One month to Badlands
Last week I did my last lab test before Badlands. In March 2025 my aerobic threshold was 208 watts. This April it was 160. Now it is 193.
The threshold wasn't the only thing that fell. In April, VO2max was down 13%, and FatMax topped out around 140W instead of just under 200. The lab's own classification dropped me from "excellent" to "good". The top end, VT2 and max power, had not moved at all. The losses were all in the aerobic base.
There was no mystery about why. In July 2025 my partner was diagnosed with cancer. Training stopped being a priority. I gave up my Badlands spot, the one I had spent three years trying to get, but could carry it over to 2026. I couldn't even think about riding it. 2026 felt impossibly far away. But it was a glimpse of hope. Through the autumn, when I did try, 100 watts felt like a ceiling. My body was spending everything on something else. The chemo ended in February. Everyday life came back, a bit. By spring I was riding again, and after the April test I wrote down a target: VT1 back to 180–190W before Badlands.
The rebuild started days later, with 434 km in Mallorca, the first real volume since the summer before. From there it was mostly unglamorous: zone 2 volume week after week, 30/30 intervals on top, plus the strength and core work I had pushed for, the kind I usually only do in winter. CTL climbed from 32 to 49 across 151 hours and 3,372 km. In May I rode Seven Serpents, 528 km at a normalized power of 154W, and the engine held for three days.
| Mar 2025 | Apr 2026 | Jul 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| VT1 | 208W | 160W | 193W |
| VT2 | 314W | 312W | 306W |
| VO2max | 3.37 L/min | 2.98 L/min | 3.24 L/min |
| Max power | 346W | 336W | 329W |
| FatMax | 174–198W | 108–143W | 143–167W |
| Weight | 74.5 kg | 76.5 kg | 79.8 kg |
The target was 180 to 190. The result was 193. And look at the VT2 and max power rows: the top end barely moved through all of it, while the base collapsed and came back. For 820 km with about 14,500 meters of climbing, the base matters more than the ceiling.
Not everything improved. I weigh 3.3 kg more than in April, and those kilos cost real watts on that much climbing. Peak fat burning is down a few grams per hour, but it now happens 30 watts higher, and for pacing that is the part that counts. The fat numbers are approximate anyway: at both tests I started nervous, already burning carbs before the first interval. One month out, a calorie deficit to chase the last kilos would cost more than it buys. Sleep and full glycogen stores will do more for me than two kilos.
For Badlands this means an all-day pace around 145–165W, early climbs under 190W, and nothing long above threshold. Fueling stays simple: even at FatMax the lab says I burn 75–93 g of carbs per hour, so it will be 80–90 g/h from the start. No negotiating at hour nine.
I got some confidence back. The watts stopped being the scary part. What remains is heat, sleep, and whether my body holds up. Respect for all of it, but almost no fear. For the first time, I am looking forward to this race.
Badlands starts in a month.