Week 21

Monday: Did 2 x A Very Dark Place at low Zone 5 for the ON sets, targeting above 273W. 115 TSS points.

Tuesday: Balls out effort for HHNF. All above 95% of FTP. NP 251W, 253W, 254W. 100 TSS points.

Thursday: 2 x 20 (1 min @ 280W, 1 min @ 220W) Over/Under. NP 255W and 256W. 85 TSS points.

Saturday: The first of our 9 hour rides. Home - Bukit Hantu - Perez - Klawang - Kuala Pilah - Senawang - LEKAS - Home. Managed 271 km @ NP 198W. Had a hard time after the LEKAS toll Kajang side as I was close to bonking. But managed to get a 2nd wind as we got to the Taman Desa hill. having Leonard as a carrot definitely helped. 500 TSS points.

800 TSS points with some solid weekday rides and a 9 hour ride. Just one more big block before we start to taper for Flanders.

Week 20

Tuesday:Wanted to do 16 short hill climbs to emulate Flanders, but only got up to 12 before the legs told me to shove off. A combination of a heavy weekend and not eating for a medium length ride left me quite shagged. 12 times up Kiara at a bigger gear for some low cadence work to prepare for steep bergs. All intervals were above FTP. 180 TSS points.

Thursday: Some low VO2max work on the trainer. Wanted to go for 12 sets to be equivalent to Tuesday, but legs rebelled so only completed seven sets @ 280W doing HHNF. 90 TSS points.

Saturday: Wanted to do a big figure-eight loop from the Bukit Merah toll. But had to cut it short as legs were feeling heavy and blocked. Turned for home after breakfast stop in Selama. Managed to get in 143 km still at mid Zone 3 for 295 TSS points.

Turns out doing something stupid like the previous weekend had a detrimental effort. "Surprising", I know. A semi-recovery week, it turned out to be. Only 560 TSS points this week. Hopefully the legs come around for the last two long rides of this training block.

Week 19

Monday: Did Hell Hath No Fury with Extra Shot at high Zone 3 for some sweet spot training. NP 240W, 242W, 245W. 115 TSS points.

Tuesday: Backing a hard ride the day before with some VO2max work. A Very Dark Place with NP 293W, 303W, 306W, 303W, 306W. 80 TSS points.

Wednesday: A short and sweet Revolver before heading off to the Dashboard Confessional gig. Went for 330W for the ON sets. NP 282W. 65 TSS points.

Thursday: Did the HHNF + Extra Shot combo again, but this time aiming for 95% of FTP for a Zone 4 workout. NP 249W, 245W, 247W. 115 TSS points.

Saturday: Didn't know how the legs would respond on the long ride after 4 days of hard work. Did Broga Classic from home with the boys. Felt decidedly average at the start but ended up well. Good threshold climbing work all the way with a PB up Perez (time) from the other side. Bukit Hantu NP 253W, Bukit Lenggeng NP 261W, Bukit Tangga NP 263W, Perez NP 240W. Solid long ride for 440 TSS points.

Sunday: Backed up the LONG ride with a mod-hard ride with P2K. Initially we were supposed to go to Kuala Selangor but detoured to Batang Berjuntai after someone hit a bump and fell hard. As well as I was feeling rough after a hard start post Indian temple. The pack were dawdling after the breakfast stop so I pushed on to see how long I could last before being caught. Turned out almost until the end at Satay Hill on Guthrie. Too bad I was in the motor lane and the pack was on the highway. Would have been interesting to see if I could have held on as they sped up the last hill. NP 243W for my breakaway effort.

A big week DONE! 975 TSS points with a mod-hard ride they day AFTER Broga Classic from home. If that doesn't prepare me well for Flanders, I don't know what will.

Week 18

Monday: VO2max intervals at Kiara Hills. Initially wanted to do the loop at Mutiara Damansara but that had too many speed bumps. So did 1 interval there and another 5 at Kiara. Didn't quite manage the 300W on the climbs due to the gate and short downhill section, but good enough. 110 TSS points.

Tuesday: Short and sweet. Did Revolver with 330W during the ON section. Highest NP so far @ 279W. 75 TSS points.

