Four  Three Weeks to Go...

My second scheduled rest week had me worried. Not tired so much as weak. Fatigued. I scaled down my time on the bike significantly, tried to get enough rest, ate well, but the legs gave up at even the thought of work. I was getting worried that I had done something quite wrong and I would be unprepared to tackle the 3 Peaks.

The first day back this week was a huge relief. I have no idea what happened, or if I just needed that easy week to let the legs come back, but they're back. A fast bunch ride on Saturday morning and a very hard 161km on Sunday (3000 meters, and at a pretty good pace) was a good start.

Yesterday's morning ride was a low cadence strength ride up in the hills and I felt strong enough to turn a 28rpm cadence up 8% in my 53/17. The only problem with that ended up being my back, so I'll need to put a bit more time into building core strenth.

In any case, I'm in my last training block before the ride. This Sunday is a shorter ride (just over 100km) but absolutely jammed with hills, so if I can I'll throw in a flat loop at the end to get some extra k's in. Next week I have to get what will probably be my only 200km ride in before the event, but hopefully I can get one more in the following week.

Then, one week to taper, load up the fun-bus with 6 other guys and point it towards Falls Creek, Victoria.

Fog/mist, then rain, then sun, and always up

So Sunday's ride was a good one for maybe 130km, then it got a bit rough, and then it rapidly became a bit desperate. The two of us that pushed on (started with 22) past the 100km mark felt pretty good and as a result pushed the pace a bit, resulting in us both hitting the wall pretty solidly. Defeated, we limped home. Plenty of huge gradiants (20%+), some chilly/rainy/foggy conditions for a few hours, and 160km.

The fifth of the really good ones

Didn't touch the bike on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.

Wednesday I managed a short sprint session on the trainer before work, and this morning (Friday) I struggled through a big-gear ride in the hills, feeling rather fatigued. Flat and fast tomorrow for the shop ride, Sunday off (going to get worked over with paintballs for a bucks/stagg thingy), and then Monday is 200km+ if it kills me.

My final two weeks has been revised, with tapering starting a week earlier, which I'm not sure about. It's so tempting to think that more time on the bike equals more performance on the day, but I know in my head that recovery is just as much, if not more, a part of fitness.