mollusk

2 hrs 45 minutes of Zone 2. 52 miles with a heat index of 100 F. I smell really bad right now.

Apus^2

ZeCanon intervals in my shed. F'ing hot right now. I started fading fast on the 4th interval--power was beginning to drop below what I was sustaining in previous sessions. Then I started dumping ice water on myself. It was amazing to see the power move back up significantly. 5th interval was at 106% and the last interval was at 107%. I went through 4 bottles in an hour--two of gatorade and two of ice water.

(I did have a fan on, but it's hot).

ZeCanon

4 hrs in the mountains. Was pretty comfy up there, then I came back down into town and hit a wall of heat, like riding into an oven. Last 20 minutes was pretty miserable.

Apus^2

I spelled your internet name right this time. Proud of me?

ZeCanon

My internet self thanks you

grolby

I might be training again someday. I'm optimistic about my knee troubles, but may need to get an actual diagnosis of what's going on in my medial hamstring tendons. Otherwise, I'm way too stressed out at work to get in the riding that I need to. I'll be finishing out the local crit series and then hopefully things will get a bit more sane when fall comes around, and I'll be able to start base and get a schedule established.

I'm letting go of the idea of getting a PowerTap, and thinking that I'll be training on RPE or HR. I don't need fancy gadgets and data right now. I need to enjoy the ride. And once I've got that down, I need to ride, period. I want to be strong next year, but I should probably resist putting a lot of energy into that notion right now. I'll get through the fall and see how I feel. I wanted to try 'cross this fall, and have a frame to build up, but I'm on the bubble right now. We'll see. The plan is to ride for the moment, get fixed, get healthy, and then think about racing.

mike868y

Why would you do intervals in the shed at this time of year?

wanders

It might just be me, but I wouldn't try Ze intervals anywhere else but on a trainer. I would be either in a ditch or in oncoming traffic by the 3rd one.

If you knew what 105% of your FTP felt like you'd understand.

mike868y

If I tried doing any type of interval in a shed at this time of year I'd be passed out. But at least there wouldn't be oncoming traffic.

I'm glad that the jokes about my ftp follow me everywhere now.

umd

It's easy enough to slience those...

kensuf

there's really only one way to settle it and get everyone to shut up...

Flatballer

I did them outside the 1st (and only so far) time I did them. I'm about to go do some more today, but I'm not sure where. I have trouble finding a section that I can keep the power up for 5 minutes. I kinda want to do hill repeats, but I'd have to descend pretty damn fast to make it down a 5 minute climb in only 1 minute.

Maybe I should do some other sort of interval when I'm outside and save the ZCI for the trainer (which means rainy days or the really nasty parts of winter...).

umd

Do you have any hills that are long enough to do them without descending?

Flatballer

not even close. I really don't even have any 5 minute climbs, much less 10 or more.

Ygduf

maybe, maybe not.

umd

All he has to do is a test. We don't care what the numbers are, just that he has something to base his workouts off of instead of guessing and then whining about it.

Ygduf

it's true. there is a general spirit of helpfulness. I shouldn't try to reinforce the fear he has of facing the measurement.

mike868y

FWIW, I was just kidding about the ftp comments. I deserve it.

But, I finally did the test. Ended up with 222w average, putting my ftp somewhere near 211w. Ended up with 1:45 riding time and 100 TSS.

Ygduf

100 TSS after adjusting your FTP profile in GC, right? Once you set the FTP is will recalc the stress numbers for your previous rides. You were showing hugh (imo) numbers before, like 900 a week, right? Did they move much?

mike868y

Yea that is after resetting. The week of July 12 is still a 1200 TSS week though! I guess that explains why I was so fried last week.

Apus^2

Why not in the shed?

I have three places I can train--on the road, in the house, in the shed. I don't do longer intervals on the road--not enough flat/long places around where I live. If I do a workout in the house, I have to set everything up, take it down, clean up--I have a 21 month old I don't want falling over my bike stuff. It could hurt him. Also I only have an hour and a half (I do them on Tuesdays at lunch). So that leaves the shed. I can turn the music up, put the fan on, bring out plenty of ice water, and suffer. I did learn a bit today that I had enough of power and how much effect the heat had on me (struggle through an interval at 324 and then with sufficient cooling I was finishing strongly at 331, two intervals later).

Plus my shed has a wooden face on the wall that laughs at me while I suffer and I curse it back. Almost came to fisticuffs today.

Ygduf

I'm apparently a big wimp. My 500 TSS weekend has me sore 2 days later.

tallmantim

Stopped off at the velo on the way to work this morning to try out some intervals - could only fit in 3 x 4 minute with 3 minute breaks before needing to continue my commute to work.

Reading through Coggan's book, it suggests VO2 Max intervals starting at 115% of FTP and dropping by 5-10W if needed down to a minimum of 106% FTP.

Man - 115% of FTP is hard to sustain! 410W even for the first (115%), 401W for the second and 396W for the third - continuing on for the recommended 5 intervals (@ 5 minutes each!) would probably have seen me drop another 5W down to 390 or so for the last two.

What is the difficulty level like for others @ 115% of FTP? I definitely could not do repeats @ a stable 410W - too hard. And the top end of VO2Max zone is calculated at 429W - I can't sustain that (best recorded 5 minute effort so far is 417W).

What are others experience with going into their VO2Max zone?

Thanks

tallmantim

Also - redoing my FTP test next week (via ramp/MAP test on Wattbike) - at a guess, this could see my FTP value go up by 20W or so (from when I started the coaching 10 weeks or so ago) - meaning 115% of FTP would now be 430 or so - really unsustainable for intervals at this stage.

Does this just point to more anaerobic power if my FTP ends up going up but I can't manage the calculated training zones?

Thanks for your patience!

mollusk

It sounds like you are doing them correctly.