Wednesday: Was supposed to follow Terry to Sempah but miscommunication led him to start off without me, so I did Tour de Damansara Heights with JK. Did an FTP set NP 255W to get to iDamansara, then just followed JK on the climbs. TDDH gave an NP of 205W which gave 131 TSS points for the day.

Thursday: Initially didn't want to ride today, but given the fact that we were about to have a nig dinner, I forced myself on the trainer to do HHNF. Didn't do the last 3.5 minute TTT though. Took it as it came. W/U 239W, Set 1 245W, Set 2 251W. 80 TSS points.

Saturday: Home - Junction to Tranum - Home. Took it slightly easy on the climb to Sempah on the way there for an NP of 237W, and pushed it hard on the way back from the Hot Springs for NP 241W. It was quite hard on the way back and I felt that I was just "hanging on" instead of "pushing on". But turned out feeling was just that, a feeling as it was a slightly higher wattage coming back compared to the Bentong ride 2 weeks back. Nice to finally manage a 30 km/h average Bentong ride which did not involve drafting the Le2a train.

The recovery week proved to be a boon and I thought I did well this week, with interval rides on weekdays and a strong long ride on Saturday. Initially wanted to prepare legs for the SIC Bikeathon, but family events curtailed that plan. So the weekend ride was adjusted. Wanted to ride both Saturday and Sunday but the Sunday ride was washed out by rain. Nevertheless, another good week in the legs for a total of 770 TSS points.

Week 17

Thursday: Got home early from the office and did Home - Sempah - Home. Didn't feel to sprightly on Sempah so only did 1 x 20 @ FTP on the climb before turning back for home. But really pushed through for an NP of 262W which I thought was OK on quite heavy legs. Wanted to car pace Terry on the way back but he had already left by the time I got back to HOA.

Saturday: Big ride of the week. Home - LDP - KESAS - Sungai Besi - Bangi - Sepang - Lukut - Sepang - Bangi - Sungai Besi - Sprint - Home. No intervals marked on the ride as it was a long, steady endurance ride. Spent a lot of time on the front at high Zone 2/low Zone 3, and really pushed it on the way back after Bangi. 355 TSS points.

This week proved to be a bit of a recovery week. With the super long ride on Sunday to Sungai Besar, I couldn't stand the sight of the bike for the first 3 days of the week. Only managed 2 days of riding during the week. But the rest seemed to de me quite the amount of good as I felt quite strong on the Lukut ride on Sunday. Only 520 TSS points for the week. This should be the last "recovery" week before the last push to Flanders.

Week 16

Wednesday: Initially wanted to do a long steady ride but some of the guys needed to get home early, so the plan was changed to a slightly shorter ride with hill intervals. Did Home - Batu 14 - Bukit Hantu - Tekala - Perez - Batu 18 - Bukit Ampang - Home. Bukit Hantu NP 251W, Perez NP 282W, Bukit Ampang NP 257W. Did a PB up Perez from the junction tailing Leonard. Only lost him at the last 300 metres at the steepest bit. But it was a time PB by far. Wanted to hammer it on DUKE heading back home but had to play bus driver as Faisaal was cramping and struggling. Still managed a decent 285 TSS points.

Saturday: Rode with the BJCC boys. Home - AI - GCE - Latar - Ijok - Fruit Valley - Batu Arang - Jalan Kuala Selangor - GCE - Home. No intervals marked on the computer just steady hard all the way with rotating paceline on Latar and hammering it on the Fruit Valley climbs. NP for whole ride was 224W for a TSS of 290 points.

Sunday: A long aerobic ride to Sungai Besar. Was conned by Razali who said it was 180 km from AI, which would have given me 210 km. But when we clocked 135 km at the u-turn point, I knew we were in for a longer ride. Turns out that it was 255 km. The only system that was put to work was the "ass-hardiness" as I clocked 8 hours of saddle time. The objective of the ride was slightly compromised as I had to drop back to tow 2 guys to Kuala Selangor. Was bonking a little from Kuala Selangor to Ijok as I didn't eat at Kuala Selangor. But managed to get in some nutrition at the Petronas and finished the ride strong for 375 TSS points.

