mike868y

interesting. i'm guessing it depends on where you bruise/hurt it? my pain is primarily in the front and my back is the only place i've been able to sleep without pain, even though it is far an away my least preferred sleeping position.

Ygduf

you mean like wanting to take a nap after your easy ride?

globecanvas

The previous couple of years I've done offseason threshold intervals as hill repeats. This year I've been doing them entirely on the flats and having a much easier time getting through them mentally. I was looking at last winter's training log and it was rare for me to successfully get through a session of threshold hill repeats without quitting mentally. That hasn't been a problem so far this winter.

I was just looking at a certain national level cyclist on strava who is known for banging out 2x20s all winter long. On his 20 minute trainer intervals he will take a short break every 5 minutes where he drops down about 10% for 20 seconds. It occurred to me that my 20 minute interval course has three stop signs on it, which are spaced about every 5 minutes. There's hardly ever traffic so I almost always blow through the stop signs, but I do softpedal for a few seconds coming into each one. I know for sure that each stop sign is like a little energy power-up. I stumbled onto it by accident, but maybe this is a little trade secret for surviving long intervals.


Something else I've noticed is that since I've been succeeding more at the structured training, TSS per hour is actually down somewhat compared to last year. The difference is that a typical week last year would have had higher TSS than this year, but far fewer sustained efforts. For example, a typical ride last year might have had 60 minutes total Z4+Z5, but never more than a few minutes at a time, versus doing 3x20 Z4 this year. But 3x20 has to be better training than random short efforts that total a higher total training load.

mike868y

i'm obviously far from a case study in effective training, but when i'm on the rollers i stand every 5 minutes or so and mentally it really helps get through the effort.

rideaz

I had 2 displaced fractured ribs and went to the doctor but they didn't do anything except tell me to rest and try not to fall on them while they are healing. I never got follow up x-rays to determine if they healed properly but had no pain after a month so i assumed they were good. Finding a comfortable sleeping position is a challenge though!

rideaz

It's too darn cold here to ride my bike. I ran this morning, might mountain bike later because less wind chill. I dislike winter!

cmh

Just back from a week in Hawaii with only one ride (although a great ride up Wimea canyon on Kauai). Weight up 2-3 lbs, but well rested. Time to head out into 38 degrees and drizzly to get back to work .

hack

Rest day. Focusing on optimizing my trainer setup.

Due to limited riding, have been focusing on the kg side of the W/kg metric with better eating. Weight is down below 180 for the first time since 1998.
Year:RaceWeight
2013: 220
2014: 205
2015: 195
2016: 179

We'll see if it helps the climbs

Ygduf

it will help on more than just the climbs. every acceleration is less taxing, etc... good work! I'm envious.

Doge

Great stuff!

gsteinb

I was working on 145 until I crashed into the christmas cookies.

Ygduf

I think I worked on about 145 Christmas cookies in the past couple days.

hack

Either my wife or I were sick during thanksgiving and Christmas so we avoided bigger parties and cooked light at home. That helped quite a bit as I'm sure I'd have put 10 pounds on between cookies and cake and pie.

hack

Thanks. Not sure I'm going to go any lower and will hope to be able to keep weight around 180. That should offer a decent compromise between on bike gains and leading a normal life.

johnybutts

1 hr on Zwift for 78 TSS.

CTL:12
ATL: 31
TSB: -13

mattm

2.5 hours today.

burger0014

Criss cross intervals last night on the trainer, legs really hurt today. Weight is at 158 which is 4 lbs less than this time last year and 64 less than 4 years ago. I'm trying to get to 150 which may or may not be too low. I struggle with nutrition and weight so I'm thinking about getting a nutritionist this year, coach next year.

CTL @ 92.4 - Starting Build this week

hubcyclist

i'm due for a 20min test today. I haven't ridden since Friday (it was a recovery week but I wasn't planning on not riding, but my wife wanted a weekend getaway, so no bike) so I have a feeling I may be a little sluggish. Oh well, will report back later lol

TheKillerPenguin

3rd hell week, this one starts with 2hrs easy on the trainer.

caloso

Ran on a treadmill; rode on a recumbent stationary bike. God how I hate hotel gyms.

hubcyclist

As predicted, 20min test stunk, just couldn't suffer through it like I wanted to, my legs would scream at me when I sustained 285. I avg 265 for the 20min effort, which I feel is my actual threshold (was set at 260), so I may bump it up and see how that goes. Hopefully not overestimating here

TheKillerPenguin

A few days off always blocks me up too. Try not to sweat it too much, it's only the end of December and there is plenty of time for a retesting and training in general.

mike868y

2 hours on the rollers. 3*20'. inside ride rollers are pretty sweet. starting to find myself lusting after a pwoermeter for the first time in a few years...uh oh.

rideaz

Left work early today to check out some new climbs with a friend. 50 miles and 5700 feet climbing. T'was a great day!

canuckbelle

First 3 of 15 hrs (for this week) of base today.