ridethecliche

I don't think you need to worry about CTL/FTP yet. Let the rides just go in and do what you're doing. Once you're in the program for the 28 days you'll see what you're really doing. Go by feel for now and look at all that stuff later. Look at the dropoff point in your zones, and use that for your FTP. If you do 20 min intervals at 90% of there and they're easy, then add 10-20 watts to the number. It's not rocket science

For FTP, do a dedicated 20 min test at some point, or use a 20 min best effort from your first race and go from there. It's not rocket science, and you can really assess FTP by feel in terms of your workout. I.e. if you do a 3x20 WO at FTP and you're not hurting like hell, your FTP is probably atleast a hair low.

See if you can get in a test, it'll make the numbers more meaningful.

Nickel

I'm pretty happy that my LT is @ 179bpm from 175 last year.

milliron

Did a 20min TT today with my new PT. 213 watts avg. Didn't warm up nearly enough and I was a bit hung over from a big xmas part last night. I guess it's a place to start though.

Flatballer

checking out my schedule for next (and final!) semester.

Out at 3:35 Monday/Wednesday. Those will probably be my off days, at least Monday will. As it starts to stay light later I'll probably start riding some on Wednesdays.

Done at 2:20 Tuesday/Thursday. Time for a few hours there, even when it gets dark early.

Friday is done at 12:25, leaving time for nice long rides. It will also give me a couple hours for an opener before we leave for race weekends.

Crash716

I have no Powertap...my zipp got sent in for warranty i hope....

I FEEL NAKED...how do you train without it again...i am gonna have to learn my body all over again huh?

mike868y

2 full days of snowboarding...does that count as training??

PhillyRoadie

Yeah I can personally confirm that. Just finished my second day in a row of 3x30s on the rollers. And it's going to be a long week:

bostongarden

Interesting cross-training day: about 1 hour of shoveling, brunch, about 1 hour of shoveling, relax, research iMacs (I missed out on a blip when the new 27" was on as a refurb for $1449, although, I've heard of issues going on with the monitor and they aren't going to ship until this issue is resolved), 1 hour shoveling, dinner, 40' with 30' of intervals on CT. I anticipate tomorrow's workout to be something like: take snowblower to shop, ride for 60'-80'

45suited

Did 2 hours of tempo yesterday to cap off a long week and shoveled for two hours today. Attempted to get on the trainer but felt lethargic as hell. Went to turn on the Garmin and it was out of juice. I felt like that was a sign so I hit the couch. 3x20's tomorrow and then another session of some speed work.

MtnRide

Lots o' tempo.

Entire workout (182 watts):
Duration: 5:54:25 (6:15:58)
Work: 3790 kJ
TSS: 377.3 (intensity factor 0.809)
Norm Power: 226
VI: 1.24
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 78.162 mi
Elevation Gain: 12896 ft
Elevation Loss: 12663 ft
Grade: 0.1 % (231 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 573 182 watts
Cadence: 16 228 77 rpm
Speed: 0 40.5 13.2 mph
Pace 1:29 0:00 4:32 min/mi
Altitude: 55 4037 2434 ft
Crank Torque: 0 894 203 lb-in

substructure

pdated: 12/21/09
Weight today: 160.4 (Goal: 160)
Looking to drop what extra I put on before the end of the year.

Mon: Core and weights.
More hard circuit training. Felt like a beast today so I lifted heavy.

Tues: 5x4min V02s @ 115%, w/ 4min rest. Then 10 min cool down, 20min @ 90%, 5min cool down. 1.5hrs on trainer.
I wasn't looking forward to them but I got up and banged them out.
The temps outside were in the 50s. Unfortunately, there has been a terrible fog in our area for the past two days. It's kept me indoors.
Also, my weight is probably at its highest in weeks or months. But that is only temporary. By the week's end it should be back down to 161-162.
Looking forward to tomorrow's workout.

Wed: 2x30. #1 @98%, (~323.4watts), #2@95%, (~313.5watts). 1.5hrs on the trainer.
My goal was to kick out two hard efforts in a bigger gear. I wanted to find a tough tempo as if I was outside and feeling real good. I also wanted to grind them out without shifting down and work not only on my FTP but my mental state as well.
The first one (53-14) was easy until 20mins rolled by. Then it started hurting. I wanted to shift out and stop. But I continued. My average cadence was around 75rpms.
The second I started in the (53-15) and held it for a while. But then my "boys" started bothering me from sitting there so long and I shifted to the hardest gear and stood for a while letting them breathe. But I got back in the saddle and continued in the (53-15) most of the time, finishing with a cadence of 82rpms. I haven't been able to hold the bigger gear for two complete sets at this tempo. But that's what I want to work on.

Thur: 3x20s @ 95%. 1.5hrs on the trainer.
I was going to make today a rest day but I felt so darn good. I think it's time to raise my FTP - at least on the trainer. I have my KK formula set to 340 and I'm doing these 20mins and 30mins fairly easy at 90-100%. Honestly though, I don't think my actual FTP is higher than 320. But I'm pushing to get it to 340 by then end of spring. Couple that with a weight of 155 and I should be good to go. Only if I could get my mind right to race smarter.

Fri: Recovery Ride, 1hr outside in the cold
Fully intended to try some medium tempo work. But my body declined. I didn't sleep well, woke up not feeling the greatest, and I couldn't get motivated to hammer out the laps. So I spun easy for an hour and thankfully went home.
The weather looks iffy tomorrow. Hopefully this 'winter advisory' stuff will be gone early tonight so I can get in at least 5hrs tomorrow.
The good news is that I did wake up much lighter this morning. Oh, that will be only a memory by lunch. Big Christmas luncheon at the country club.