Only 3 days of riding this week. Wanted to do a 3 day block across the FT Day public holidays, but mentally and physically I was pretty drained. Legs didn't quite want to work on the Tuesday and Thursday, but perhaps it was for a good thing. As it was, total TSS across the 3 days was already 950. A sizeable load for any given week. Add that to the 1000+ TSS from the previous week, no wonder I was a left a little mentally and physically fatigued.

Week 15

Monday: Rode with Adly, Shyrim and Kenny to KKB via Ulu Yam there and back. Wanted to work the climbs, and put in some decent amount of work on the front. Managed to do both. On the way back, I decided to pull a Maxime Monfort from the right turn after the bridge. In my mind, I was on the Galibier. And the terrain was quite similar too, but on a smaller scale. The first part was more of a false flat where I monstered a big gear, and the part after the camp on the left was steeper, akin to the steeper section to Sierre Chevalier. NP for both climbs were 248W. 280 TSS points.

Tuesday: Longest ride of the 4 day block to Bentong and back. Legs were very heavy out the door and on the climb to Sempah. NP was only 232W and I felt like I was working very hard. But on the way back from Bentong it felt that whatever it was blocking my legs were gone and I pushed it as hard as I could from the hot springs to the top. NP was 240W for almost an hour. Not too shabby on the back end of a 4 day block to be pushing that hard. 325 TSS points.

Saturday: Rode Home – Batu 18 – Tekala – Broga – Lenggeng – Broga – Kajang Perdana – Home. Although it was supposed to be a ride WITH BJCC from Batu 18 to Lenggeng, it turned out to be a ride IN FRONT of BJCC for almost the entire route to Lenggeng. Took it as my responsibility to control the pace and bring the group to the climbs in good condition. Mission accomplished, I would say. Pushed it really hard from Kajang Perdana to TTDI averaging a (wind-assisted) 37 km/h. 325 TSS points.

Sunday: I thought my legs would be OK after the long ride on Saturday. But turned out to be otherwise. Knowing the nature of rides with P2K, I just had to suck it up and bear with it. Couldn’t respond when Kelvin jumped away at Kuang, and couldn’t close the gap just before the left turn to the rolling climbs on Jalan Batu Arang. Felt better on the way back and helped close down Leonard who was feeling VERY frisky. A hard and fast ride for 180 TSS points.

After the weekend extravaganza, wanted to log another ride on Thursday but the legs felt really iffy and I was quite fatigued. So decided to save it for the next day. But Friday turned out to be a case of slight fever and stomach discomfort. So THAT plan was shelved. However, target was achieved. More than 1000 TSS points this week. 1110 to be exact! Now to back this up with another big week next week as Wednesday is a public holiday and next weekend will be a long 4 day weekend.

Week 14

Tuesday: Hell Hath No Fury with the main sets at > 250 watts. Stage 1 NP 250W. Stage 2 NP 253W. Stage 3 NP 254W. Stage 4 NP 289W. The bright point of the workout? Everytime Emilia Fahlin comes on screen. Such a CUTIE-PIE!!! Unfortunately, she only turns up like 2 times. But motivation enough to stay on the trainer. 100 TSS points.

Wednesday: A Very Dark Place for the usual threshold + VO2max combo. But instead of the typical 5 sets at the highest VO2max I could do, decided to add a twist to the workout. Wanted to see how many sets I can do at 290 watts before I threw up my lunch. Turns out the answer is 7 sets! AP for the sets were 295W, 293W, 295W, 294W, 293W, 296W, 294W. Pretty damn hard in my book. 100 TSS points.

Saturday: Rode Sempah at 145 pm! Right smack in the middle of the afternoon! And for good reason. I had to send Lin off at the airport in the morning. Her flight was supposed to leave at 845, and I would have been able to get out at a decent hour. But it was retimed to 1245 so I got back a bit later. Was still determined to ride as it was supposed to be part of a 4 day block in conjunction with CNY holidays. Ideal conditions allowed me to push hard all the way. Created a PB (both time and power) from the Sg. Rumput sign to the workshop. NP 262W for 38:30! Coming back down was a bit iffy thanks to the broken cable stop, wet roads and plenty of cars on the back roads thanks to CNY traffic. 200 TSS points.

