Training with Rowe & King, Weeks 8-9

Week 8 consisted of steady-state riding with a big effort at the end of the week. 

Monday and Tuesday

Monday saw me join the AHDR crew for a ride around Neokyo at a steady pace. AHDR always puts on well-organised and managed rides.

Tuesday I joined the restart of the Andy Schleck Cycles Cappuccino.  I was hoping for a quiet ride, hearing the re-telling of race stories by Andy. However, I found myself being more involved than I originally planned!

As the ride commenced, I noticed there was no sign of Andy, then to my surprise, my telephone lit up with his name on.  “What was Andy Schleck doing calling me?” I wondered aloud.  (Andy had my telephone number as we had previously ridden together earlier in the year, as I had interviewed him for an article to highlight his rides.)  Andy explained that his Companion app wasn’t working and so was telling me messages to pass to the group, whilst he fixed his technical issues. 

This made for an entertaining ride until Andy finally got the technology working. 

Wednesday to Friday

My steady-state riding continued with a spin with INEOS Grenadiers in the form of a group with Egan Bernal and Richard Carapaz.  It was a strange event in the sense that they didn’t communicate with the group and photos post ride indicated they did not have their Companion app connected.  It was during this event I realised that through Zwift, I had had the opportunity to ride alongside three Tour de France winners: Geraint Thomas, Andy Schleck, and now Egan Bernal. (And let’s not take anything away from Richard Carapaz, a Giro d’Italia champion.)

This is the beauty of Zwift. Every time you sign in for a ride, there is always some fresh experience to be had.

My ride with INEOS Grenadiers was cut a few minutes short as I hopped on to the Neokyo Badge Hunt, which has been a highly popular series. 

Thursday was my customary ride with Castelli, where we tackled the “Legends and Lava” route. Riding with Castelli is one of my favourite activities on Zwift, as the events are always well-paced and organised. Just pleasant conversation at a nice steady pace, making for the perfect lunchtime ride.

Friday was a steady ride again with INEOS Grenadiers but this time with Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe.  Geraint (being an old hand at Zwift) was very engaging and Luke was there as part of the double act.  For those who haven’t been following my training updates, Luke’s brother Matt has been successfully overseeing my training through Rowe & King.   

Saturday’s Big Effort

This steady-state riding left me primed for the big effort of the week, a sub 60-minute assault up the Ven-Top.  A full report can be read here.  But to get right to the point, I succeeded in the challenge by 2 seconds, or rather 1.9 seconds to be exact, with the average being 5 w/kg for the duration of the ride.  This was 40 seconds faster than I have previously done, so I consider this to be a major achievement given the length of the Ven-Top climb. 

A cool-down ride saw me take an easy spin in Neokyo followed by joining Mark Cavendish at very short notice, as he hosted an event that saw 1100 riders join him to ride around France. 

Sunday saw me barely walking after the effort the day before and subsequently I joined another of Mark Cavendish’s easy rides. 

It was a week of steady-state riding and one big effort that saw me accumulate 9 hours in the saddle.

Achievements

It was during all this steady-state riding that I had time to think about how I have progressed over the last 8 weeks. The sub-60 minute Ven-Top achievement under my belt highlighted to me the steady but definite progress.

• Week 4 – New 5-minute PB, at 5.7 w/kg.
• Week 5 – Finishing 8th and 7th in competitive FRR series, on the major stages.
• Week 6 – New 20-minute power, 5.3 w/kg. My entire average for the 28:23 race was 5.3 w/kg, also a new PB.
• Week 7 – New 5-minute PB at 5.8 w/kg, new 20-minute PB at 5.4 w/kg, new FTP 349.
• Week 8 – Ven-Top sub 60 minutes, 59:58.  First time I have achieved this.

At the end of week three, I wrote, “My overall feeling is that I am being pushed to a new level.  The innovative and different interval training is tough but I understand the long-term benefits and I am having the sensation that despite the fatigue, when I am fresh, I will be reaching new peaks.  I just have to stay on plan and manage that recovery.”    

It has been fascinating to look back and see the progress and reread my earlier articles. It’s like there was something prophetic about that statement, and I am delighted with the gains.

With these achievements under my belt, Matt was keen that we continue to build a strong base, which would result in week 9 being a week to recover, consolidate, and look to ensure these new levels become the new normal.

Week 9 – A Slow Week

Monday and Tuesday consisted of low-intensity intervals.

Monday’s session was challenging. It was the duration, 1.04 hrs, which I found difficult to handle. I just didn’t want to ride!  So podcasts were used to distract me and the ERG mode of the trainer ensured that I was operating at around the right resistance.  I won’t lie, I struggled. 

I struggled more on Tuesday which resulted in me having to abandon the session midway through.  I simply didn’t have the strength in the legs to push any resistance.  Feeling disappointed with my failure and following several hours of rest and a big lunch, I attended the Andy Schleck Cycles Cappuccino Ride. This time, however, there was no repeat of technical issues for Andy and it was a fun ride and exactly what I needed.

In desperate need of a rest, Wednesday was a complete day off the bike.  I was still feeling fatigued following my ride with Castelli on Thursday, so Friday and Saturday were much-needed rest days.  (That is not entirely true though. For an upcoming article, I did some power comparisons with my trainer and Garmin Vector 2S pedals. This resulted in a quick spin up the Volcano plus several sprints.)

Feeling I needed to salvage the week, on Sunday a 2.5-hour, 100km endurance ride was struggled through, followed by a 30-minute, 20km evening spin on the Garmin “Never Stop Series” where we did the Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop. At the start of the climb towards the Epic KOM, I was at the front of the group and sort of rode away from people.  I wasn’t attacking, it’s just I pushed up the climb and found myself on my own. I was soon joined by two other riders and we completed the route together, where I was outsprinted on the line. 

Despite the week not being terribly intense, I still managed to accumulate close to 250km and 6.5 hours riding. 

The key lesson from the week was that sometimes to go forward, you have to stop. The key thing is not to lose focus on the end goal and become dispirited.  A slow week is still another step in the journey and I am viewing this very much as the start of the next phase of training.  We have had 8 solid weeks of training and racing, with positive results as a consequence, we now have to consolidate before moving forward.