Base training

[simonp]

Disaster seems aptly named.

I've had static weight over January; I'm around 82.5kg. FTP test mid-January was 239W; up from 236W early Dec. I think if I retested now I'd see >240. Getting closer to 3W/kg. Upper body weight I've gained doing rowing is not helping that ratio.

I think 3.25W/kg is a realistic goal for PBP.

[zigzag]

Zigzag - Disaster looks absolutely brutal, why on earth are you doing that?  There was some organised "Disaster Day" in December, but I haven't seen anything about doing it this year?

i haven't been doing any club rides lately as they weren't on because of weather, so i thought i'll try this as a substitute. club rides were quite punchy too and i used to come back home with an empty tank. i'll see how this workout compares.

[Phil W]

January
FTP up 13W (184->197)
Weight down (-6.8kg)
39hr 48m
1019"km" [it's a fairly meaningless number]

Happy with that.

Excellent progress.

[zigzag]

so... yes, the "disaster" workout was tough, but not too dissimilar from our weekly club rides. i've only had to backpedal on the penultimate spikey interval, otherwise managed to do the workout on default suggested intensity. won't be repeating it any time soon though!

[Phil W]

Just low intensity work on a cycle greenway for me today.  Hill walking tomorrow then back on intervals on Monday.

[Frank9755]

so... yes, the "disaster" workout was tough, but not too dissimilar from our weekly club rides. i've only had to backpedal on the penultimate spikey interval, otherwise managed to do the workout on default suggested intensity. won't be repeating it any time soon though!

Well done!
Rather you than me

[simonp]

This morning 5k effort at rowing club before breakfast. Fastest I’ve done in 4.5 years. This evening 4x5m at 105% in TrainerRoad. Hungry!

[DuncanM]

Everyone seems to be going great guns. 

I did a ramp test today and was a bit disappointed.  I had been crushing the workouts for the last couple of weeks of sustained power build with my FTP set to 240 (though I had tested lower last time after quitting at the end), so I thought that I would get a big power bump. I punctured last week though, and I switched to the fixie on the trainer - that seemed like it was going pretty well, but I'd not done a VO2 max ride on that bike.
Anyway, I got a suggested new FTP of: 240.
It was really cold, which can't have helped and meant I had to wrap my hands in the hats I had lying on my trainer table! The metallic taste in the mouth and wobbly legs (and max HR) says I got it all out, but too many rpm at the end - at 92 maybe could have gone another step. I guess I'll leave my FTP at 240, though if I need to put the intensity up each ride for a week then I'll definitely bump it up.
https://www.trainerroad.com/career/duncanm23/rides/49619141-ramp-test

Oh yeah, and for the first time I tried music at the end. I figured Rage against the Machine might be appropriate, but I should really have used Take The Power Back. The chorus of Bombtrack being mainly focused on things burning didn't help!

[simonp]

I have a workout playlist for hour long efforts which times Wake Up for
final interval. Often helps a lot.

Re your ramp test - gotta be fresh. My rowing 5k improved vs two weeks ago because I’d tapered midweek expecting to race Wycliffe Head which was cancelled.

[rob]

Oh yeah, and for the first time I tried music at the end. I figured Rage against the Machine might be appropriate, but I should really have used Take The Power Back. The chorus of Bombtrack being mainly focused on things burning didn't help!

Oh that’s brilliant.   For most training I stick to EDM, but hard intervals require a bit of angry guitar music.

There’s some RATM in there.

I used an Amazon playlist a few weeks back which inexplicably went to Meatloaf part way through.  Put me right off.

[Chris S]

800ish TSS last week. Ugh.

Easier week required this week. It takes me longer to recover now I'm old.

[Frank9755]

Can anyone recommend a heart rate monitor?

I have used a succession of Garmin ones over the last 6-7 years, hard and soft strap versions, and I find they all stop reading after a certain time, usually related to wind and what I am wearing. I've tried ultrasound gel but it only buys a little more time.

For example on yesterday's intervals it stopped reading after 20 minutes or so.

I had given up bothering with heart rate in recent years but, since having a bypass last year, I have got interested in it again, so would like a better option.

[Chris S]

Bluetooth or ANT+?

I use a Garmin softstrap on ANT+. Works fine.

GPLama and DC Rainmaker both rate the Wahoo Tickr/Tickr X; which supports both BTE and ANT+.

[Scrantaj]

Can anyone recommend a heart rate monitor?

I have used a succession of Garmon ones over the last 6-7 years, hard and soft strap versions, and I find they all stop reading after a certain time, usually related to wind and what I am wearing. I've tried ultrasound gel but it only buys a little more time.

For example on yesterday's intervals it stopped reading after 20 minutes or so.

I had given up bothering with heart rate in recent years but, since having a bypass last year, I have got interested in it again, so would like a better option.

