Well after a promising start to my training my body has succumbed to illness. Not through over training I am pleased to say. I have monitored this closely being only to aware of how long too much effort can keep you off the bike for. No, I have picked up a bug that was floating around. It started with a cold and the usual difficulty and finished two days ago with a heart rate of 200 at just 14mph. Not a good sign for someone who thought their maximum heart rate was just over 180.
On a positive side the first of these two weeks was a test week so it was back on the tacx for the Olympic warm up and the 9 mile run through Paris. My watts avg dropped to just 211 with a max of just over 300. Not the increase I had hoped for. Despite being enthusiastic the engine just couldn't deliver the demands of the bridge and I found myself just going through the motions. Even in the warm up my max wattage was down to 650 from nearly 800. All fairly obvious signs something was wrong, that and the usual indicator of an increased resting pulse.
I still forced myself through a 1 1/2 hour ride the next day in temperatures of just 2 degrees in zone 1, nothing too taxing so I began to hope it was a short glitch. Not to be, the next day was another 1 1/2 hour ride (this was a recovery week after the increased miles last week) my HR hit 200 and I knew something was about to hit big time. A heavy cold hit me that night and I struggled to breath. I managed 1 hour 40 mins on the Turbo on the Friday but it was awful and probably a waste of time. I fell of the bike at the end regretting forcing myself onto the machine. I took a decision to take three days of the bike, missing two planned rides and going into the scheduled rest day on the Monday. My weekly mileage was a miserable 94.67.
Ever the optimist Tuesday was another week. The so called beast from the East failed to appear; A predicted -10 and below weather front skirted our Isles and we basked in 0 to -7 degrees. Well a mixture of being a wimp, being unwilling to risk expensive bikes on icy roads and continuing to be ill saw a change in training again.
On the Tuesday I hit the turbo for just 45 minutes on a downhill training session but after about 20 lost all power again and I realised I hadn't recovered sufficiently yet. I took the Wednesday off and on the Thursday with temperatures at -5 and an inch of ice on the pond hit the turbo again. My average power was still low but up 14w from Tuesday with a max at 660 which looked promising. After the 65min session I felt ill again though and looking at the graph once again saw a drop in power after about 40 mins. I took the next day off again and instead of the scheduled 4 hour ride on the Saturday went for a 90 minute ride with Wirral Mamil Ade who was just back from Germany. It was a good decision, my HR hit 200 again, I felt weak, light headed and unable to concentrate properly on the bike. We ended up riding just 20 miles at 15mph with an average HR of 135. This is a good 20bpm above what I would expect at that speed. Needless to say I took Sunday off and Monday is my scheduled rest day. So a week with just under 90 miles has not thrilled me.
That said on the Friday I did drive out to the Polocini cafe on the Friday for a piece of cake and some delightful company. If ever you are in Romiley near the Peak district its a must. The proprietors are two of the most enthusiastic individuals I know who just love cycling. In the interests of disclosure they do run the Polocini test team for whom I shall be competing but a bonus for me is that it costs me a fraction of what it could cost if I joined another team.
So I am writing this on the Monday rest day and feel a touch better. My enthusiasm hasn't wavered despite the cold. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how to train. This blog is just about a bloke pushing 50 who wants to compete in time trials, but I think cancelling the training was the best idea. Riding alone when ill and it is so cold is just too risky. Anyway the choice will always be yours..for me lets see what this week brings......
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