Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Wednesday - Another workout and much more...

Started the morning with a light breakfast as I was still full from the Thai dinner we had last night. Sandra and I have a couple of favourite Thai restaurants and last night we went to the one on Caxton Street. In fact, that might be one of the first restaurants we visited when we first moved to Brisbane. It was a great find and we've been there so many times.


Anyway. Breakfast, e-mails, probikekit.com, cyclingnews.com, a couple of calls and it was 9 am. Lucky it was a day off work.


On the bike and off to Samson Valley for some training. Living on the north side of Brisbane, I normally take the Jinker Track and Bunya Road to get there. Bunya Road is one of my favourites. The surface is not the best at places but the terrain suits me. It is a good place for a warm up and views are just beautiful. Trees, pastures, mountains, a creek, it is like being in the country.


Then, I turned left into Eatons Crossing and Mt Samsom Road where the hard work started... I did the prescribed workout for the day, 4 X 4 km efforts in E3. It is a hilly road in the beggining so it isn't hard to get the HR up at the start. E3 for me is 167 t0 180 bpm. I got it to 167 in the first minute, it made me all happy as I have a problem getting to E3 during training rides. But that was it... again my HR started dropping instead of climbing. I kept pushing to keep it as high as possible but that was it for the first effort - a AvHR of 163 bpm.


I had the 6 min rest and got into it again... Not easier, average down to 161. Then, 159 on the third effort and 155 on the last. Obviously getting tired and not been able to crank it up. It is not the first time, in fact I always have problems with this workout, I just can't get to my E3.


That brings the issue of what is my MaxHR. I am basing all the zones on a Max of 195 which does not match with results when using the age based formulas. I have been told that they are too simplistic anyway... I base my Max on a test (on a trainer) I did four years ago (195) and on a MaxHR I reached during a sprint two years ago - 193.


So, where am I going wrong? Perhaps I am just out of shape, having had a long break from training or I am getting older and my Max is getting lower... I might have to do another test.


The efforts were done in E2, I could still talk (to myself) and I was breathing fast but not heavily. So, I was pushing but wasn't really going for it which is the idea anyway... more like a TT effort.


In a better note, the ride was great. Perfect weather, even a few drops of rain to cool things down. Everything is so green. Too good to be doing it by myself.



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