Back into it!
Tuesday morning, 10:30 AM. Back on the Kickr for the first time serious session in a week, after doing some light work for an hour on Saturday (which was the sweatiest session so far, shortly after catching that virus)
2.5 hours scheduled: 1 hour endurance at 190w, 24 minutes of tempo at 250W plus 3 sprint of 20 seconds at 370w, then another hour of endurance at 190W. After a week of not training, I noticed I was dragging my feet to actually start the session. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect.
But: it went well. Really well, actually.
The tempo block felt manageable, although the sprints I found made the next tempo block quite a bit tougher. The endurance ticked by without major fatique. Heart rate mostly where it should be. By the end of the session, I felt like... well, like I hadn't been ill at all.
The human body is remarkable
There's something genuinely surprising about this. Four days ago, I was properly wrecked. Today I'm holding steady power for 2.5 hours like almost nothing happened.
The fitness doesn't vanish. It just pauses. I almost feel silly about being frustrated not being able to train for a week, as it clearly is not that much of a big deal.
I think this is what structured training actually does. When you've been building consistently for months, doesn't come off in a week, at least not much of it. Physical decline apparently really starts after 6-7 days of not training, but this is exactly where I got back into it again.
What’s coming in the next weeks
We’ll be leaving for Switzerland in 4 days for family holidays. Obviously the Kickr and bike come along. The plan though is to have a lighter program, especially in the first week, as we stay at 1600m with lower pressure and as such oxygen in the same breath. In week 2 my body should be mostly adapted, and I can train at sea-level power probably. After that, I am driving to Spain to link up with Jeroen in the mountains around Girona, for our first training week together. Super excited to ride with him for a week, as we’ve been riding together only twice since we started training in July (we live 200km apart).
The plan in Girona is to do a few days of proper Cape Epic race day simulations, with distances approaching 100 km and 2.5-3km of elevation per day. I am excited about that, to test ourselves against the most Cape Epic-like conditions we can simulate here in European winter! Be on the look-out for more updates to come on that!
Until then, Keep Chasing!
