The day was a long one because it was Day 4 of the Training Camp. Dun, dun, duuun.
Actually, it hasn't been that bad. Day 4 has been a solid day with a bit of biking and a bit of running, however, whilst it has been high on volume it has been low on intensity. The lower intensity was a bit by necessity, even if we had wanted a more intense day, I am not sure our legs would have been able. After the intense bike session last night we have all been feeling a bit heavy and so we needed a lighter day. Not that the day has been that light mind you, we still had 150km on the bike and a 13km recovery run this afternoon. Pretty tired now as a result.
The 150km ride in particular was very enjoyable. After getting soaking wet on our long ride on Saturday, today we were finally able to enjoy the beautiful countryside that we are training in. The sun was shining and the weather was warm as we rolled down roads lined by forest, or through rolling green hills dotted with sheep. I lost count of the number of times we came around a corner to greeted by yet another idyllic vista. Gorgeous. I also managed to get through the session feeling fairly good and still quite fresh which was a reassuring reminder of bike fitness.
Despite causing a bit of tiredness today, the high intensity bike session last night went quite well too. I was doing the session using my last measured FTP and based on how it went I think my FTP has probably increased a bit. This is something that I have been working on improving and so it was gratifying to see some results. I always a enjoy a good solid hit out on the bike and being able to hit your targets always makes the session that little bit more enjoyable. Certainly some encouraging signs from the session, even if it did make today hard work. .
With today done I have now completed my last full day of the Training Camp. Tomorrow I will head home after doing a run session in the morning. The Camp has been really good and I think it has delivered some tangible fitness gains. It has also given a tantalising glimpse of what life could be like if you were able to train full time and not work. Sleeping in, training late, having no focus for the day other than getting the sessions done and recovery. It really does give you the leeway to do a lot of volume if you wanted to. Not that I think mindlessly doing huge volume is necessarily the right answer or particularly sustainable, but having the freedom for it to be an option would be nice. That is not my reality though and if I am honest I quite like my reality, and while this Training Camp has been a useful and enjoyable time I am kind of missing my reality quite a bit. Very keen to get home tomorrow and see the family before getting settled back into routine for the final the lead up to Challenge Iskdar Puteri.
Now good night, time for another long sleep.
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