I’ve been using Trainerroad for two weeks now, so I thought I’d provide an update.
I tell you one thang, Hoss, I tell you one dern thing. And you can write this down…
I fully expect this program to vastly improve my speed/power/endurance/efficiency, but if it doesn’t I’ll at least come out of it mentally tough.
I’m talking about plum mad-dog mean.
At the end of the first week, I did my weekend ride outdoors and a conversational pace. This wasn’t in any way based on the Trainerroad program.
For the second week, I did a 1.5 hour longish ride (Eclipse) on Saturday, and I came out of it feeling like I could chew through leather. If fact, there was so much teeth gritting going on, if I’d leather in my mouth I probably would have chewed through it. There were three 20 minute intervals in the “sweet spot”, which is ~90-100%% of FTP, or the absolute max effort you should be able to maintain for an hour.
Still no puking, but I have a feeling it’s going to happen eventually. The 3×20 minute ride was especially tough because I was barely hanging on at the end of the 2nd interval, and it was scary knowing there was another one coming.
The mid-week rides have not been nearly as tough…yet. The intensity is about the same, but the intervals so far have been shorter.
Next month, I’ll be adding heart rate data and The Sufferfest to the mix. I’m a little scared.