Sunday: A Belgian hardman day! It started off pleasantly enough from the 1-Utama junction/ But as we turned into Bukit Jelutong the heavens opened up and we were soaked to the bone in seconds. Waited with the BJCC crew at AI for the rain to subside. But after 45 minutes with no signs of abating and the official ride called off, we headed out anyway since we were wet and still would have had to ride back home anyhow. A pretty steady and sometime easy-ish day thanks to a slower newbie. Rode GCE – Latar – Ijok – Latar – GCE. It poured nearly all the way until the return leg on Latar. A NP of 195 watts put this on the upper end of a Zone 2 ride.

Planned for it to be a 5 ride week. But Friday morning's planned ride with JK to Sempah before work was rained out. Had to settle for a 4 ride week. 630 TSS points.

Week 13

Abandoning the SBD seems to have made quite a good impression on the legs. Some quality workouts during the week and on the weekend. The weekends was short-ish but hard rides to keep something in the legs. The next three weeks will be all about smashing myself to bits, with plenty of public holidays and the wife being away in Europe.

Tuesday: Hell Hath No Fury as it was intended to be. Have never done 2 x 20 ever on the trainer so this was sort of a benchmark on where to go from here onwards. Was targeting ~240W for the 20 minute sets and ended up with 247W and 246W. Next up: 250W. 95 TSS points.

Wednesday: A Very Dark Place never fails to get me totally cross-eyed for the intervals. Managed to make it ascending power levels across all 5 intervals AP 293W, 297W, 300W, 305W and 307W. Was really seeing stars at the end. 80 TSS points.

Thursday: A high-ish Zone 3 day. Warmed up to the opening of Angels and did the Over/Under for NP of 232W, which in hindsight was a bit high. Then 2 x 20 @ Zone 3 NP 224W and 223W. Was thinking about bagging it midway through the 2nd interval but found something in the tank to push through. 80 TSS points.

Saturday: Did Sempah with the Flanders gang sans Terry. Wasn’t planning on doing any intervals as this was a low-ish TSS/intensity week as prep for the upcoming three hard weeks. Was supposed to go to Bentong as my long ride but wasn’t feeling too good at the start. Promised myself that if I managed to stick to Leonard’s wheel all the way up, I didn’t have to go to Bentong. As well I didn’t. on the way back, my pedal totally separated from the spindle just after the Penchala tunnel, so I had to pedal back on one leg. I could only imagine what could have happened if that occurred just as I was coming back near the Hot Springs *shudder*. Set a PB for time up Sempah trailing Leonard. Pretty happy with how it turned out. 200 TSS points.

Sunday: Sempah again, but this time with P2K. This time instead of chasing Leonard, it was do-or-die sticking with Danny Feng. Kenny went balls to the wall from the start of the climb so that definitely took something out of the tank. Got gapped slightly at the steeper pitch around 22 minutes in. Half decided to bag it but chased on again. Was dropped for good at the 3 km to go steep pitch. Hung on to Leonard until the world’s hardest right turn. Two consecutive PB’s on two consecutive days. SCORE!!! The ride back was a free for all on MRR2. Had a go coming up to the LDP toll and again on the slight downhill to the 1-Utama intersection. I’m never going to be able to outsprint Adli, but a fun push nevertheless. 225 TSS points.

675 TSS points. Does not come across as an easy week, does it? But nevertheless, the two shorter weekend rides hopefully didn’t put the legs through too much and sets up the tone for a good three week block. With CTL at 93.6 TSS/day after today's rest day, I'm hoping to push it to above 100 TSS/day after three weeks. Hello pain, suffering and sore legs...

Week 12

A combination of a poorly attempted South Beach Diet and a hard previous two weeks made the weekday sessions pretty much a bust. Found out the hard way that carbs are absolutely essential to quality training sessions.

Wednesday: Did 1.5 sets of Hell Hath No Fury. Aborted the workout after 10 minutes of the second 20 minute interval. The legs were not in shape and the mind wasn’t able to push through. Did the sets at 240W and that felt like a monumental effort. 65 TSS points.

Thursday: Tried to do A Very Dark Place but couldn’t even get the 1st interval up to 280W. Decided to bag it after feeling weak physically, and mentally not being able to push through even a tempo set.

