Interval-tastic!

Aahhhhh, holiday... Three lovely weeks of it. Time to catch up on the to-do list, spend some time with the kids, and the family are coming over from the UK too.

Also time for some training, obviously! With the possibility of babysitters, there was even a chance for Malin and I to ride together on the MTBs.

The week started with intervals on the Monark. A tough session with short intervals, and short recovery. Just about hit my numbers, which feels easier outdoors, as usual. Onto the next session with Malin and the kids in the trailers. A windy route out to the coast in Bjärred, then down to Lomma and back inland and home. Windy as fook, which seems to be a bit of a theme for this time of year. Riding with the trailer on is like having a sail behind you, makes it tough when it's windy.

Thursday was another session like two weeks ago, as many intervals as I could muster, then one more for luck. This time the intervals were a bit shorter, and I was feeling strong and relaxed. I had in mind before I started that I would easily be able to do 10 intervals this time, and would aim for at least that. Halfway through the 45 intervals I was actually wondering if I could do this all day! I started to worry that I needed to get home in time to meet Malin. Then the heavy legs started to set in, every interval for the last 10 I was thinking that this might be the last, but it wasn't until I'd done 44 intervals that I couldn't hold the power anymore. Recover and then push the last one. Feeling tired, but satisfied.

Up and down, and up and down, and.....

Friday was a chance to ride with Malin while the kids were with their grandparents. We rode the road bikes due to my training MTB being at Musette for some exciting changes (more about that in next weeks update). Our zone 2 paces are a little out of sink still, so I lead and rode to the lower end of my zone, with Malin riding to the higher end. She pulled off as we passed close to Lund again and I rode the last 50mins on my own. The change of pace was a reminder of the tough session the day before and I was feeling pretty fatigued by the time I got home.

The weekend was set aside for rest, and celebrating Christmas with the family. I hope you all had a great Christmas

Rest Week

Last week (week 50) was a planned rest week. Only 3 sessions to do. This week (week 51) the base miles start to ramp up in earnest. My MTB race bike for 2017 was decided also after some discussions with Christian at Musette. He has convinced me to give electronic shifting a go, so a Di2 bike is going to be ordered! How modern! :-)

Tuesday was supposed to be an intervals session that I've done for the past 3-4 weeks, but I was feeling pretty rough. I suffer from migraines every now and again, and just after lunch on Tuesday I started to feel the tell-tale signs. True enough the proper headache came just before home time along with the tight neck/shoulders. Time to rest, lucky it was a rest week!

BMC Fourstroke FS01 - with Shimano Di2 electronic shifting

Wednesday was then family time, and Thursday turned out to be a test MTB ride with a couple of guys from work; Magnus and John. We wanted to see if it was possible to squeeze in a ride at lunchtime within a reasonable time-frame. So we planned every detail the day before, and then came in early to make up the time for the day. All went pretty well and we managed to get to the trail head in Järavallen ahead of our planned start time. A lap of the fantastic course there (thanks Jerker and crew), plus a little bit and we were ready to head back to work for showers and food. I therefore only managed to piece together 38mins at lunch, but with a planned duration of 1:10 for the day another 32mins were ridden after the kids were in bed on the torture device (Monark test cycle). All in all a pretty busy day, but nice to know the option for a lunch ride is actually a possibility. The total time away from work was 1:30, so an hour made up in the morning takes care of it. Only 38mins ride time though, so I think we'll have to ride out to the trails on the road next time to make the cycle bit worthwhile.

The next ride planned was Saturday. I'd talked to Tobias about coming over to Genarp to ride with him on the MTB earlier in the week, but we both needed to ride early due to other plans before lunch. Tobbe was out at 6:00 on a 3 1/2 hour base ride. I had only 1 1/2 hours planned, so met him at a more reasonable 8:00 to ride together for the last bit. It's been a while since we managed to get a ride in together, seems strange after we rode together so much last winter. But what with the second kid arriving in July, and Malin starting to train again, it's been tough to get time to come out to Genarp.
I was quickly reminded of how lucky we are to have this area so close to us. The beautiful trails were riding fantastically well due to the freezing temperature. It's always nice to ride with someone else who is at a similar level to you too, as the trails become even more fun when you ride them at a higher pace. We got some really good flow, and quickly got back into the flow that you find when riding with someone you ride with a lot. You know how they'll take a corner, how late they'll brake, where they'll put the power down for a short climb. MTB zen. :-)

CykelCity Women's Racing Team - L-R: Jessica, Sandra, Malin, Amanda & Helen

We also had a team meeting with the girls in the CykelCity team on Thursday. The meeting was at Musette, where we drank coffee, went through some plans and looked at kit designs, etc. Really looking forward to being involved with these talented ladies next year!

