week 13: recovery + bike test week

Working hard to get back here.

Week 13: recovery + bike test week

On Sunday night a few weeks ago, I repeatedly refreshed TrainingPeaks. (I’m not the only one who does this, right?) I more-or-less knew what my week was gonna look like, but I needed to see the little boxes officially on the calendar. 

After refresh 37, my week appeared: eight glorious hours of recovery. Plus a couple bike FTP tests. 

Both my mind and legs were more than ready for both. Becuase whoa, my legs were tired. And because I was ready to see the results of some hard work. 

The previous six weeks were all about the bike. Each week had three or four sessions:

• one at dream watts (and someday real watts)
• another that felt like four back-to-back-to-back-to-back five-minute FTP tests
• and one that stretched my mind out of its comfort zone (60-minute intervals are tough!)

Needless to say, by recovery + bike test week, I was pretty damn excited to let off the throttle a bit to catch my breath. The intensity of training this year has gone up a notch, and while it’s awesome, it’s been an adjustment (i.e., I’ve never failed to hit so many intervals on the trainer! But, stretching is good – that’s how you get better). 

Anyway, the five-minute and 20-minute test? Big increases on both – though coach thinks I was too conservative on the 20 minute one (and I kinda agree!). Onward!