End of Week One

To be clear, the picture isn't me, not even close but its pretty cool. There was no blog yesterday as time failed me and cleaning a dirty bike ready for the next ride felt a bit more important. yesterday was a four hour ride, the longest so far in this regime. Again it was 15 mins zone 1, 3 1/2 hrs in zone 2 and a 15 min zone 1 cool down. I was allowed into zone three for the hills if I had to. Despite the amount of climbing I chose to ride through Willaston, Ellesmere Port, Chester and through to Dellamere Forrest, coming back through Christleton, Chester, Wrexham a quick  halt at Eureka and home. Overall I did reasonably well. I hit 160bpm a couple of times on the 12% climbs but would defy anyone not to. My HR stayed in Z1 for an hour not thirty minutes but that may be down to tailwinds, long descents and a spell along a dirt track courtesy of the garmin. And, I must confess the odd play at speed particularly after a 12% decent. I also got my times wrong. I hit Eureka with 20 mins of the ride to go and 40 mins to go home. As it was supposed to be a team ride and ended up a solo one I felt I deserved some coffee. Rather than spend the full 40 mins in zone 1 I continued at a higher rate until 15 mins then dropped the speed down a bit though it was difficult going mostly uphill. Overall I managed about 68 miles at 15.9mph average. I also felt very good after the ride and the next day. In fact I haven't felt sore tired, or wanted to avoid the bike all week.

Today, due to child care arrangements I was due to hit the turbo, annoying on a sunny day but with the best excuse possible. The plan was a 15 minute warm up, then 3 lots of 2mins z2 and 2mins z1 finishing with a 15min z1 cool down. It should of been OK but having fitted a new tyre I had problems with the tacx, the speed was between 0 and 6mph for a cadence of 90-120 and a HR in excess of 130. so I need to sort out the technical difficulties for next time.

Overall a good week without any pain and interestingly some of the best sleep for a long time. Not sure I will blog every day next week I may go for a summary, depends how I feel.....