Train properly?

I thought about much of the content this blog last week when I read an article on velominati:
http://www.velominati.com/la-vie-velominatus/la-vie-velominatus-train-properly/

The day before that article was published, I had something of an epiphany day in the gym. I had started what was meant to be an easy 30min recovery on the exercise bike. Aiming to just roll over 7-8 miles on easy to clear my legs out. About 10 or 11 minutes in I was already starting to struggle. My legs were aching and despite it being a simple recovery day I was paying for the previous few days of hard sessions. I was rapidly digging one of those holes that would result in walking off the bike like a saturday-nighter falling out of espionage. I decided I would just tick over till 15minutes and then get off and go home.

And then that little switch flipped over and everything was suddenly no effort. The pedals felt lighter, and turning 90 revs was no effort at all, the clock seemed to jump from 11 minutes to 20 and then 25 and 30 in the blink of an eye, all the aches disappeared and I was turning the watts up over 170 for the last ten minutes and feeling easier than I have since I have been back training.

The next couple of days were pretty much the same, big numbers, for low effort. And then the weekend arrived and for a reason that I still haven't been able to work out I had a fairly big relapse on Saturday. Still not sure why I have had such a bad week after that but managed to go swimming Thursday night and felt as close to normal as I have. Hopefully it is the same effect as the gym where I am through the hard lump and suddenly everything is easier again.



(500) Days of Summer is on again. It is about the tenth time this month that I have started watching it, and the first time I survived past the opening 25 minutes. Still didn't make it to 40 though.