End of summer check-in here. I’m half-way through the Road Racing Intervals plan presently and I set all-time bests for 5 minute and 10 minute power on consecutive days this week. Quite unexpected for this year.
I’m a reasonably well-trained cyclist, but at the end of last year, my two-week end of season recovery somehow became seven months… I’m sure some of you know how it is - an object at rest and all that. The more time passes the harder it is to get back on the bike as you know how much fitness you’ve lost, how bad its going to hurt starting back, and how long it’s going to take to get back to where you were.
I started riding again at the start of May, and wow was it a shock. HR jacked on every ride. Threshold power initially where the top of my Zone 2 had previously been… but over the summer I’ve been #FtFP-ing - first CX Summer Sweet Spot, then Hill Climbing, now Road Race Intervals. When I started back riding I accepted that it would probably take me the rest of this year to get back to where I had been, if not into next year. But after following FasCat’s structured training plans, here I am setting all-time bests just over 3 months later.
Last weekend I was dropping teammates on a 25 minute climb that they were easily riding away from me on two months ago. That feels really good, and I’m feeling strong and stoked for whatever CX racing might happen this fall here in Colorado.
