since Tuesday of this week I’ve been working from home. A guy in our office was diagnosed with Covid-19 and we were given the option to work from home. I jumped at the chance, sent Tim an email to swap commutes for turbos and I was up and running the next day.

We agreed three turbos during the week, with an outdoor alternative option, and the usual weekend sessions.

Although I’ve been working pretty much non-stop, this week at home has been good. I’m sleeping better, I don’t use an alarm anymore, I walk the dog before and/or after work, and I’ve completed some solid turbo sessions.

The three sessions Tim set this week were quite long so I split them in two, which has worked really well. I find it much easier to go hard if I know it’s only a short session. I think it’s because I struggle with overheating on the turbo, even with the powerful fan.

Sandwiching my workday with turbos is also a nice way of switching on/off ‘work mode’.

With work returning to normal levels next week, I should be able to get out for one or two rides during the working week.

Races
The first race of the season was supposed to be the Sundridge Interclub on 28/03. I plan to ride the Polhill course instead – in full TT gear and at maximum effort. I’m curious to see how fast I go without a number on my back, what power I produce and how sustainable my position is.

Last August I did 317NP for 22:47. So maybe a short 22, 320ish watts? We’ll see.

Thanks for reading.

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