Today I finished off my 3-day training block with a hard tempo ride. The weather was similar to yesterday; warmer than normal but with some overcast skies. I headed out not sure exactly what I was going to do. Originally I planned today to be a long-ride day, but I wanted to see how my legs felt before committing to anything. The first ten minutes felt fine, although my legs were feeling the effects of the last couple workouts. They had that heavy feeling that usually occurs by the third day of a stage race.

I increased my wattage to my tempo zone and settled into a pace. Since my legs weren’t fresh, it took a conscious effort to keep my wattage up. At that point I decided to make it a solid tempo ride, shooting for two hours of tempo. I figured I still have a week to get in a long (4-5 hour) ride before I start my taper for Valley of the Sun. So I pushed it for the next two hours at the upper end of my Level 3. The last 45 minutes of the interval were hard! My legs were really hurting and my perceived exertion felt more like Level 4 than Level 3.

Because of the route I chose, I finished the interval just before I got back to my house. It’s not a good idea to stop so abruptly after a hard effort, so I finished off with 15 minutes of easy spinning on the trainer. By then my legs were wasted…even a measly 160 watts on the trainer felt hard! But I know all this work will pay off. I’m glad the weather cooperated and I was able to complete an awesome 3-day training block. Now I look forward to some easier workouts and maybe even a day off over the next few days!

BTW, the title of this blog entry reminds me of the formula for good Star Wars dialogue…think Darth Vader here:

Something something something Darkside.
Something something something complete.