Winter blues? Or just tired?

Another week done. Same sessions as last week apart from Saturday, something new to try from coach Rob, and it sounded hard!

Tuesday's session was on the winter road bike, cold and fresh out. The battery died in the power meter, so the second half was a bit trickier to keep track of. Hard to to think back to doing intervals before I had a power meter now! A 30 second interval was almost impossible to pace back then, now I have a power level target to hit each time. Think it went ok, but riding on feel always seems to result in too low-a-power in reality. Power meters help you train harder, put simply.

Wednesday's session was indoors and on Zwift again. Sweaty and warm, feels strange to sit on the trainer and ride in mountains with snow when you ride indoors to escape the cold weather, ha ha!

Thursday's session was where I felt this week catching up with me. Had been on a fairly intensive training course in Malmö Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with work, and during Thursday's session I felt pretty tired straight from the outset. Completed the first set of 30 second intervals, but the 10 second sprints turned out to be more of a challenge. Managed just half of the allotted set and decided to call it a night. Night being the operative word, training after 21:00 in the evening for the third night in a row also takes it's toll. At least the streets and trails are quiet! :-)

Also took a chance to visit Musette while in Malmö after the course on Thursday. A nice coffee and a chat with the lads about next year's plans. Exciting times! Drooled over some of the Void clothing while I was in there too, hope Santa has been to the shop this year.... ;-)

Saturday was the new session, with a small twist. As many intervals as you can muster holding the pace, then one more for good luck..... All I can say is ouch. Breathing out of my a*se as we say in England....

Sunday's route

 Sunday was a 3hr base session. Rode together with Malin and the kids again. We rode out to Vismarlöv to 'fika' (coffee stop for you Brits reading this) in the cafe there. A nice soup, coffee, and then on our way to try to get home before dark. We pretty soon realised that we would probably not make it back to Lund in the daylight, and had forgotten to fit front lights. So a detour into Genarp was made to visit Hans & Anna, and then Tobbe who very kindly helped us out with a light each for the remainder of the journey! Sometimes I wonder how we ever managed those first few months in Sweden before we met all our amazing friends from cycling. I honestly believe us cyclists are among the friendliest and most helpful people one can meet! Especially Mountain Bikers!! ;-)

Here's to cycling and cyclists, whoever and wherever you are, whatever you ride. Give yourself a pat on the back for being awesome. And don't forget to wave when you see another awesome cyclist coming in the other direction!

Week 48

Already week 48, only 4 weeks of 2016 left! What happened?!? They say that time goes faster after you've had kids, but this year was just ridiculous.

Week 2 of 2017 training done and dusted. Now 32 weeks until goal No. 1 of 2 for next season. Feels like a long way off!
Training went well in the week. Felt pretty good in the interval sessions including a commute home from work on the winter road bike Tuesday,  another session on Zwift for some mid-week base, then CX style intervals on Thursday.

On to the weekend for 2 days of base. Saturday was a ride with the club and the 'mellan' group in Genarp on the MTB - then Sunday out with the kids and Malin again, same as last week. Only now we have the second trailer, so I pulled Hilda and all the extra bits and pieces, and Malin pulled Albert. We popped over to Björnstorp in fog to the Christmas market, but got there just as they were packing up.

Outside the pizzeria on the way home from our Sunday outing

Saturday's MTB weather was 'MTB perfection'. Cold, crisp and dry. It was around 2-3deg C minus, with blue skies and crisp dry air. The ground was hard and frozen, and the trails dry and grippy. I love these conditions here in Sweden when we get them. I don't remember that ever happening back home in the UK, at least not in the south during the winter. It was always so sloppy and wet. But here you can get a perfect riding day in the middle of winter anywhere from October to March. If you push the bike into a corner, you can really hear the tyre working on the hard ground, almost like riding on tarmac. Nice to be on the MTB again too after a couple of weeks of just CX and road riding. Makes you remember why you ride MTB. Fast, fun trails and the feeling of exhilaration when you get a corner 'just right'. :-)

We unfortunately missed the Malmöcrossen CX race this weekend, but time just didn't allow it, and I had already decided not to race more cross before Xmas due to an injury I had picked up in my right foot at CX SM. Haven't been able to run since then due to pain in my foot which appeared after the race - a cramp like feeling in the sole of my foot, which was still present after 7-8 days. Still, it hasn't hurt while cycling, so just the running and CX races that have suffered. Feels pretty much ok now, and I could run to the train this morning (ahem....) without hobbling.

Big thanks to CykelCity this week for a quick turnaround on my front wheel of my training MTB. The bearings had seen better days after a couple of hard winters.