Saturday: Some carbs on Friday left the legs in much better conditions. Rode with BJCC to Ijok (via Latar) and Batu Arang. Rotating paceline on Latar including a breakaway on the final stretch to Ijok after the left turn was good threshold work. The rest of the ride was spent pretty much at aerobic or tempo. 280 TSS points.

Sunday: Rode to KKB with P2K. Needless to say, it was hard work. Going out it was a head/crosswind after Rawang and they were going full gas. Did my best to hang on and even spent a turn or two at the front. On the way back, took the Ulu Yam way. Despite the hard miles already in the legs, I was quite pleased that I still managed 265W NP up the climb. Didn’t go too crazy at the beginning, rode within myself and managed to chase down a couple of people who had gone on ahead at the start. 255 TSS points to cap of a great, HARD weekend of riding.

615 TSS points, mostly accrued on the weekend.

Week 11

This is the second week of the two tempo intensive weeks thanks to the long weekends of Christmas and New Year.

Tuesday: Riding in Penang you can't really avoid doing some intensity. There's climbs everywhere you look. So I decided to throw in some Zone 4 work on the backside of the island. Teluk Bahang - Balik Pulau NP 255W. Balik Pulau - Teluk Bahang NP 260W. Interspersed with high Zone 3 on the Pesta loop (0:29 at 221W) and hard effort on the way home (0:50 at 218W). 240 TSS points.

Thursday: Did Hell Hath No Fury at Zone 3 levels. Main sets were NP 223W and 229W. Pushed it a bit harder on the TTT set for NP 254W and added a 0:20 tempo set at the end at 211W for 100 TSS points.

Friday: Seems I never learned my lesson from the previous week and decided to do a session on Friday before a long ride. Zone 3 to A Very Dark Place at NP 218W with an added 0:15 at NP 214W for 75 TSS points.

Saturday: Solo ride to Kuala Selangor via Rawang - Latar and back via Kampung Kuantan - Ijok. Steady 210W all the way there and back for 245 TSS points.

Sunday: A long ride with Leonard to Senawang via Kajang - LEKAS. Kept effort reasonable on the way there coz I knew coming back will be hard. Much nicer riding with someone swapping turns off the front giving the legs some time to recover. Didn't mind being dropped on the hills as I was watching my watts. Had to drag Leonard back from Kajang coz he bonked, having not eaten enough on the way there. Low Zone 3 average for 320 TSS points.

My highest TSS week so far at 980 points, pushing my CTL up above 90 TSS/day. Time to rest and recover and absorb all that hard work.

Week 10

This is the first of two weeks of high-ish volume focus, with a lot of work in the endurance and tempo region, with no work above L4.

Tuesday: 1 hour Zone 3 to A Local Hero. NP 211W. 70 TSS points.

Wednesday: 1:25 Zone 3 in the morning via LDP - U-turn - Penchala - DUKE - SPRINT - Office. NP was 213W. In the evening was 0:45 Zone 3 Office - SPRINT - Penchala - Jalan Sungai Buloh - Home. Was held up a bit due to bad traffic on Jalan Sungai Buloh. NP was 202W. 155 TSS points for the day.

Thursday: 0:45 Zone 3 to The Fight Club. NP 207W. 0:10 Zone 3 to Revolver. NP 212W. 65 TSS points. Wanted to go longer on Revolver by the chamois on the long tights were REALLY uncomfortable on the trainer.

Friday: 0:48 Zone 3 to Revolver. NP 210W. 0:22 Zone 3 to last lap of WC 2010. NP 209W. 80 TSS points.

Saturday: Kuala Selangor with BJCC. Legs felt heavy in the morning. Not a good idea to ride the evening before a long ride. But pushed through and finished the ride strong. Pretty fast on the first leg out to Kuala Selangor via Kapar. 255 TSS points.

Sunday: Home to Slim River toll coz on the way back to Selama/Penang. Home - KKB was a fairly sedate affair keeping effort reasonable at around 200W. Pushed hard from KKB to Slim River coz I knew the next day was a rest day with plenty of food. 200 TSS points.

A bagful of work in this first of two weeks left my ass feeling quite sore. Huge collection of TSS points in the bag for Flanders (825, to be exact).