Crushing Strava Segments?

Like many of us cyclists in the 'new normal' state I've taken advantage of the great weather and rode my 'allocation' pretty much daily.  I bet there are a few others out there that, like me, have found their mileage climb quite a lot as the pressure of work travel and commutes has eased and the lack of traffic has led to ideal cycling conditions.  And that's all great, isn't it?  My strava stats are pretty good too...I mean not world beating obviously...but OK for a 50 something a few Kg's over optimal.  

However, I've noticed that I have somewhat plateaued in terms of performance and when I sit back and think of the rides I do I realise I could predict almost to the minute when I'll get back.  I am riding the same pace on the same routes every time.  Sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower.  A bit, well....boring.  So I started to pay more attention to some of the Strava segments and made a few small targets to improve.  You know the kind of thing - that short hill that ramps at the end or the run between traffic lights down by the shops.  But it was the climbs that drew me in.  Partly this is because I have been dragged all over France riding some of the vicious Tour climbs with Mr Tomkins and developed a bit of a taste for the suffering.  When you are on the wrong side of 85Kgs they are doubly difficult.  And so this led me to target the drag up onto the South Downs just outside of Winchester - Cheesefoot Head.  It's by no means Alpine, a mere pimple compared to those leviathans.  But it's the longest climb around here and so I looked at my time and wondered if I could improve it.  Of course I can.  But by how much?

I am happy to report that after several efforts and a lot of other training rides I've managed to get to 721 on the leaderboard (all time) for the 1.9kms @ 3.6% in a time of 06:05.  But how much further could I push this?  Top 250?  Why not?

And this is the point really.  In order to get better at something it seems very reasonable to seek some professional help and guidance.  It's like being a golfer stuck on 18 handicap.  What do you do?  Seek a professional.  

After casually mentioning this target to Andy a few weeks back he chirpily pronounced 'I'll write you a training plan' and then 'it'll make you suffer'!

Oh good. 

So I have signed up, paid my money and I am all in for a sufferfest of five weeks training and now I am one week into it.  Week one was fine, some testing sessions but nothing too bad, although I have a feeling that something is lurking around the corner...