So I've been fortunate enough to have been given a free pass whilst on a holiday with the Mrs to Mallorca. Either she is fed up of my company or she wants something... Time will tell...
As I am in the 'base' phase still, I will be keeping the intensity moderate but racking up a large training volume. Managing this closely on Training Peaks I will be careful not to overtrain and also ensure I get sufficient recovery following. There are a couple of long rides I will be looking to do but other than that, I will most likely be filling in between with some Sweet Spot intervals on some of the more local climbs.
I've never ridden in Mallorca before so wasn't to sure what to expect or where the best routes are... Fortunately there are not many routes anyway... There are only a couple of roads that go up through the many mountains so planning is reasonably simple. I had a look on Strava and the Internet for the best climbs and then planned routes around them. The main climbs I was looking at were Soller and Collabera. Both of which required a round trip of 90 and 110 and between 10k and 15k ft of climbing... Which is much more than I had ever done in the past.
Day 1
I was going to take it easy on the first day... Short and simple to get used to the new environment... But temptation got the better of me. I decided to do the Col de Soller. 86 miles planned. I'd estimated I could handle about 200+w for the duration (5.5 hours). I had a big breakfast of toast, pate and eggs. Went out with 2L of coke (flat) a pack of Fig Rolls and enough motivation to win the TdF. Within the first 10miles I hit a problem... Road closure. Looked like some moto cross hill climb event or something. Looking at my Garmin I found another route up to the top of the climb... Venturing off I was quick to understand what the terrain is like... 7% up or 7% down... Nothing in between! I find it difficult to hold back on climbs... It seems so much easier to output higher watts so it wasn't long before I had to force myself to hold back... Average power was >250w. With an FTP of 300 it was obvious this wouldn't last very long. It wasn't long before my second problem... The road was closed even at the top. So after over an hour of riding I had made no progress into my 86 mile ride! Heading back down I was forced to re-route by heading out the only other way up through the mountains... My return route. It was going to end up as a bit of an 'out and back' type of ride. As I was riding out in the opposite direction the Garmin was unable to give me directions. After the decent my NP had reduced to 236W... Still a bit higher than I had wanted but I felt good so continued on. Although my pacing strategy soon came to an end when the power meter battery went flat... Bugger! The rest of the journey I relied on perceived effort. Each of the climbs I was probably averaging about 240-260W, free wheeling on the downhill and about 200W on the flat. I missed a few turnings here and there as a result of being 'off course' but managed to cover most of what I had planned... The most disappointing mistake was missing the turning that continued the main climb up another 1000ft... Therefore not actually achieving what I set out for!
After half way I was still feeling good... But then again, I'm used to 3-4 hour rides at this intensity. It was the lumpy coast road back that was going to change all that. Stopping off at a small supermarket I topped up on fluids. Filling the water bottles with water and drinking a Power Aid energy drink. The 30 deg C temperature was beginning to take its toll. Once I got over the 4.5 hour mark I was really beginning to suffer... Counting down the climbs until reaching base... "I'm sure this is is the last one" I was saying to myself... Each time getting it wrong...
I was falling apart by the end... Muscle cramps in muscles I didn't even know I had. Even my arms were cramping. Lack of fluid and food didn't help but it probably didn't help I did approx 230w for the first 4+ hours.
Arriving back at the hotel 6.5 hours later and having covered 94 miles I was exhausted. Fortunately the Mrs and put a bottle of coke in the fridge along with a fish salad from the restaurant... Downing the coke and chilling off in a cold shower I was beginning to feel human again. It would have been good to have eaten straight away but I was feeling a little nauseous after so waited about an hour before I could stomach it.
Despite the negatives this was probably the most satisfying ride I have ever done. Perhaps it was the sense of achievement or maybe it was just the knowledge of the training benefit the 350 TSS was going to give me. All I know is the roads in Mallorca are to die for. Smooth Tarmac, twisting climbs with enough switchbacks to make you dizzy and road users with enough consideration to give you the allocated 1.5m distance. I've never felt so safe cycling before!
I'm just hope I'm not too broken tomorrow!
I got a nice surprise that evening when I got an email from a company I'd forgot I'd signed up for... Relive.com... You sync your Strava account to it and a few hours after completing a ride it sends you a link to a video. It looks like something out of a tour stage preview... Check it out. Makes you realise how much distance you cover.
Day 2
I was expecting to be destroyed this morning... I expected night cramps and being unable to walk properly... As it happens I had a great nights sleep and my legs were actually not that bad. I had planned a Sweet Spot hill repeat session the night before providing I felt OK so the plan was going as planned.
