Improvements (I think)

Although it's been quite a long while since I last posted, run and bike training has been constant for the past 2 months. I have slowly crept back up in the upper 40s CTL thanks to diligently following my workouts for the week. Hopefully, I will be back im the 50s CTL soon.

I was able to ride up Antipolo last weekend (my last climb before that was probably May this year) and the new Ultegra R8000 groupset I had installed before Sept this year held up well. The 11-30 cassette had me grind up the 2+ km stretch from Jollibee to Cloud9 better than I had hoped ---effort wise. No Strava PR was made but looking at my TP ride for max 12min power between my May and last weekend's ride showed the following:

1. I was able to increase cadence by about 10.
2. Power recorded during that 12min stint was lower by 10 watts.
3. Speed was roughly the same, about 0.2kmh difference.

Unfortunately I wasn't wearing a HRM last weekend, but I bet ave HR in last weekend's ride could be lower.

Higher cadence, less power, same speed. Hmmm...

The 11-30 cogset which I used in the climb could be the main contributer of the "improvement." Coming from an 11-25 cogset, I can safely say that the cogs >25 offered quite a relief tackling that climb that I have known for quite a while now.

I will know for sure once I get to add more of these Antipolo rides in the coming weekends.

Plus keeping the weekly training constant, of course. ;-)