TR - Pickering & Runstreak day 31 - 4/6

Today I wanted to do a decent amount of time at or above FTP.  Most previous interval workouts were at slightly below, or slightly above, FTP for short bursts of time - so I figured some solid minutes @ FTP would be interesting.  However, I didn't want to go too aggressive - so I looked at the Advanced Build I plan (what I've been following this past week) and decided upon a workout called Pickering.

This workout was 1 x 20 minute session @ FTP, with a few brief 30s long rests at 90% FTP.  Then, after a few minutes rest after the primary interval, there were 5 x 4 minute intervals at FTP.  So in the end, just about 40 minutes @ FTP.  I realized about 20 minutes in that this was an hour long workout, when I sort of expected it to be 90 - but ended up deciding I was ok with it.  While other workouts may have been longer, and had bursts at higher intensity, this was likely going to be one of the higher nominal power workouts.  Turns out, that was correct - but according to my career page on trainerroad, it was lower on the intensity factor and training stress score - so in a way it could actually be considered a 'recovery' workout.  That is the interesting thing about metrics - while the average overall power was higher, its shorter duration resulted in a lower training stress score (ie, amount of fitness gained) as compared to yesterdays workout, for example.

Also, this workout was my first experimenting with a new formula of homemade energy gu - this time including maltodextrin and cocoa powder for a different flavor.  The result was pretty promising, but I may tweak things just a bit once I crunch numbers a bit and get some better info in terms of caloric load and fructose/glucose percentages.

Finally, to continue the run streak I did a quick mile.  I haven't had any advil for over 24 hours, and didn't feel anything from the tendon.  The only evidence of any sort of inflammation remaining is some very light tenderness if I push on it.  I think I may be ready to give it a shot for 5-6 miles or so tomorrow.  Who knows, if everything feels good at that distance, I may head out for another loop to bring the total to 10-12.