I’m deep into a training plan I developed for my first 24hr solo race at the 24hrs In The Old Pueblo in Tuscon AZ, which is the weekend of Feb 19/20. One of the challenges I knew I’d have would be training for this race this time of year. I live in an area where the trails are covered in snow, and wind and snow covered roads make it difficult to train outdoors in the winter months. I’ve had a couple of good days outside, but most of my training has been inside thus far. I’ve been doing a lot of Tempo and LT type sessions with weight session and easy spins in between.
I was counting on some good weather during a trip to Northern California to visit family during the holidays for some good training. There are some good climbs and flat roads which are great for Tempo and LT sessions. As we got closer to our departure, the weather was looking bad with big rain storms and wind, so I wasn’t sure what I’d get once we were there.
This trip was going to be my ‘winter training camp’ to log a big week of riding. My goal was that this trip was to give me enough training stress to take me into the 24hr race. I planned to produce about 10000kw during 5 days or riding over 6days. After the trip, my training would be reduced back to around 5000-6000kw a week. I’m hoping to get one more week of 10000kw but with work and weather, it may not be possible.
I was lucky enough to get a couple of days of sunshine with temps in the 60s, and a couple of days with clouds and even a day that left me soaked by the end of the ride.
Coming from 9200ft elevation and riding at sea level generally shows great power and heart rate readings. I was a little surprised by the power numbers I produced for this time of year. Here is a snapshot of what I did during my ‘training camp’.
Note: My FTP is 296 for 1 hr, at 9200ft above sea level.
Day 1. 4 hour ride on flat and rolling hills. Avg power 299, 3790 kw, IF 1.01
Day 2 – 4.5hr ride with a 10 mile climb and a monster climb at the end. Avg power 277, 3200kw, IF .88.
Day 3 – off
Day 4 – MTB ride, pretty easy no power or HR readings. Guessing about 1200kw over the 2.5 hrs.
Day 5 – 2hr ride avg power 297, 1790kw
Day 6 2hr ride avg power 275 1600kw
By day 6 I was pretty tired and with the rain and a flat I was feeling done. I was looking forward to two to three days off for some solid rest. Below is an image that shows my training stress. You can see the blue line (fitness) increased by about 15pts, the pink line (high fatigue) also had a sharp incline. The yellow (low fatigue) also had a sharp decline, meaning fatigue is high. I should build some good strength from this week, and help take me to a good finish at my 24hr race.
The above image is a Performance Management Chart showing the last 28 days. You can see the blue line is fairly flat, until I started my training camp, then another drop after it was over where I started my rest.