I haven't done an FTP test outdoors but I know what my 10 mile TT power output is... Works out about 300w FTP. Sweet Spot is 90% of this (270W). The purpose of this power range is to gain most of the benefits you would get from threshold work with much less damage to the muscles. This results in large gains in optimum time with little recovery. These sessions will make good gap fillers for the 'Training Camp' acting as a form of lighter/recovery day.
The local climb is only 5 miles away and is about 15 minutes in duration. I'd planned on 5 repeats if I could still output the power.
The first one was reasonably enjoyable (as you would expect) and was bang on target power at 272w.
The second one noticed a small increase now I was properly warmed up and was struggling to hold it back. I ended up at 276W.
On the start of the third rep I was a little more controlled although I was slowly gaining on a Spaniard that further up the climb. As I passed him he changed gear and proceeded to sit on my back wheel. Being competitive it was difficult to hold back... My power was hovering around 300W by now. Steeper ramps in the road saw this rise to 350+W on occasions... It was getting out of hand... But I'd started so obviously had to finish now. The guy stayed on my wheel then all the way to the top... I must have been giving him some aero benefit ;) ended with 292w.
It kinda ballsed up the session then. The forth one ended up being my last as I struggled to hold power and dropped to 265W.
Short and sweet... I proceeded to make my way back. I'm probably going to repeat that session again during the holiday as it was so convenient.
Day 3
My legs were feeling it today so I decided to do a gentle paced 40-50 miles... Hopefully it will be just enough recovery to hit the big one the following day.
It was certainly nice to go out without any targets in mind. Gently ambling along without a care in the world... Soaking up the sun and scenery. When you spend so much of your cycling time either suffering on the indoor trainer or blowing out your ass during a race it's easy to forget how enjoyable cycling can be. Just you and road in front of you. Pulling over to check out the views... Taking pictures & videos. It was a nice day out and certainly glad I took an easy day to recover.
I'm pretty sure I got overtaken by a Pro from Tinkoff. He had the full kit on... Even an S-Works bike, socks and bottle. If he wasn't pro, he was a very dedicated fan...
Tomorrow is going to be a killer. 115+ miles and approx. 15k ft of climbing. I've boxed up some breakfast from the restaurant with the intentions of waking up early to make the most of the cooler morning air. It's going to be a long day in the saddle... But well worth it... The climbs look epic!
Day 4
The big one! I was up early to try and get as many miles in before the sun got too strong. I took away some breakfast from the day before so I didn't start on an empty stomach. Just as the sun was coming up at 6:30 I was out...
The plan was to go up the coast to Soller, up Col de Piug, down Collabera and back up, drop down to the flat lands, straight back to the south on a flat run and then coast line to the hotel. Pacing was just a case of 'as easy as possible'. Going up hill I was doing just enough power to get up and I would free wheel down. I took two litres of electrolyte drinks, 4 more tablets and two packs of fig rolls. I had no plans on where I would stop... I was just going to see how it went.
I'd already completed 95% of the route to Soller on previous days so it wasn't exactly exciting... More of a necessity to reach the goal. It was certainly casual which was relaxing. I got to Soller after about 3.5 hours... With a NP of 170W it was never going to be quick. I think my average at this point was about 11mph. I'd much rather start steady and end strong. Having already topped up the bottles I started the 10km climb up from Soller. The new Tarmac was flawless! The only downside was it was it was very dark. It just absorbed the heat and radiated it. Travelling at 5-6mph didn't help cool things either. It was sweltering! On a positive note, a consistent 6% meant you could settle into a rhythm and just keep plugging away at it. The odd switchback livened things up and the views of the mountains peaking out the trees and valleys opening up were awesome!
The true breathtaking views were going to come when I reached the top of Collabera. I've never seen or witnessed anything like it before! You could see all the way down into the valley with the road just dropping away. Switchback after switchback. The photos just don't do it justice. As I started to descend I was beginning to doubt myself. A sense of sickness brewing at the thought of having to climb back up. Anyone who knows me would know how out of character that is... I purposely go out to ride up hill. Hence the 115 mile round trip to ride this. I was already committed.
There was a lot more traffic than I thought. Travelling down there was just a steady stream of buses, cars and mopeds. It must be the most popular tourist spot in Majorca! The long decent was beginning to pay its toll by the end... It was a relief to get to the bottom just to give my hands a rest from braking and supporting my body weight!
I didn't bother to look at the beach when I got there, the traffic was ridiculous, instead I ate a fig roll or two, sipped at the remaining water and proceeded to make the way back up.
