Stage 5 and 6 of my epic week brought a change of scenery, as I drove down to coastal NC to visit the folks. First the summary, and then the details:

• Stage 5: 102 km, 267 W, 204 TSS
• Stage 6 (YMCA class): 1 hour, 290 W, 80.9 TSS (IF and TSS estimated using TRIMPs)

Stage 5 was a (rain-free) 3-hour tour of the area surrounding Hampstead, NC. I have yet to discover the “perfect” longer loop in the area, but I got closer this time. After a 15-minute warm-up, I put in 50 minutes of low L4, starting in the lower end of the range and building up, with the last 10 minutes at FTP. Then took 20 minutes of L2, then 50 minutes L3, another 30 minutes L2 (which felt a lot more like upper L3), then the final 10 minutes in upper L3 (I was pretty worn out by this point). Took a 10-minute cool down and called it a good day.

Stage 6 was a criterium simulation on the indoor cycle. Since the weather was crappy, and I spent most of the day driving, I decided to make it a short stage day, in hopes of resting up a bit for a big finish this weekend. I wasn’t content to take a rest day, or treat it like a transition stage and do lower intensity, so I opted to build the ride around my advanced cycling class at the YMCA. After a brief warm-up, we kicked into 10 minutes of L3 with brief 5-6 second accelerations every 30 seconds (to simulate corners). Then it was 4 x 1-minute maximal efforts, followed by 3 x 1-minute leadouts. After class was finished, I rode L3 to finish out the hour.