echappist

regarding the CP lap times, here's the truly depressing stat that i found as i was looking back at some old training logs

Before i had a power meter, i once did 3xlap on the central park loops, with 5 minute break in between. Granted, the rest interval is longer than it ought to for FTP. My times were 15:35, 15:10, and 15:35. Plugs those numbers into analytical cycling, and those would translate into 285 - 300W. The corresponding avg HR was 166, 166, and 164.

Last week, on intervals during which i had an avg HR of 167, i was putting out 270W.

Damn, 10 months since my injury, i've worked a lot harder than i did last year, and i'm still not where i once was.

ridethecliche

The older I get, the faster I was.

rbart4506

Coach has been turning the screws a bit...Raised the wattages...

Did 2x20 over/unders on Tuesday and some 6x6's with a 10sec max effort at the end of each one...Surprised myself yesterday by staying at the top end of the wattage goals...

Openers tonight and race on Friday...Good Friday Road Race in my backyard...Let's see how I do this year

JohnKScott

Hahahaha...you have a good memory. Yes, last year I had a rough year. In fact, it plain sucked. Though I don't know for sure if it was training overload I suspect it played a hand in things and, truthfully, it has haunted me in the back of my mind this year.

A few things seem to be helping me out a bit this year. 1) Power meter - I can mete out my efforts much better and be smarter about training load. 2) I changed my training plan around to be two weeks hard, one week recovery from 3 weeks hard, one week recovery. I read somewhere that this might be a good idea for those who were...ahem...older or not as well trained. I fall into both categories . 3) I'm getting much more consistent sleep. My daughter's school schedule changed which made it possible to sleep in a tad longer and get my workouts in at work. I have also found the need to sleep in the guest bedroom a few nights a week to escape my Wife's restlessness and snoring. I can really tell I feel much more refreshed most days than I was feeling last year.

All this and my volume through 3/31 was 50% higher than last year and I'm feeling really good. I'm going to go find some wood to knock on.

Thanks for the advice guys (this means you too KP). I really appreciate it. I think I'm going to do some intervals of some sort today. Take a REALLY easy day tomorrow. Then on Saturday get out for 2-3 hours. Saturday is a "ride how you feel" ride so it could be zone 1-2 if I don't feel good, but all zones are acceptable.

Next week I will focus on working so damned hard on my intervals that I want to have three recover days

Thanks again

P.S. ooo...maybe I can work in a real 1 minute test today. And maybe 5 minute.

JohnKScott

I wouldn't worry about that too much. My calculated power numbers (SportTracks) were higher than my real power numbers once I got the PT. I guess the real question is "are you faster?"

StefanG

And what were you lap times last week? Wouldn't that be a better comparison, assuming the weather wasn't drastically different?

StefanG

Went to bed much later than planned on Monday night, so cancelled my Tuesday morning in-door training ride and moved my planned Wed rest day to Tuesday. And then when setting up the trainer in the living room before going to bed on Tuesday night (to save time at 5:30am the next morning), my wife says "you aren't going to disturb me tomorrow morning are you, I have to get up early (7am) - why don't you train now" - its 9:30p and we were talking about heading up to bed. So, I climb on board and convert my planned 2 hr Wed morning ride to a 1hr Tuesday night ride (Wed will be a rest day again - dinner guests on Wed evening).

Targeted 5x5'x5' @ 275w (FTP currently estimated at 250w): 276w, 276w, 278w, 279w, 291w

Looking back on it, I wished i had targeted 280w. I thought the first couple seemed easier than usual, but I'm not used to training that late and was worried that if I went too hard early, I wouldn't have enough in the tank to finish all 5 intervals, but based on how I felt during the 5th one, i think I could have pushed harder.

Jancouver

Going to Vegas on Sunday and looking for some group rides on Mon & Tue. Any info on the Tuesday night worlds crit? Any other good group rides in Vegas area Sun - Wed?

PS just wondering why dont we have a sticky ride info thread?

echappist

Negative splits are always good. Have you tested your 5' power? Mine is way above my FTP on the e-wang chart, and i start quite a bit higher than the suggested 13% of FTP to start my VO2 max intervals.

It usually takes 2-3 sessions to get a sense of where the low end is to elicit VO2 max. Also, another thing to consider is to lengthen the intervals, but at current effort. It usually takes up to 2 minutes to actually reach VO2 max, so the longer the interval (say 7'), the more time you are actually spending at VO2 max.
Sad but true for me. Not to mention i'm also loosing wisdom...
It would. The lap times last week (when i was on my FTP of 272) was slightly over 16 minutes. So 30" difference.
No . But i think i'm getting there. I'd be ecstatic to pull a 15:3x lap at FTP right now, but i don't think i'm there yet.

carpediemracing 

We'll miss each other, not that you'd get any benefit from riding with me. You could just motorpace me though lol. I'll be out there April 29 - May 4.

I'm looking for info too so consider this a bump. I'm happy to ride solo though, but looking for 2-3 hour rides.

miwoodar

First VO2 day of the year. It h-u-r-t.

