Moving on to MSP

Last week was a rest week. 2days off, 1 day with a few short efforts, another 2 days easy/off. I took the rest week as planned even though it didn't seem deserved. In the past I've been so worked from the 3 week SMSP period that the rest week was a well deserved and much needed respite.

This year I didn't feel as fulfilled going into the rest week as I didn't feel like I've worked as hard. In the past the intervals have been a more tounge dragging, seeing spots kind of affair. This year wasn't the same. But the tiredness and fatigue were there to be sure.

Regardless I took some days off and did got outside for some short rides here/there. They felt pretty good except for some excersice induced phlegm in the chest after riding outside.

Going into MSP I started with some 8 minute intervals. First one was good, then I bogged in the second one and dropped power. With MSP if you overdo it you can still come back and finish the workout unlike SMSP where if I go over limit than I'm usually done for.

The one thing to remember with MSP is that the legs will start to feel a little flat from riding at the same intensity Patience is key to know that they will start to come around once some lead out intervals and regular riding with lots of erratic intensity changes occur.

For the time being my main goal is to strive to keep my fitness above the "speed of fun" threshold. This is a personal level of fitness that is required for me to enjoy mountain biking where live. The terrain is difficult enough in terms of steepness and technical riding that there is a minium level of fitness needed to get through it w/o losing a lung. It's not enough to 'just ride it' I've tried that before and it's no fun for me to just slog. It's not fun to hit some techical rocks and fall apart because the fitness isn't there.

The big question will be racing or not. It's probably a big jump between the speed of fun threshold and racing fitness.