PIG Week 12

As I complete the recovery workout for week 12, this week is now completed with a day to spare. Now I can ring in the new year without worrying about tomorrow's session.

The hardest part with a recovery workout is holding the wattage below the limit, in my case, 160 watts. It's so easy to spike when you hit a little hill. I have to work on that a lot more.

PIG Week 12 Endurance Session

Two hours and forty-five minutes on the trainer. If that doesn't drive you crazy, nothing will. That's today's session: 2:45 @ 65 - 70% of my critical power threshold which works out to be about 170 - 175.

Not only is the session long, but I started before the crack of dawn so that I didn't spend most of the morning on the trainer. It only took three bottles of Clif Shot lemonade drink and a few Honey Stinger waffles. Now it's time for a big breakfast.

PIG Week 12 Session 3 Tempo

I think tempo workouts have to be my favorite. The intensity is a little lower than the interval sets and the duration is long enough to get into a comfortable rhythm. They allow you to get into that zone where you're just cruising along. They're not easy enough that you can zone out but you can just focus on the ride.

PIG Week 12 Session 1 Intervals

After two days of celebrating Christmas and a few glasses of wine, it's time to get back to the bike.

Today is the start of week 12 and I'm starting with the regular interval set. Since I round the wattage a little, this week's set is the same as last week, 6 x 5 minutes at 260 watts. I shifted to a harder gear this week but I don't know if that makes a difference since the computer sets the resistance.

The set was tough but overall, I think I completed the set easier than last week. A few times last week I had to stand on the pedals to get the cadence back up and I was able to stay seated the entire workout this week.

I guess it was okay to have a glass or two of wine and a good glass of beer.

PIG Week 11 Session 2 Long Intervals

Did I say six inches of snow yesterday? I went out to shovel and it was closer to twelve inches. It took over an hour to clear the driveway and I only have a two car garage.

Today's workout represents the change from the first ten weeks to the last ten weeks. In the first ten weeks, there was one interval workout and two tempo workouts. The last ten weeks start with two interval workouts and one tempo workout.

The second interval workout it a long interval workout and it's similar to Daniel's cruise intervals except the time between reps is long than I would expect. For a cruise interval, I would have looked for a set that looked like twenty minutes @ 235 and five minutes recovery. As it was, the set was two by twenty @ 235 followed by ten minutes recovery. A very tough set.

Now it's time to finish the Christmas shopping.

PIG Week 11 Session 3 Tempo

The nice thing about the tempo sets is that since my wattage didn't change, the tempo sets didn't change from weeks 6 - 9. The big difference between weeks 6 - 9 and 11 - 14 will be the second interval set which is tomorrow's workout. Hopefully shoveling six inches of snow won't tire out the legs too much.

PIG Week 11 Session 1 Intervals

After terrible weeks 8 and 9, and with doubling the recovery week to two weeks, the first session of week 11 went good. 6 x 5 minutes @ 260 with 3 minute recovery. The last two reps were tough and with the last two minutes being real hard.

After weeks 8 and 9, it felt good to complete a tough workout again. Now it's time to get some recovery going since there's another tough interval session this week.

Critical Power Test 3 - part 3

After a second week of recovery, I was rested and ready for the critical power test again. Thirty minutes hard and steady to establish the training threshold for the next four weeks.

The plan was to start out and hold 240 for the first fifteen minutes and then pick up the average five watts every five minutes. The first fifteen went just as planned and I went through fifteen at 240. The second fifteen didn't quite go as planned. I was only able to raise the average five watts over fifteen minutes. Not exactly as I planned it.

I struggled with the 245 watt threshold the last four weeks so maybe this is a good indicator that I didn't get as much improvement as I thought. Starting Monday, it's 245.

PIG Week 10.5

Since my foot is still bothering me and since my performance on the test wasn't so great, I'm repeating week 10 which is a recovery week. The main reason is to give my foot another week to heal. I don't really want this foot problem come race season so it's better to rest now and train later.

Critical Power Test 3

With the recovery week coming to an end, it's time for the third critical power test to set the levels for weeks 11 - 14. I'm using the 70.3 CA course so it's mostly flat with a few climbs to keep switching up the leg muscles.

The start felt pretty good and after a few minutes I settled into my target wattage of 255. My goal was 255 for 25 and then if there was anything left, try to raise it to 260. After about 20 minutes, things started to fall apart. I don't know what it is but it's taken two test to get a good performance.

For now, since I had trouble with the interval workouts from weeks 6 - 9, I think I will continue with the old results and then retest.

PIG Week 10

I love the recovery weeks. After four hard weeks of intervals, tempos and long rides, it's nice to sleep in a little and get some rest. The next 30 minute test is coming soon and then the hard work starts again.

PIG Week 9 Session 2 Tempo

Another strong tempo set, 50 minutes at 221 watts. I think I'm better suited for the slightly lower watts with a longer duration than the shorter more intense interval sessions. I seem to get through the tempo sets easier than the interval sessions. I guess that means I should work on the intervals harder.