re: Strength & Conditioning Challenges

update for all of those interested-
In November I did the Strava cycling app 8000 meter in elevation gain challenge. Background: I am a 49 y/o cyclist who competes in age-group time trials. Being 6'7" and 240 pounds I have always been able to churn out huge watts in the flats and time trials (usually flat 30 to 40 k races against the clock) are my strong suit. Obviously being 80 pounds heavier than other riders for other road races has made climbing not my favorite activity nor something I was good at. In a normal week I do 4 to 5 rides with 1 being geared towards interval training and another to distance at slow pace with the other rides as recovery type ones (usually 50-80 miles total with around 2000 feet of elevation) . This is coupled with 2 days per week lifting.
I did this with the intent on strongly working on a weak aspect of my cycling doing lots of volume at low intensity. The lifting analogy I would correlate it with would be like doing Smolov or Smolov Jr. on your weakest lift.
Overall the month went very well. I was able to complete the 8000 meters of elevation climbing by focusing all 5 rides per week on low intensity climbing - I was either going up a hill or down one with very little time in the flats. I found that physiologically the soreness was worse in the first and fourth weeks with the psychological aspects of struggling to find motivation and desire to finish worse in the third week. By week four I knew I could finish and the end was in sight but I got the first week soreness back.
Results? Heck yeah! Since finishing I've found my climbing ability vastly improved with my times on some shorter punchy climbs 5 to 10% faster. With improved weather I may try and do it again in March. One side effect was that I finished 2 days early and took 3 total days off for recovery and felt absolutely awful. Sore joints, horrible mood, trouble sleeping - all went away after another short ride. I actually think that I was in endorphin withdrawals.



TL/DR Overall a very positive experience with a low intensity/high volume approach to a weak point.