There was a sense of admiration coming from the car drivers coming down... They had obviously witnessed the decent and understood what I was about to embark on. It certainly gives you a boost of motivation... Even some of them give you encouragement... Even if it is just a thumbs up or a smile.
Slowly turning the legs round you start to make your way up... Counting down the switchbacks. You begin to recognise some of them from the way down. 'Am I here already' I'd say to myself... it was surprising how much ground I was making. Before I knew it I could see the top few bends... Carrying on past the cafe at the summit I made sure I went over the invisible 'Strava finish line'. Last thing I wanted was to be bottom of the leaderboard because I stopped too soon for a break! I ended up something like 17,765th on the leaderboard! Double the time taken for the pro's! Maybe one day I will take a car out to see how well I can do!
I had a break at the top. Ice cream, coffee, Marsbar and water. Probably the most expensive water ever at €1.50 for half a litre! Needless to say I only bought enough to last me till the next stop!
The break did me good. It was a steady decent then down into the valley and flatlands. By the time I had reached them though it was siesta time and everywhere seemed to be closed. The only places open seemed to be bars, which will probably charge a similar amount! Finally coming across a supermarket just as I sipped at my last drops of water I was massively relieved! Filling both bottles and downing some extra I was on my way!
The return journey was fast... Ever so slightly downhill and a tail wind. On the flats I was flying at 25mph with very little effort... Resulting in a rather refreshing breeze.
I'm not sure how I managed it but I had routed the journey directly through the centre of Palma City! I'm not really accustomed to city centre riding, let along in a foreign city, not knowing the signs and trying to follow the route on a 2 inch screen! As it happened I quickly made my way through unscathed and was making my way along the coast to Malaga and then back to the hotel... Only problem was my Garmin was about to die! Great!
I was also running out of water again. The early afternoon sun is hot... Very hot! The Garmin was reading something like 36 degrees. Weather reports were saying 30 though so not sure which is true. Stopping off at a garage I topped up on water as well as indulging in another ice-cream, a red bull and a Marsbar. I checked the route on the Garmin for last time before it died and proceeded to make my way. The rest of the route was entertaining to say the least. The route home followed adjacent to the Motorway and as a result, all the signs for the towns I was heading for directed you into it... At one point I even started to make my way down a slip road!
Eventually I consulted google maps and found a cycle route which took me adjacent to the motor way... I pretty much made my way back on this.
I was certainly glad I set off early, the sun was getting unbearable! I think I emptied over a litre of water over me in the last few miles... Albeit warm water! As long as you were moving though it did have some cooling effect.
Overall I was well chuffed with the ride. A record distance, highest climb, a record total elevation and longest duration at nearly 9 hours in the saddle... All in possibly the hottest climates! Certainly a memory to remember!
https://www.relive.cc/view/630908062
Day 5
Rest day... A complete rest day.
After yesterday, my Training Stress Balance (TSB) was very low at -60. Knowing I had two days left I decided to allow this to rise slightly to enable a decent session tomorrow... Any more any I would have ended up injured or sick... Which is still a high possibility given the training load.
Day 6
This would be the last day I'd get to ride. I have complete all the climbs I wanted to do so this was just a TSS filler. I decided to do sweet spot repeats on the climb I did the other day. It is a consistent gradient, 15mins long and has no switchbacks. Perfect for settling into a consistent pace.
I completed 4 repeats the other day because I went a bit OTT on the 3rd interval. I was planning to do as many as possible this time.... Focusing on even pacing. I could certainly feel the tiredness in my legs on the first one but once I had got used to the effort the subsequent intervals became more tolerable.
With all the best intentions of repeating until exhaustion I had inevitably run out of fluid by the 5th interval. Knowing the 6th would be the last I just kept increasing the power throughout the climb. By the end I was well over my threshold @ 400W! Had I taken more fluid with me I recon I could have done 7 or 8 before I started to lose power. This would have been a total of 2 hours spent at an average of 92% FTP! Either that or my FTP has risen to > 310W and therefore they were only completed at 87% of that threshold. Either way... Very promising results!
1st interval - 272W
2nd interval - 274W
3rd interval - 275W
4th interval - 276W
5th interval - 277W
6th interval - 299W
I'm surprised how good I feel considering the high training load over the last few days. I feel so highly motivated to crack on with the next phase of training now. Before that begins though, I will have to wait for my TSB to rise to a positive number. This should work out perfectly for an FTP test next Tuesday. I'm hoping my indoor FTP will be a PB of >290W.
Overview
Day 1 - 370 TSS
Day 2 - 154 TSS
Day 3 - 125 TSS
Day 4 - 300 TSS
Day 5 - 0 TSS
Day 6 - 186 TSS
Total - 1,135 TSS