StefanG

The last time I tested 5' power was a couple of months ago, it was right around 315w I believe. I did these same intervals at the same target a couple of weeks ago, and struggled toward the end. However, I am coming off a rest week, so legs we're fresher than previous attempt. I see your point about extending them, but I have to be honest, 5' seems like a long time - it can't come quickly enough. I think I'd rather endure more pain for 5' (ie. increase watts) rather than endure existing level of pain for longer. Maybe a better compromise with myself is to add a 6th interval.

Regardless, thanks for the suggestion/advice, and it does sound like I need to retest.

kleinboogie

Weekly sprint workout on Tuesday am. Did ok but died on a couple, not sure what happened. Probably not enough sleep. Did some dual contourhd work. GL

Out-The-Back

5'x5x105% today with a target of 360w and 5' zone 2 between intervals.

Went to a great industrial 4 corner loop for this that gets no traffic with great pavement. It's got a slight uphill and is about .8 miles. The wind was blowing at about 15mph so it made for good conditions. Wind at my back up the climb and headwind/crosswind on the flats.

First interval came in a little hot @374watts. Oops...new goal and hoped I wasn't overcooking it since it was also fairly warm.
The stats...

1 374w @ 166ahr
2 376w @ 169ahr
3 375w @ 170ahr
4 376w @ 172ahr
5 376w @ 173ahr

Having read some of the posts here I noticed a trend I liked and copied...throw in a hard sprint at the end. So at the end of the 5th interval I immediately did a 15" sprint with an average of 856w and a max of 1066w. This hurt and I about puked, but I liked it and will be looking to improve those numbers.

Anyway, I'm wondering if the increased HR is due to fatigue(decoupling) or my core temp rising. I want to start doing some experiments with trying to control this variable and see if I can see any improvement.

bostongarden

Starting to push out a little more power/effort on my "easy/medium" day: 31' at 154 on the way out, and then 36' (slightly longer way back) at 177 on the return. Finished with hard effort sprint, 20" at 800.

otb, those numbers are beastly.

Enthalpic

I think it's the heat. Obviously you weren't blowing up too bad... good 5min power and you still had the energy to sprint...

Really nice numbers, unless you're freaking huge...

GirlAnachronism

Yoga at lunch, then an evening ride mostly easy with a little tempo and a few sprints. New 5 second peak power.

Out-The-Back

I like the Yoga, GA....that and pilates has been new for me this year...I think it's helped a lot as I was and still am pretty tight. Being the only or one of few guys in the class...priceless. Congrats on the new 5" power!

Enthalpic, by no means am I a climber @185#s.

BG, that sprint # seems to be coming up....NICE!

As for the core temp.....any suggestions? I've noticed I seem to be kind of susceptible to this. A good base layer. More cold drinks? One of those freezer pop ice scarf thingies?

jsutkeepspining

crashed today on my training ride. ouch! ripped my team bibs and a nice set of cold weather assos gloves. luckily no serious damage done to bike or me, just a bit of road rash.

Zillon

This weekend is shaping up to be one of the wettest, most miserable races I'll ever do.

And I'm going to love every second of it.

Enthalpic

Do you really feel like you're burning up, or are you just worried about the heart rate drift? If it's just the increased HR don't worry too much about it. As you heat up the heart has to push a little more blood for a given power output as more needs to be sent to the surface for cooling - not much you can do to change that.

If you are really burning up there are a lot of things you can do to improve the situation. It is a subject I'm personally interested in but I'm too tired right now to regurgitate all that...

Issaquatch

Nice commute home from work today. I set a 5' power record (5 w/Kg) without intending to; I was just riding kind of hard and it happened. I guess the VO2 Max intervals I've been doing the last two weeks are helping.

Out-The-Back

No, I think this may be an issue for me that has been escalating (this is my first full year of racing). I noticed it in the gym and took steps to regulate better and saw a pretty good improvement in overall fatigue and recovery. Up until recently it's been cool enough outside that I've been able to regulate it pretty well on the bike but now that it's heating up that's not so easy. Thus far I haven't tried anything with base layers and such as it seems counter intuitive to actually put more crap on. But I do sweat pretty bad, so utilizing garments that help promote cooling utilizing that moisture is an option if they work.

Any input would be appreciated but please don't put yourself out. More, I'd just like a couple pointers on what to try and go from there.

Thanks,
Steve

JKS, sorry to hear about your incident but glad it wasn't any worse. RR sucks but at least it won't stop you from riding. GL

ridethecliche

OTB, a wicking layer between you and your jersey and arm coolers might help you out. Some new fabrics out there are really really neat.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MIGHT SHOCK ALL OF YOU.

I have a ride planned for sunday. I'd go tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain.

I'm excited to get back on the bike and go for a ride instead of riding to get somewhere. I have such terrible cabin fever.

That. Is. All.

bostongarden

Headline in National Enquirer?