Base training

[DuncanM]

I don’t think I can reliably complete 3-minute intervals at 120% of my estimated threshold power.

You can

You probably can. Depends on how many of them you want to try, and how big the rest intervals are... Give it a go... 

Not repeatably.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/sproven/rides/11051876-kaiser

You did the first 2. Do you think you could have done the third if you had a bit more rest in between? That would have got you halfway through the session...

I'm going to try to get my fixie working with the Tacx Bushido - I shall soon discover if any of the intervals I thought I could do were really OK, or if the dumb trainer was what was getting me through sessions!

[DuncanM]

Tried the fixie and the smart trainer today. Significant fail - it won't let me ride at 120W with my gearing (48x17) - I get down to about 130W at 60rpm and then it just ramps the resistance up. Warmup was at 250W, and then the rest interval was too hard and I quit (I can't do 5 minutes at or above FTP, then drop it down a little and then do VO2 work).
Maybe it will work better with a lower gear - I have a 20 tooth cog to try (and I can just about get away with the same length chain). Otherwise I'll have to dump my geared bike on there for the build workouts and just do speciality (lots of threshold stuff) on the fixie. Alternatively, if I can whack my FTP up loads, 130-150W would be a comfortable recovery! 

[simonp]

 Back on it after 5 days off with Christmas etc. Over unders. What fun we had.

Edit: https://www.trainerroad.com/career/sproven/rides/46539300-mcadie

[Chris S]

We're overdosing on Zwift. Getting up and down stairs is a story of involuntary noises this evening.

[DuncanM]

You can tell I wasn't on it this morning - I forgot to reset my crank length - actual length =165mm, pedals think they were on 172.5. Ooops.
I guess that means my real power was a few % over what it reported. Hmmmm.

[simonp]

Last workout of 2018.

Highest 2h power of the year and higher than any 2h power in 2017.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/sproven/rides/46616851-wright-peak-2

Day off tomorrow. 

[rob]

Whilst I’m still still confined to the turbo and missing the outdoors, I’ll have to say the training is very effective.  Volume increased to 11h30m this week.  4 structured sessions and 3 endurance based fillers.  All of it in my new race position as well.  I seem to be adapting to it quite well.

[Pedal Castro]

Whilst I’m still still confined to the turbo and missing the outdoors, I’ll have to say the training is very effective.  Volume increased to 11h30m this week.  4 structured sessions and 3 endurance based fillers.  All of it in my new race position as well.  I seem to be adapting to it quite well.

 
My enforced turbo based winters made a big difference to my speed! This time I'm adding the Z1 work too (plus S&C) so it'll be interesting to see what difference that makes.

[sojournermike]

Whilst I’m still still confined to the turbo and missing the outdoors, I’ll have to say the training is very effective.  Volume increased to 11h30m this week.  4 structured sessions and 3 endurance based fillers.  All of it in my new race position as well.  I seem to be adapting to it quite well.

 
My enforced turbo based winters made a big difference to my speed! This time I'm adding the Z1 work too (plus S&C) so it'll be interesting to see what difference that makes.

What is S&C?

Cheers

Mike

[simonp]

Whilst I’m still still confined to the turbo and missing the outdoors, I’ll have to say the training is very effective.  Volume increased to 11h30m this week.  4 structured sessions and 3 endurance based fillers.  All of it in my new race position as well.  I seem to be adapting to it quite well.

 
My enforced turbo based winters made a big difference to my speed! This time I'm adding the Z1 work too (plus S&C) so it'll be interesting to see what difference that makes.

What is S&C?

Cheers

Mike

Strength & Conditioning.

[simonp]

No rest.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/sproven/rides/46763492-solomons

If my FTP was set too high, this workout would find me out.

[Pedal Castro]

Whilst I’m still still confined to the turbo and missing the outdoors, I’ll have to say the training is very effective.  Volume increased to 11h30m this week.  4 structured sessions and 3 endurance based fillers.  All of it in my new race position as well.  I seem to be adapting to it quite well.

 
My enforced turbo based winters made a big difference to my speed! This time I'm adding the Z1 work too (plus S&C) so it'll be interesting to see what difference that makes.

What is S&C?

Cheers

Mike

Strength & Conditioning.

Yep.
I dug out my very old Weight Training for Cyclists book and Tudor Bompa’s Periodization Training for Sports to help plan a sensible routine and then Sufferfest introduced their program via the SF app.

Been doing it for 5/6 weeks now and it’s working well so far. Some exercises are not dissimilar to the ones BC suggest. The tricky thing is to work out when to incorporate the S&C sessions into the overall plan, I normally do them early morning on a rest/easy day so the legs recover sufficiently for the next interval session.

