Well, June is off to a good start. First thing after a ten day break was to climb Hautacam as a long workout. Then onto a full hour workout (actually two done back to back) Then I did a fairly brisk run on a short climb at six minutes. I full out rode Redoute, amazingly breaking the five minute barrier at 325 watts. Bang. I took this rested form two days later to attack the Madeleine. I was pointing to 52 minutes from the start. But, I started fairly hard for a long climb, looking at a 50 minute pace. I held that for the first thirty minutes before fading slightly. I was down almost a minute. I'm going to break 52, I kept thinking. Finally near the top, I gave it everything and came buzzing up to the final gate. 50:07! I can only see three people who could legitimately beat that time. Guerra and McCarthy (who almost never rides portals) and Illi (eye-lee), the queen of the mountains, will probably hit 48 minutes but maybe in France instead of Watopia. (You never know). Illi holds the real-life record of 52 minutes. But please note, she had to climb 10 km before that starting line, use some fairly rough roadways, breath at altitude, carry a waterbottle, and work with whatever bike she had. (probably not a fully outed premium climbing bike.)
What's next? I will take on Ettiene in a time trial next week (which is a bit longer than I like but it is flat which suits me better than trying to out-climb a 48 kg speedster.( She had to cancel, riding an outdoor event) I also want to retry a few portals with my level 5 Aethos where I only had the level 1 a few months ago. After Bretagne, I will have all of the short portals done at 100%. Look out!, Here I come.
Short work done. How to evaluate them, I wonder? Well, coach's problem.
I felt good on Bretagne, putting out just over 300 watts. Then, onto Trebiac where I did my red sections at 340 instead of 320. My average watts was almost the same, but my time was 9:53 (better than 10:00!)
I really want the Poggio now. There's someone at 8:00 and Illi has a 7:59. I think I can just eek out one second better with my Aethos 5. I need to be on a great leg day and get a few key power ups. It is a few seconds for each one gained. I wish I knew exactly how much. I have a better chance than regaining my Makuri qom that got stolen by someone that is a little hard to believe. (we know they're cheating but can't do anything about it.)
I am preparing for the July Time Trial competition. I want to see how I can do against the B squad (but Zwift messed up the A and the B so it is incredibly easy to change your grade. If I enter a big race as an A and tank it finishing last, I will likely become a B.) There are also two Tour de France options. I would like to chase the green jersey but the schedule is really hard for me. We'll see.
I did not only an entire tough workout, but I added an extra set. I'm so proud. 15 times 30 seconds hard red zone with 15 seconds rest. Three sets or 45 intervals total with an average of 283. I never finished this workout years ago. In fact, I think I said it was impossible. Now I have one more tough workout and a unique Watopia challenge to attempt.
I rode all four Watopia Laps, Jungle, Hilly, Jarvis, and Volcano. It was a blast. The last one hurt pretty much. But I raced them all with good times.
Jungle 12:32.77 (gravel bike but not too hard)
Hilly 13:16.65 (forgot tt bike and used Dogma)
Jarvis Classic 6:30.84 (very good)
Volcano 5:27.05
Last workout was 6 x 6 at 30 red/ 5 yellow/ 30 red
My average was 310/233/335 for 248 average for 36 minutes up Ventoux.
