easy as 1,2,3

Komura Pass - start point

Today marks two weeks back in Japan. Two weeks of getting back into serious training. I’ve done some good rides on my own, some excellent group rides and paid due attention to rest.

Today was a chance to test the form on Komura Pass. 20 minutes to the foot of the pass. The perfect warm up. 28 degrees and sweaty.

The view on the way up

Climb 1 – Full Gas TT (11:06, 173 / 185 HR)

Find a good gear. Tighten the toe straps. Hit the start line. Hit the stop watch start button. Feeling good if not great. Getting up to the high level of exertion is the hardest. Once your there, it’s just a matter of keeping it going.

170HR after the first steep section. Drop a few gears to drive through the next easy section. 180 HR coming out of the second steep section. Drop gears again to keep the momentum going. The last corner. Out of the saddle briefly. Don’t seem to have the killer edge. Keep pace for the line.

Time: 11:06. My PB was 10:41 set way back in 2008 I’ll be trying to get closer to that these coming weeks.

The gentler upper reaches

Climb 2 – Lactate Threshold 170 HR keep (12:32, 166 / 171 HR)

Holding 170 is easy after the first effort. Go hard on the easy sections. Hold off on the steeper sections. I enjoyed this climb a lot.

Komura Pass – goal point

Climb 3 – Intervals 30 s / 90 s (13:22, 160 / 179 HR)

30s hard. Out of the saddle, in the big ring. 90s easy. 34 × 25, trying to recover. 7 hard intervals in all. Great training.

Komura Pass - AJ face

Looking forward to some more hill work tomorrow.

Wednesday’s training: Komura Pass x 3 (45 km, 750 m climbing)