So… last workout of low volume general build before recovery was on my calendar today, and the plan was to have a nice big Saturday breakfast, then let it sink for a couple hours before getting on the bike… but a week of early rising meant I was wide awake at 5 AM and made the worst decision of the day: I grabbed a banana, mixed some maltodextrin and salt in a bottle and started to pedal.
Legs were flat during warm-up, and once the real work at 96% intensity hit me it felt terrible. Somehow gutted it out for the first 15 minutes in spite of heart rate coming close to what it usually does during VO2 intervals, then bailed a minute into the second interval and hit the showers.
Made the banana pancakes with syrup that I should have, plenty of coffee and some juice, and knocked back a can of “Monster” energy drink after a trip to the grocery store… and three hours after bailing out from Mount Goode I was back on the bike.
Second attempt was a completely different experience; heart rate was consistently 6-8 bpm lower at the end of the intervals, and even though I had planned to “only” do 3 x 15 minutes of work I ended up going the distance and finished the entire workout. Very happy with the workout, and on the scale from 1 = too easy to 5 = impossible the second was probably the 4 that it should be.
Turns out all the talk about “legal doping” (carbs) on the podcast was true after all!
Now a week of three recovery rides lies ahead, and then a new ramp test. Very stoked.
