New FTP and hill repeats at 0430am

So just like Chuck said on Monday my upper body was going to be sore after all of the off road riding we did, I woke up not feeling 100%. I noticed my arms and back were a little tender and it took some time to get going as I needed to get a move on it to drop off my son at daycare and get a ride in before his dentist appointment.

I headed out shortly before 830 with overcast and 50F and knew I had to go quickly to get my 49 mile loop in and be ready to go at 1115. I didnt have much of a warm up just went out there and started spinning and riding, I was feeling good, hitting great times at all the usual points. I did start to feel some rain and knew if I continued this effort there was no way I could make my time as I would blow up, so I decided to cut my distance in half and do 24 miles which still has some decent rollers and usually takes me about 1:10 or so when I use that loop for leg openers before a race.

Well I hit the 19 mile mark at a record time, almost 2 full minutes quicker than previous efforts. As much as I wanted to coast after that I felt like I should keep pushing to get the most out of the workout. I kept going pushing hard and focusing on staying in pain. In the end I did the 24.2 miles in 1:02:58 with an average speed of 23mph, I think 4 minutes faster than I had ever done that loop before. At home I uploaded the data and check out the numbers and sure enough new 60 minute power record. I was pretty surprised as I was not rested, legs still were feeling it from the two climbs up Blue Mountain and my upper body was rather sore.

And then this morning I woke up early to get to work to make up for some time the past few days. I check out the HRM right before the ride, nice low HR, legs actually felt really good so off for work I went. I started out strong and just kept going, sprinting up the hills and then keeping the power on for the descent or for the flats then resting a bit before the next hill.

Then approaching my office park there is a nice hill that I have done hill repeats in the past on and figured I am feeling good and early so why not. I did five repeats and the last two were just painful but that is the point. After that there is still one more hill not as big but still a pain in the ass when just did repeats and I managed to push my self up that hill and kept the power on all the way to last 1/4 mile to my building.

Nothing to wake you up better than doing hill repeats at 0430 while most people are still sound asleep.