euphoria

For some reason it felt so much better this time around. Probably no longer the system shock it once was. Gonna stick with the 50/40/10 macro split within reason.

Ygduf

twitter jfriel: New research on caffeine and performance - https://tinyurl.com/24b8nws

mike868y

First ride with the powertap wheel today. I had vo2 intervals on the schedule, so I figured it would be neat to pace my PE and see how the pacing worked out power wise. Don't make fun of my pitiful numbers. Ended up with

241w (4.02 w/kg)
206w (3.43 w/kg)
212w (3.53 w/kg)
228w (3.8 w/kg)
219w (3.65 w/kg)
229w (3.82 w/kg)

Pacing was actually far more consistent than I would have guessed.

I also did a couple of sprints, and could only manage 860w (14.33 w/kg).

Really fun riding with a Pt, I can't wait to start training seriously with it. Next week is a rest week so I will probably throw a 20' ftp test in there.

ldesfor1@ithaca

Yah, I agree. The real help is allowing quite a bit of fat into the diet, including fats i was once avoiding. For instance, having a whole avocado in one sitting or greens with some grass fed butter is such a treat... really feels like less of a diet and more like the way I want to eat for my life. I know that I'll be manipulating carbs a lot during periods of heavy training, but for the most part I like the low carb thing because I FEEL way better. More mental clarity, better energy levels and even more nutritient density. Pretty much paleo right now, too.

ridethecliche

Mike, those numbers look stupid low for Vo2's. How long were they? 5 mins?

mike868y

4 minutes. As I said, I paced them with PE, so I wasn't looking at the powermeter at all. I never said I was good at this sport.

ridethecliche

I didn't either

ZeCanon

And you were finishing them completely gassed?

I can't imagine you would ever be able to finish a race, ever, if you were well over threshold at 220 watts.

mike868y

Not trying to justify my crappy numbers, but just hear me out on this shockingly unscientific explanation RTC. If you assume my FTP is in the lower third for "cat 4" on the ewang chart, 3.11w/kg or 185w, then that puts me at about 120% for these efforts, which I believe is in the vo2 range (can anyone provide an explanation of what exactly a vo2 max interval is supposed to be?). I know the ewang chart isn't very accurate and that guessing where I lie is pretty much useless, but if you look at the w/kg values, I don't think those numbers are that bad. Granted, they're not good either.

mike868y

I wasn't completely gassed. Maybe I just haven't learned how to totally push myself while solo. It will be interesting to take my pt into a race/group ride situation to see how my numbers compare to solo training.

But, shouldn't we be looking at w/kg as opposed to pure watts? I am much smaller than most of the guys I race with.

ZeCanon

You should finish your last few VO2's wanting to vomit.

mattm

mike my only advice is don't compare your (absolute) numbers to bigger guys, w/kg is what it's all about.

For instance a guy on my team said he has a 1500w 5-secs MM power (compared to my ~1100 watts), which was discouraging at fist, yet by w/kg we come out to about the same, and in races we do about the same as well.

Enjoy training with the PT!

ridethecliche

Cda makes a huge difference as well. If he was aero in the sprint, he'd smoke you. If you look at CDR's numbers, and mine from last year. Mine are better in absolute and in W/kg. However, he's aero as hell and I doubt I could've ever touched him in a sprint.

Use 20 min power for FTP calculation. I.e., you need to do a test ASAP if you want to train with power. On that note, do you want to borrow my book?

I did well last spring with an FTP of 240 at 148 and 5'10, then again I was just trying to get to the end fresh-ish. I think Mike is pretty small so he has a pretty low Cda as well. I haven't seen his position on the bike though, so I can't even guesstimate but he's a tiny dude.

mike868y

Thanks for the help everyone.

A couple of things:
1) Yes, I would consider myself to be pretty aero, especially in the drops.Ill try to find some pictures, but most of the good ones are on my old bike, so that may not be perfect.
2) I'm planning on doing a 20' test next week when I'm fresh, I was just using that to show that my number weren't horribly off.
3) RTC, Ill pm you about the book when I get home, thank you

mollusk

Don't worry about how to sharpen a butter knife to a scalpel edge. Instead ride a lot and race a lot instead of over thinking it at this stage.

johnybutts

I've done no training to speak of. I am racing this weekend. We'll see.

ZeCanon

I don't doubt that his FTP is somewhere in the 220 range, I just don't think that was real VO2 work. I do my VO2 work at very nearly 2x those numbers.

ridethecliche

You're also a metric crap ton stronger than us mortals.

badhat

couch training today. super lazy.

hill climb race tomorrow morning then two big mile days on sunday and monday.

mike868y

Soon to be domestic pro compared to a middling cat 4 newbie. I wouldn't expect my numbers to be anywhere near yours.

But, you are probably right that those were not true vo2 intervals.

ZeCanon

Do a test - I have my money on 200-220w FTP

So you should be doing VO2's (a very general term...) between 250-300, depending on interval length and goals.

aham23

mike868y, totally do the test, but dont worry about the results. just do it. it takes a bit of time to figure out this training with power stuff. i can honestly say i had no idea how to go "hard" before i got power. my PE for hard was was off. same goes for easy. i never went easy enough. later.

mike868y

I'm doing a test next week, I'll let you know how it goes.

mike868y

Screen shot 2010-.pngLooking back, I think I have to agree with z that they were not true vo2 efforts. Looking at the graph, the intervals were not much higher power wise than the jra/tempo I was doing after the efforts.

ridethecliche

Facepalm. Lol.