Week 3

 

I hate climbing. But, I did kinda enjoy the Portal Climber environment.

Week 3 was a split week - work schedule, some routine medical checks, and then the 4th of July (which involved cutting up a fairly large locust limb here) meant didn't ride through the week.  So, I did Week 3 workout 1 a week ago, then came back to finish up on Saturday.  

I think the summary of this week is:  feeling stronger, feeling older.

I'll explain.

Feeling Older:  I struggle to sleep, and I don't recover very well.  The chainsawing on Thursday went well, but I was sore on Friday and more sore yet on Saturday.  I wanted a hot bubble bath but instead got on the bike Saturday morning.  The ride went well but as soon as I got off the bike my lower back let me know I am not 27 anymore.

Feeling Stronger:  Despite that, yesterday's workout "Up and Down" felt good enough that I bumped the intensity by 5% for the last set, and really couldn't tell a difference.  I should have been fatigued but decided I wanted a little extra for the sprint segment in Paris and went for it.

This morning, I went against my natural inclination and signed up for one of the TdF Climb Portal events.  I could have continued into the Week 4 content, but I wanted to take advantage of the quiet Sunday and get in a longer ride.  I went in targeting 45-60 minutes on the bike and checked out the details of the shortest Climb Portal option as I was wrapping up yesterday's ride, and convinced myself I could do it.

First, I hate climbing and I'm really not much of a 'sim mode' Zwifter. I prefer things firmly in ERG mode, and I like flat routes that feel like I'm going faster.  But, that nature conflicted with my goal oriented self - the gamification of Zwift is a strong motivator.  So, I wanted the bling, but I also went in expecting to hate the experience.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised - both with the interface (which I found fun and comforting, while the powerup arches every 10% helped distract from my discomfort) and the results.  I was expecting to grind this out at 140-150 watts but I averaged 167 and was north of 200 for a bit.  

Far from world class performance, but a huge jump from where I was just a month ago struggling to spin the pedals at all.  Bonus points was a 2 watt increase in FTP - the first time the game has ever recognized and applied an FTP increase for me.