AM/Lunch: 3 hours 46' (~67 miles @ 17.8 MPH). 221W. HR 134.
Gravel Simulation 1
This was a tough one. Aerobically, not terrible, but the muscular strength and durability required is really something, especially outside. A month or so ago I did 262 watts for 2 hours on the trainer. Today I did 264 for 2 hours, but with a harder, scheduled start.
Sometime this past fall I listened to a FasCat podcast on gravel power and learned that bike workouts are generally not hard enough (when necessary, not always). I came to this conclusion on own, given my background in running and know that, for instance, in marathon training you need to do more than a few miles at marathon pace for prep (up to maybe 14-16 is ideal) for a half about 8-9 miles broken up is ideal.
The gravel simulation mimics the start of a gravel race, which is probably closer to cross country running than anything else. You start with 5' a vo2 wattage, directly into threshold for 10' (so right around your one-hour power), and then move directly into a sweet spot interval for as long as you can go, I think perhaps up to three hours. I planned on at least 90' at sweet spot, up to 2 hours, but not more. I ended up doing 1:45.
Warmed up for an hour at zone 2 and got to my tempo loop and got into it. I started the 5' effort around 320 or so and dropped knowing it was likely too hard. I then dropped to 10' but got scared I would blow up if I tried to hold 295-300, so that segment was off at 264 watts, but I knew I had a long session ahead. I was kind of thinking I would stop the workout because I thought I was already fading. As it turns out, my legs just needed more time to warm up. I did a number of laps trying to bring the power up, which I did. I started the first 3-5 minutes around 245-250 and just kept the pressure on the pedals and eventually got the lap power up to 264-265 range and mostly held it there, only fading slightly toward the end to 262 watts.
I went into the cool down, but my legs were absolutely smashed. I tried sitting and standing and it was hard. I worried about a 45' ride home but just worked through everything, but my legs were in pain. They got somewhat better as I got closer to home but they are really banged up.
The total for the 2-hour segment was 264 watts @ 148 heart rate. My HR never really got much above 150 or so, and it only got to 159 max, but I think that was pressing hard up a hill on the warm-up.
I took in almost 3 25 oz bottles of 90g bottles and 2 40g Maurten gels, so pretty close to 93g per hour on average. I think next time I will try to get it closer to 100g or higher.
The boys had a good Easter. It is such a joy to see how excited they get to hunt for eggs. I made dinner, which ended up being on the later side of things, and the boys weren't keen on staying put, but they ate a bit of ham.
| 