Back in Ballarat after 4 weeks away has brought some interesting events and outcomes. First up I got to stand on our set of scales for the first time for 4 weeks and I have now lost about 3.5 kg, which is great and I am about a third of the way there with that. I had expected the weight loss to be difficult but (so far at least), it has been reasonably easy. That really ends the good things as then I went riding!!
After a short, slowish, roll on Friday, it was a very solid long SE trainer interval session on Saturday before the Sunday Mass group ride with The Reverend (my coach, Josh Collingwood)! Before the Sunday ride I was really feeling the interval session of the previous day and I knew it would be a very solid Sunday. Well, fair to say I was not disappointed!
The Sunday congregation was composed of three current or recent former pros, another Masters age former pro, and young, enthusiastic (aarrgghh, again!) triathlete and another 40's aged very strong recreational rider. After the first 80 km of up and down at a solid pace and then a rolling turns, full gas, return to Ballarat, Josh asked if I was coming out to Mt. Buninyong for an extra hour of kms! Well, I wasn't feeling all that great, I had worked pretty hard coming back in (including getting dropped once) and I was thirsty, which is never a good sign. So of course I said "yeah, sure", and took a deep breath and drank most of a bottle of water and filled them both up. Whatever doesn't kill you . . . ... etc.!
In the end, only four of us went; me and the three young current or former pros - great! On the other hand, if a bit of suffering is important, then today was an important session, as I really suffered, pretty much for the first time since I began this whole journey. I was dropped on the (easy route) Buninyong climb, and again up one of the Ballarat city rises. I could stay on on the flat and easy rises but my HR was really high and I had no top end at all after having gone pretty deep on half a dozen occasions over the first 80 km of the ride. When I was on the front, the speed was embarassingly slow!
I has been an important reality check and demonstrated that although I have been going well when comparing myself to riders down the beach I used to struggle to ride with, the level I am aspiring to clearly requires recalibration of my expectations of myself on a day in, day out basis. Interestingly, I felt I had already done this but clearly I need to have another look at the standards I am expecting of myself, particularly in the area of training intensity when the training is supposed to be intense. With this in mind, I am looking forward to the sessions to come and also to racing, which begins soon, as this will also provide a welcome break from the solo training, particularly on the trainer.
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