Dudelsack 

As you can tell from the wattage, I'm making incredible progress:



I calibrated it twice and got readings within 15%, but that's not good considering what I shelled out for it. I'm just using the heart rate now. Perhaps my high wattage fried the thing.

Biker395 

Is FTHR similar to HTFU?

climberguy

Impressive power, especially at 10.3 mph. You're crushing it.

IBOHUNT

Those are some impressive wattage numbers...37 or so HP. That's mid 50's VW numbers.
Considering that Greg Henderson, in stage 6 of the '12 TDF leading out Greipel, only put out a 1230W max with a 18 second lead out of 960W avg you should be all over that Century you want to do.
Might as well kick back eh?

You may want to work on your cadence however. That's a bit slow for older knees - at least for mine.

Dudelsack 

The screenshot was during my warm-up period. Usually my cadence is in the three of four digit level

Not sure what FTHR means. Maybe F*** this horse rubbish.

Oh, OK. Maybe functional threshhold heart rate.

Anyway, next work-out is Saturday, 1 1/2 hours at lolly-gagging level. I sure hope it's decent outside, because I'm not looking forward to a trainer session that long.

IBOHUNT

I've managed to get in the low 3 digit range for an hour but that jacks up my HR like a Honda on blocks in the inner city wild kingdom.

Roger that
The problem with outside rides when it's 'lolly-gag' effort is that it's difficult to stay on plan unless you live is a place that's "watch your dog run away for a week" flat (my definition is <35'/mi elevation gain). Sure you can climb the hill then let your HR recover but not sure that's the point.

Dudelsack 

I'll be honest wichew, I really didn't feel like riding today. This morning it was sunny and a balmy 53F, so I headed out. 45 minutes into the ride I lost the sun and the temps dropped about ten degrees, and the wind picked up. The problem with lolly gagging is that if you really want to race home to get out of the wind, by law you are not allowed to.

So I got my EM ride in. I'm supposed to ride EM tomorrow, and that will likely be indoors.then I'm off until Wednesday. Yay.

climberguy

Good of you to stay with the program, Dudel. You may wish to check weather.com and look at the hourly forecast--preferably the day before. Then if possible plan your day, and schedule your ride accordingly.

So you're doing the "New Century" program from TCC? And you are finishing week 1?

Dudelsack 

Yes and yes.

Dudelsack 

Here's the question. There is a gut bug in the area that I managed to contract yesterday. Not to be too graphic, but I placed a call to Ralph on the great white phone a time or two.

But right now, other than feeling week as a kitten I don't really feel bad.

The schedule calls for trainer time today. Will I be dumb enough to do it?

Dudelsack 

Did the session but cut it short. Didn't feel well towards the end. I also misread the schedule. Intervals on Tuesday. Bummer.

Carbonfiberboy 

"Lolly-gagging" . . . What you want is low gears and the ability to put your ego on the shelf. Spin up hills. Like the man says, 85-90 cadence. Gear way down and keep the leg effort below burn. You may need a larger cassette to be able to do this.

Your HR will go up on hills, but like the man says, keep it some distance below LT. So for instance, my LTHR is 149, and for lolly-gagging on the hills I keep it down around 134. You want your average HR for an EM ride to be down around 80% of LT. CC says in the middle of the 50%-91% range, so I guess even lower would work, but not much. Endurance means enduring a little or nothing happens.

climberguy

Wise. Charmichael says don't train, or cut it short, if you're ill. You won't get anything out of it.

The reason I asked about the program and the week was your statement of the next two days off. That wasn't how week two starts out. Good luck with the bug.

Dudelsack 

As I called in sick yesterday PM, it seemed wise to skip today's workout.

I will probably combine Tuesdays and Thurdays workout into a single workout tomorrow, if I feel up to it.

This is about the time I need to suck it up. The novelty of the training has worn off, and the plan itself gets tougher, and SAD and viruses are wearing me down.

OldsCOOL

Nasty bugs are going around out there. Be careful with the training until your body says all clear. It was exactly a year ago I tried to train through the onset of something I later found to be the flu that also became broncitis. I had about 3wks off whether I wanted it or not.

Dudelsack 

I combined Tuesdays and Thursdays workout for today, as I have the morning off and I woke up feeling reasonably decent for the first time in a week or two. There workout is here: https://www.strava.com/activities/106549206

When I look at other workouts on Strava from our age group, I'm amazed and a little depressed. People produce some really high wattages. They are not estimated. Power meters render a distinctive graph, so no one is faking it.

I know, I know, you gotta start somewhere, gotta walk before you can run, they've been doing it for years, at least you're trying, etc. etc. It's still humbling.

climberguy

I'm not familiar with power myself, but otherwise your workout looked fine to me, esp. after you're coming off a stomach bug. Unless you've been doing a lot of real training in the past, I wouldn't expect your numbers to be high. Just consider this your first round, do your best and see what you can learn from it. I'd guess that people with serious numbers have been doing things like hard and fast group rides for years, if not racing. You're not there (yet) so just do what you can.

Dudelsack 

90 trainer minutes down the tube.

Featured video:


Theme: some guy's training ride in Wisconsin in the dead of winter.

What's cool about it: the footage looks just like my area, only flatter. The guy is also an über geek and has all sorts of cool displays at the bottom.

What sucks: the soundtrack. Brain pulverizing electronica looped endlessly. For your health's sake, listen to something else during your session.

Overall, i liked it. As long as I can play something over his soundtrack.

Dudelsack 

90 minutes on the trainer, 17 miles which translates into 5 dog years.

Featured video:



Don't click it, it's only a screen capture. I came upon footage of a boring summer ride that I had not used. I put it on my iPad and randomly attached music to it. It made the time go quicker. I might load it up to YouTube, but I don't think the copyright police would leave it up for long.

Next ride: intervals at LT on Wednesday, followed by barfomatics on Thursday.

fastcarbon

Great footage! I watched the whole thing. Reminds me of the Big Bear Century in CA. I think some of us would have to train for this training ride.

fastcarbon

Was this one of the segments Strava deemed too hazardess to put your results on the Leaderboard?

Dudelsack 

You mean the Wisconsin footage? If so, that's not mine. I'm on no Strava leaderboard except the segment on my driveway.

Dudelsack 

This is a day I might not have ridden, except its on my schedule and since I'm advertising here...

Three 10 minute intervals at LT or SS or whatever you want to call it. This is the first workout that hurt a little.

Tomorrow is easier but I have to wake up before work and get it in.

Saturday is my first barfomatics, and I am covering for my group this weekend. Could get weird.

Featured link:



This is from Secondsapp Pro. Cost less than $5 if I recall. It lets you generate your own intervals and your own soundtracks. Your soundtracks can be randomly pulled from a playlist so you don't grow to hate any particular track.

I recommend it.

Dudelsack 

Descended into the pit and got 'er done. 3X8 SS.

Saturday: barfomatics.

reverborama

You are over-thinking this. Just do what the rest of us do: set your computer to kilometers and pretend it's miles. ;-)