I've got a Garmin Softstrap (Ant+) and a Wahoo Tickr(BT) that are both a few years old now and both can play up after being used for a few months without a good clean.  Sticking the straps throught the wash with the rest of the kit seems to sort them out. 

[zigzag]

it's usually the strap that fails, i replace mine roughly once a year.

+1 for tickr/tickr x

[Frank9755]

Thanks, ordered a Tickr.

[LMT]

You could try changing the battery or tightening the strap.

[Frank9755]

On each of the ones that I have tried all sorts of things with over the last five years...?
Done all of that, and more!

[Phil W]

Did today's session too soon after lunch, not the best move.  Couple of more days then I enter my rest and test week.

[DuncanM]

Bah and double Bah!

I figured I'd do a 20 minute FTP test as my workout this morning - I was convinced I'd managed to under test in the Ramp test on Sunday. All going swimmingly until I got to the leg clearing bit, when the resistance just died away. I thought it was an issue with my turbo, and re-calibrated, fiddled about a bit, then realised it was in resistance mode and put it back into Erg mode. At this point it made me do 400W!  I can't do that for 5 minutes before a 20 minute test.
Eventually I decided I would put it back into resistance mode and fiddle with it and wait and see. It got to the rest period and went back into erg mode and worked properly, and I realised that TR must have put it into resistance mode so I could control the resistance and spin. Sigh.
I decided to the the 20 minute test again. I figured I could get a 4 or 5 % bump in FTP, so I put the intensity up to 104% in the app. Then, when the 20 minute period started it said I needed to do 254W, so I fiddled with the resistance slightly so I could do around there. I worked hard, but I got to the end with some juice left and hammered the last minute. The average for the interval was 254W, so bang on target. My new FTP is 241W. 241W.  That's right, I put the intensity up 104% and it didn't change my target power, so I put myself through all this, and the only reason why my FTP changed at all is that I smashed the last minute. FFFFS.
Link: https://www.trainerroad.com/career/duncanm23/rides/49786785-20-minute-ftp-test

[Bernster]

I've arrived at a similar problem with my (non-smart) trainer using TrainerRoad - I seem to not be able to do ramp tests well, or at least well enough to arrive at an FTP figure which when accepted provides taxing enough training rides in the base and build plans. I wonder whether TrainerRoad's virtual power curve for my trainer overestimates at low power and underestimates at higher power (this would tie in well with the fact that I really struggle to complete VO2max sessions, but find myself upping the intensity for FTP and sub-FTP sessions.

It might be that I'm just bad at the psychological aspect of the ramp test, specifically that they're open ended - at least with a 20 minute FTP test, there's a defined end point, which I can mentally work towards. With a ramp test, even if I force myself through one step, there's always another one, and then another one, so I think I end up quitting early for that reason.

I'm going back to 20 minute tests as my chosen measure of FTP, but having said that I won't always accept the figure it spits out as gospel, unless it aligns with my estimated FTP based on how I finished the previous training plan i.e. if I finish a training plan at a given FTP, and feel I have another 10 or 20 more watts in the tank, then unless the 20 minute test indicates that I'm 20 watts up, I will probably manually set my FTP to FTP+20 and go from there. My reasoning is that there might be plenty of factors which adversely affect an FTP test, and I know from using TrainerRoad for a few years now to trust my feel on whether a workout is too easy, too hard, or about right based on my FTP.

[simonp]

I’ve used only the ramp test for the past year or so. It’s possible that the high end requirement of the 1 minute power doesn’t map well to sustainable power. The last 2-3 minutes are pretty horrible in a way that always surprises me.

However I’ve done two rowing 5k tests recently which are approaching 20 minute efforts. I would say that’s about 5 minutes of ok and 14.5 minutes of regretting your life choices. Grim.

[Phil W]

Right last session done and rest and test week starts tomorrow.   My resting heart rate has dropped 7 beats since beginning of Jan and workouts have been felling easier, so signs are good.  Hope my tests when rested concur. Next phase late base.

[DuncanM]

I've used the ramp test since it came out and was called Ramp Test X, but on a geared bike and a dumb trainer (with power from pedals). It seemed to give me a sensible FTP that I could just about handle the workouts from, but I always felt it should be better on an erg, as the last couple of steps when you are dying a slow death always seemed to fall into a gearing black hole!
Given I was completing the workouts in the first half of sustained power build with a little to spare at 240, I'm gonna manually set it to 245 and see how the other 2 workouts go this week.  If they are good and I want to turn the intensity up then I will give it a little boost for next week.
One of the good things about having the TT bike on the turbo is that for warmup and cool down I can get in the aero bars and practise turtling - no time is wasted.

[Chris S]

I need to work on sustained power. I can do 715w in a Zwift sprint, but my FTP (as measured just 15 minutes ago) is still sub-200, which is shite. So I started the Sustained Power Build plan on TR.