Hi

After years of cycling for fun and competing at small local events knowing I wasn't really competitive, I decided to pick up Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist. Read it and decided I'd do the New Competitor program, but first I'd need to establish my HR zones based on the CTS field test. It's basically two 8 minute time trials, max sustainable effort for the duration, with a rest in between. Highest power or HR from each run to be used in creating the training zones.

My max HR was 173, but the average was closer to 170. In races when trying to keep with a lead pack and struggling, I'd see 20 minutes at 171 or so, so I figured I'd use the 173 as my base here. Obviously, I don't have a power meter.

I'm pretty lucky to live exactly 15 minutes away from a road that is dead straight, very light traffic and is relatively flat. I did the test there and I do my workouts there whatever the weather, honoring rules 5 and 9 of the Velominati.

Now I'm finishing week 6 and I'm seeing it harder and harder to get my pulse up to even Steady State (92-94%) pulse in later intervals, much less the CR pulse (95-97%). To get there requires my perceived effort to match my Power Interval efforts. My powerintervals should be performed at 100% pulse at least, and he states in the book that most are seeing 110-130% of the CTS test max HR during power interval sessions. I've only ever seen my pulse reach 100%, not more. And this is as hard as I can go, along side another cyclist who I'm trying to beat all out.

So I have to wonder, did I get a bad reading in the CTS test and I've been overdoing it for the last 6 weeks? It's pretty critical to get this right, because his concept of Over Unders, where I should accumulate lactic acid during the over portion and process it during the under portion would suggest that I'm crossing my LTH. But if my CTS result is off, I'd be doing the under portions above my LTH as well, negating the point completely.

Is this normal at this stage in the program? How can I know if I'm over/under my LTH while riding? Should I knock off a few beats from my CTS result and continue with that? I feel like I'll burn out at this rate.

Oh, and I'm 44, clydesdale, 6'4 ish, 200lbs. Here's a link to my Endomondo training page if that's of interest: https://www.endomondo.com/workouts/user/5520224

Thanks!

IMO all these self-coaching manuals are written for young, totally in-shape folks who recover well. You can't consider having bought the book being the same as having hired a coach. You're still the coach. I'd say your CTS test was right on, but you should use 170. In any case, you're overdoing it for your metabolism. Not hitting your numbers is diagnostic for overreaching. Take a day or two off, then go back out and try to hit your numbers again. If you still can't, try riding easy for a couple of days, then try again. Remember that you only get stronger when you rest.

Another thing I do to try to get a handle on my training state is to take my morning resting HR after 5 minutes, then stand and note my resting standing HR after 2 minutes and keep track of these numbers wherever you keep your training diary. If your resting HR goes up 6-8 beats, that's a sign. If your standing resting HR goes up 10 beats, that's another sign. But you have to have a baseline to know where normal is, which takes a while of just keeping track of it vs. your workouts and whether or not you hit your numbers.

Thanks. I did the Polar Optimizer test on my RS800CX and it gave me a 2 reading, which means I'm rested and good to go. I did an easy day on Sunday and rested 2 days now. Tomorrow I have a short TT, should last about 10 minutes and I'll see how hard I can go there. After that I'll continue my training plan but use 170 as my base.
In any case, if I'm struggling to hit my numbers again I'll back off some more.

Has anyone here done this program? I find it strange that none of the workouts explicitly say to go out of the saddle for sprints, even in the Peak & Fade power intervals (PFPI). Right now I'm doing everything in the saddle.

Thanks again.

^ I don't think you did the CTS correctly if I'm following what you wrote. after you warm up, you do an all out 3 mile effort. Record your average HR for the 3 miles. Recover, then another 3 mile all out effort. Record average HR for the 3 miles.

Take the average of the 2, and then 92% of that number is your LTHR.

Your zomes for steady states, etc. is set as a percentage of that number.

If your true max HR is 173, it's doubtful your LTHR is 170.

I train by power not HR, but the last CTS field tes I did with HR, gave me a LTHR of 165. My obesrved Max HR is in the 190's. While everbody's different, the point of my anecdote is that LTHR is usually more than a couple of beats below Max HR.

Hence Chris' comment that you'll see 110-130% of LTHR doing power intervals.

I read that book and the Cyclist Training Bible and came away feeling the training bible was a much more reliable source/system. Both seem like they would be pretty hard to really follow without a coach or at least a power meter. I'm at the point where Ive worked up to a 10 hour a week schedule and plan to ride through the winter and start following a yearly plan created with the Training Bible next year. I also talked the wife into getting me the power meter for Xmas ;-). BTW I'm also 44 and a 6' Clyde at 200+lbs.

Well, I did my TT and there was a little head wind. I ended up 7th place in my category which I'm fine with considering the competition. The run took 10 minutes 40 seconds and I was holding around 168-169 beats in the start and ramped it up near the end as I was about to pass the guy who started 30 secs ahead of me. I did pass him, but he latched on and sprinted past me out of the saddle before we crossed the line, like this was a road race, lol
Anyway, my pulse peaked at 175 near the end but my legs burned out pretty quick at that rate and my average was 169 for the run.

BTW Merlinextraligh - my copy of the Time Crunched Cyclist says to do two 8 minute runs with 10 minutes between. If you work it out, it's the same as going strong for 3 miles. So let's say I use 170 as my result, then my LTHR would be 156 BPM, but I've been doing my OverUnders at 160-167 respectively.

I misunderstood the statement about 110-130%. He's talking about power, not pulse there. 110% of my LTHR would put me at 171, which is ok, but again, he was referring to power output.

I'm gunning for a Kurt Kinetic road machine and then I can do some power based workouts this winter.

Thanks for the comments guys.