Sat:
Icy roads kept me indoors. Looking to do 2 sessions of SST work. Early morning and afternoon.I did get down to about 160 this morning.
1st session:
2x30mins @ 95%, 1.5hrs on trainer.
I kept it in the 52x14 and held it for both 30 min intervals. Talking about mind numbing.
2nd session:
3x20min @ 95%, 1.5hrs on trainer.
After Christmas I'm raising the trainer FTP to 350 - at least. I got home after some shopping and jumped on the trainer and felt so good.
Finally got an email for a 3hr No-Drop ride tomorrow. I'll go out 2 hrs early and do my own thing then join.

Sun: Group (Cold and windy), 4.5hrs
What was supposed to be a "No-Drop" ride turned into a hammer-fest. I was all for an easy, relaxed ride. But immediately we dropped 2 riders. Guys wanted to pound the pedals to get back home early so I went with it. But close to the end of the ride only 3 of us were taking pulls on the front. Then 2 more guys turned off. I was asked to pull the group home. I said I would if they didn't mind taking it a little easy. So I maintained a good tempo and got us back to the meeting place. Then I had another 8-10 miles to get home from there.

Entire workout (195 watts):
Duration: 4:40:26 (5:11:05)
Work: 3221 kJ
TSS: 252.5 (intensity factor 0.741)
Norm Power: 237
VI: 1.22
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 88.489 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 903 195 watts
Cadence: 26 170 85 rpm
Speed: 2.3 35.5 19.3 mph
Pace 1:41 26:06 3:07 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 430 72 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1401 196 lb-in

ldesfor1@ithaca

day-um, SUB!!!! huge ride, man!

ldesfor1@ithaca

Sunday was off the bike. Did my first "real" lift of the season.

I'll be focusing on doing some explosive lifts this winter at least once per week, but ideally 2-3 times.
Lifts will include (all done explosively/plyometrically/quickly, but with control): 1 legged 1 arm rows. Pullups (with clap at the top), TRX rows, power cleans from "hang" position, barbell push pres, 1 arm push press, kettlebell snatch, kettlebell clean, kettlebell swing, alternating bent over DB row (mimics a sprint perfectly), pushup, warrior row.

So lots of options to get the upper body fast twitch muscles going and a bit of lower body hip extensors. Sprint training begins in the spring, this should be a nice segway to that.

ridethecliche

I'm starting a lifting program. Going with a 5x5 program. Gonna start with just the bars and add 5 pounds per workout.

I'll be doing my own thing in addition to this. I won't be getting much of a workout for the first month or so, but it'll keep the form in check. I'll see if I can teach myself how to powerclean. That would be rad!

Workout A Workout B Squat 5x5 Squat 5x5 Bench Press 5x5 Overhead Press 5x5 Inverted Rows 3xF Deadlift 1x5 Push-ups 3xF Pull-ups/Chin-ups 3xF Reverse Crunch 3x12 Prone Bridges 3x30sec
A on Mon/thurs, B on tues/fri. Lets see where I'm at in march and then may.

Edit: Leo, did you say pull ups with clap? Does that mean you pull yourself over the bar, clap, and then grab on again? Holy crap!

ridethecliche

Didn't you say that you could estimate it within 20 watts a week ago?

El Diablo Rojo

This morning: 4x6min at 280w with 2min recoveries. That was the plan but that didn't happen. I just couldn't get my legs to free up and best I could manage was 245w for each interval...I felt like I was putting out the power but the SRM said otherwise. I hate power meters...I haven't done a field test in 6 months but I think I'm going lower my FTP down some, I haven't seen anything close to it since October.

substructure

Team emails are going back and forth now about the "No-Drop" heading. Things could get heated.
Fortunately I'm not on their team - and I didn't initiate anything. But I finished it j.k.

ldesfor1@ithaca

3 moore hours z3. bout 275 for 3 hours.

Crash716

i can be riding around and be like.."this feels like 300w"...and sure enough, 9 out of 10 times it's within 20 or so watts..i can pretty much do that up and down the scale. I can't however do it at after 3-4 intervals or 10min into a 20m effort when i can barely say my name.

so yeah..congrats..tool

You don't even ride anymore..

ZeCanon

Low blow man. STFU

Crash716

STFU?...really... are you his dad?

settle down there tiger..we go after each other all the time, he knows it's in jest.

ZeCanon

OK, I'll amend that to just shut up.

Crash716

yeah that's not going to happen either sport.

substructure

fellas. Someone's watching.

waterrockets 

Wow. I was going to do 1125211, but ended up with just 11-----. Somehow, I decided to do a 1' test to start things off. That didn't go well (~730W), and it destroyed the rest of the workout. The 2nd one was like 550W (don't recall), but my legs were just completely gone from the test.

On the bright side, I looked down at 22" and still saw over 900W, so I may have a pretty solid 30" power in there (around 1000W), but I just lost the power too much at the end, finishing off in the 500s, where I'd normally be in the low-mid 600s. The warmup was normal, with a 1450W and 1550W sprint in there to get the legs loose.

On the other hand, this is my first shot at AWC intervals since August or so, and it's ahead of the 700W-715W (?) I was pushing last December.

The jury is still out on if the lunges are helping or not. I don't have absolute numbers yet w/out a download, so the story will get more crisp tonight. I finished off with 20" of tempo to get some legs back. At least I'm coming out with some AWC training stress.

Ouch.