Gillingham & District Wheelers U303

Training since last week as been a little unstructured... I completed 1 interval session and then played around on Strava for a few days. Even Friday afternoon I was chasing segments. Should really have been taking it easy but you've got to have fun too.

Waking up in the morning my legs were feeling a little sore so didn't really know what to expect.

I arrived early and got everything set-up. Time was ticking along and before I knew it I was getting warmed up. The day was dry, reasonably warm and there wasn't a breath of wind around. Ace!

Getting nervous I was watching starters congregate at the start line... I should probably be more focused on what I was doing. 

I wasn't using any special tech power profiling after last weeks mishap so had a pacing strategy in my own mind. Hit >320 on the hills and try and maintain 300W on the flat. Knowing that power would drop on the downhill sections as you spin out.

Setting off I felt awesome... and the power reflected it. 350+W... I wasn't going to hold onto this for very long. Despite that, I was struggling to hold back. It's easy to put in excess effort on hills. I managed to drop back to 300W but it felt hard. My HR was elevated after the early effort and it had probably raised the lactate levels quite a bit.

The rest of the ride was like that. There were lumps and bumps all around the course so it was like doing over/under intervals. 330W-270W. Then came the 6 mile climb up the back end of the course. It was only 1-2% gradient so a bit like a false flat. The advise was to empty yourself by the top of the hill... there is then a chance for recovery before the last couple of miles. Then you just have to hang on.

Those last few miles were longer than expected. I was really suffering but still managed to hit the power targets.

I absolutely smashed it!

Official Time: 47:32

Position: 8th out of 40 (ish)

Average Power: 300W

NP: 307W