Zwift Racing Du Style

This week started if with a bang by mixing up a session of Zwift racing, hill reps running off the bike and strength work. That was quite an intense session. Then on Tuesday I did another Zwift race, planning to keep the power down to a manageable level so I didn’t kill myself. I sort of managed that but probably still went too hard. Wednesday was another tough day as I had a Duathlon simulation planned. I warmed up in Watopia. Then ran for 45 min as 10 min warm up, 30 min increase pace every 5 min, then 5 min easy. I timed that run to get back into Zwift where I’d entered the Bologna short TT. It worked well and I had about 2 min to wait before I was off. The legs were tired - very tired! I struggled quite a bit and the course didn’t help as although short, the final 4K is steep climbing. With fresh legs I would attack the climb but I was hanging on. After that it was the final leg of the Duathlon simulation which was a short 15 min increase pace run again. A great session but hard. Tired now. Back to work

Timed 5K - Run Fitness Assessed

This week I really tried to recover better and make the key sessions count. The important session this week was a timed 5K run, which would provide some sort of idea as to my run fitness. The consistent track sessions stopped early March due to the lockdown. So my hopes of building some sped into spring have kind of taken a wrong turn! I used the Whammy Parkrun course for the 5K but amended the route slightly to try and get the flattest route possible! The out and back course is pretty flat anyway but it does have a 600m drag to the turn point. Anyway, although nit totally fresh for this effort I was feeling ok. I had a bit of a blip half way and then picked up the pace towards the end. This made me think I should have pushed harder through the middle part. But a finish time of 18:20 is as fast as I’ve ran for the last 4 years. So I can’t complain. This week I received my NB Fuelcell trainers. Although I didn’t use these for my timed 5k (it was raining!), I did use them for my second run that day. The day’s train I was a broken Duathlon. So later, after the 5K timed, I did a Zwift race followed by a tempo 3k in the NB. Great feelings in these shoes and I’m eager to try them again in a fast paced run. I’ve put some Hickies laces in them for fast transitions. I’ll need to play around with lace positioning but they seem slick to get on as this set up. I really enjoyed the split Duathlon day but it was quite hard on the legs. I had an easy day on Friday, just a recovery spin. Then I ran for 90 min to a 65% HR. This felt ok but again, tired legs. To finish the week I completed the Zwift Week 8 session 4 set - and then carried on to complete 70k in 2:04 bagging the Big Foothills route badge. So extra XP pints means I’m closing in Level 21. Now for a few recovery days.

Sunny Spring

It’s now official; this spring is the sunniest ever in the UK. This fact was not lost on me as I reflected on the fact that since mid-March I’d only ridden once outside! So I zipped out again yesterday for a relaxed spin to grab some vitamin D before the weather breaks - which it now has!

This ride was also the first outing for my Boardman that I had purchased 2nd hand early April from an NTC member. What a great ride this bike is. I really enjoyed riding this bike. It’s very responsive and stable on descents. Very pleased. And the ride in the sun was great too. Shame it’s wet and significantly cooler today.

Now and Then - 38 Years Ago!

Wow! I clocked a fb post the other day that showed a photo from 1981/2 of a bunch of guys from Harborough AC - my old athletics club from my pre-RAF days. I am front eight. I haven’t really changed. Can you tell the difference? I know that I was significantly faster back then! With a 10k pb at 32:23 and 3000m on the track in 8:51, I’d settle for anywhere within a few mins of those times now!