Back on track hopefully. Phew!

  Well, my little lay off seemed to do the trick, no serious harm done hopefully.

   The first hard ride after my break was straight out onto the E2/10 for a Saturday afternoon thrash up and down the A11. It wasn’t a bad day in the end, especially for Alex Dowsett who turned up ‘just to get a qualifying time for the National 10’ apparently and managed to destroy the Competition Record in the process, knocking out an absolutely awe-inspiring 17 mins 20 secs ride. Truly jaw dropping.

 If ever a reminder was needed to us enthusiastic amateurs that these guys are just in a different universe, that was it. I know it’s all about having the right genes, being a bit of a physiological freak of nature etc etc but an incredible performance nevertheless.

Now THAT'S the way to do it!!

  Seeing as Mr Dowsett was starting just 5 mins behind me, I initially panicked thinking, “Oh my God, caught for five minutes in a 10…” etc. Then I worked out that if I got close to 21 mins, call it 21:30 to account for my lack of recent speedwork, then he’d have to do a 16:30 to overtake me.

 I’d heard a rumour that he was looking to have a crack at the comp record but 16:30? Phew, I was safe! It did mean however that I could loiter near the finish line and perhaps witness from afar a little bit of TT history being made.

Eeeek!! 

  Alex was already at the start when I arrived and seemed like a nice, unassuming sort of chap. Anyway, no time to get star-struck – zip up the skinsuit and away we go…

  It seemed really treacly out to the turn which I wasn’t sure was down to the wind or me being a bit race rusty (or both!). I was pleased to see my heart rate throttling up properly again but a bit disappointed with how my legs felt – still struggling to get up into the gears I wanted.

 Halfway point in 10:35…  Ooo, hello, could be on for another 20 something here.... Bloody hell, hadn’t expected that!

  There indeed was a very slight tailwind home, only a couple of knots or so, but I could feel the difference. My legs sort of woke up a bit at the prospect of achieving my 3^rd sub 21 Open ride on the trot. Really opened up and covered the five miles back in just a smidge over 10 mins to clock 20:42. Bloody brilliant. I really have turned a corner in this TT’ing lark.

  I had pushed myself quite hard and finished feeling quite wobbly again so pulled up at the side of the road a hundred metres or so after the finish to watch Dowsett storm across the line. I consoled myself with the fact that he had obviously gone absolutely tits-out and looked totally f**ked. A quick time check and…  holy crap the Comp Record has been obliterated!!

  I gave him a clap and a silly ‘woo woo!’ as he came past. An absolutely awesome ride.

  Anyway, back to reality…

  I can’t remember who said it but the saying goes, “Train until you feel great, then stop.” I think it might have been Graham Obree perhaps. Anyway, I always interpreted that as “train until you feel like you are as good as you can be, then stop chasing it.”

  I think the mistake I made (and not for the first time I might add!) is that I got to a point where I was about as fit as I can be, then tried to train for something beyond that, beyond my genetic limit, which is pointless. If you try and do that you just get knackered, ill and slower and slower and slower….

  So it’s time to stop ‘training’ and time to concentrate on trying to maintain what I’ve got and stay fresh and healthy, at least for the next month or so until my assault on the 25 PB in Wales. So, based on my couple of weeks of easy riding, I’m going to shelve the turbo work for a while and just do short, steady rides on the MTB (ie HR below 120 which is what I’ve been doing) but throw in a weekend & mid week TT.

  So far this week I’ve had the ECCA 10 on the E2 which gave me my (very surprising) 20:42. Day off Sunday (although hardly a ‘rest’ as I was in the allotment all day!), 90 mins steady Monday (See GPS trace below), same again today, day off weds, then local club 10 on thurs. Be interesting to see what sort of ride that produces.

My crappy Blackberry doesn't support many of the groovy training apps but this one is from Endomondo. Not sure if it's actually useful for anything but quite interesting. Apparently you can export to Strava but that's just saaaaad.