Pros: Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to Colmar, 175.5km, Hilly

Me: 56.8km PZ1, 5m @ 225W, 10m @ 225W, 10m @ 250W, 5m @ 250W

The first of a few days with a bunch of efforts thrown in. To guage how hard I should go for the intervals, I opted to check out Mike Woods’ Strava file to see how hard he had to ride the climbs on last night’s stage - 85%, 85%, 93% and 93% as it turned out - and that’s the target I set for myself. This approach might come back to bite me in the arse tomorrow as there’s a mountain-top finish and the GC riders will be going for it! Fingers crossed!

The ride it self was OK. Intervals weren’t too bad, though 250W was a decent effort. Part of the annoying thing about being unfit is comparisons to your fit self. Last March (2018) I knocked out an hour at 280W with the same heart rate as I now get for 10 minutes at 250. Legs felt OK, though I can feel the tiredness starting to accumulate. I’ve ridden a bit over 10 hours in the last 5 days, which in itself isn’t a massive amount. It’s only when you compare it to the 82 hours I’d ridden in the whole of 2019 prior to starting 3DF that you see the problem 😄 One thing I definitely notice is that despite a decent nights’ sleep, my heart rate is elevated all night and my HRV is quite low, both signs of fatigue.

Tomorrow is a brutal stage - non stop intervals for me. Will see what shape I’m in after that!

Me: 53.9km, 2h 9m, 1166 calories, 112 TSS.

Pro: 178.8km, 4h 16m, 3148 calories, 193 TSS.

Weight: 91.7kg - CTL: 36.9 - TSB: -4.2