[DuncanM]

No rest.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/sproven/rides/46763492-solomons

If my FTP was set too high, this workout would find me out.

That's a tough ride. Looks like you upped the power on the last interval - if you can do that then maybe your FTP is slightly too low?

I did an outdoor sufferfest on New Years eve. Daft club event where we all set off together, did loads of climbing (for Oxfordshire) at our own pace, and then had a pint before riding home.
https://www.trainerroad.com/career/duncanm23/rides/46668025-brill-5-0

Gonna do a short hard ride tomorrow on the turbo, and then probably an FTP test on Saturday (possibly a cross race Sunday, if everything comes together). Then it'll be the Sustained Power Build for the next 8 weeks...

[Frank9755]

Weird experience on Trainerroad yesterday.  There is something not quite right in the way that erg mode is working. 
First 40 mins went ok but when I put the effort back on after a rest interval, the resistance was really spikey, so I was pedalling squares.  Couldn't establish any rythmn, even if I changed right down and tried to spin, etc.  Eventually I restarted the trainer and it was then ok, but not as smooth as at the start. 
Trainer is a Tacx Vortex.
I contacted TR support and asked them. They suggested using an extension to get the ANT+ dongle nearer the trainer, and backpedalling to reset if it happened again, which I'll try.
Anyone else had this?

[simonp]

Weird experience on Trainerroad yesterday.  There is something not quite right in the way that erg mode is working. 
First 40 mins went ok but when I put the effort back on after a rest interval, the resistance was really spikey, so I was pedalling squares.  Couldn't establish any rythmn, even if I changed right down and tried to spin, etc.  Eventually I restarted the trainer and it was then ok, but not as smooth as at the start. 
Trainer is a Tacx Vortex.
I contacted TR support and asked them. They suggested using an extension to get the ANT+ dongle nearer the trainer, and backpedalling to reset if it happened again, which I'll try.
Anyone else had this?

Not seen this.

I suspect it's more likely the trainer playing up - is the FW to date?

[simonp]

Ansel Adams today. Could not face a 2h sweet-spot workout after a hard week.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/sproven/rides/47255435-ansel-adams

Over a year since I completed this workout successfully. 1h with an IF=0.98, so it's a hard one. More evidence of FTP bump on the way.

[L CC]

Weird experience on Trainerroad yesterday.  There is something not quite right in the way that erg mode is working. 
First 40 mins went ok but when I put the effort back on after a rest interval, the resistance was really spikey, so I was pedalling squares.  Couldn't establish any rythmn, even if I changed right down and tried to spin, etc.  Eventually I restarted the trainer and it was then ok, but not as smooth as at the start. 
Trainer is a Tacx Vortex.
I contacted TR support and asked them. They suggested using an extension to get the ANT+ dongle nearer the trainer, and backpedalling to reset if it happened again, which I'll try.
Anyone else had this?

Yes.
We put the dongle on an extension and it did improve things. But then I bought a Drivo. And then he did, too.

[Frank9755]

I've put an extension lead in so will find out if it is ok tomorrow when I do my ramp test!
I can see that if I end up doing more of this, I'd probably need to upgrade to something better.

[Chris S]

I still use a USB extension, even with the new trainer - basically the ant+ dongle is right under the trainer.

Fboab uses Apple TV, so her experience is all Bluetooth and a different world of hurt.

[DuncanM]

I put the road bike with the P1 pedals onto the bushido smart yesterday. No problem hitting the low power conditions in something like 34x25 using power match.
Problem with hardware solved, now it's time for the problem with the wetware - my FTP test sucked. I got up early for a Sunday, chased my daughter around a cyclocross field in the morning, then had chips, and did the FTP test after getting home (and a banana and a cup of tea). I didn't turn my fan on at the start, meaning I got very hot by the end, and I quit rather than failed - suggested new FTP was only 224.
https://www.trainerroad.com/career/duncanm23/rides/47230431-ramp-test

I was hoping for a bit of a boost - clearly Christmas and then the trainer issues had more impact than I thought. I could probably have done a bit better had I been psyched to go deeper (last time I almost fell off my bike after stopping and was no good to pedal for several minutes!), but I started it thinking it was going to be hard, and that messed me up I think.  Either that, or erg mode Ramps are harder than geared ones. I think I'll drop the FTP from 244 to 240 and start Sustained Power Build anyway. Not the ideal way to start the new year though.
I've also started writing a blog on my fixed TT process - I'm aiming to write at least once a week. https://fixedtting.home.blog/ It will probably contain lots of what I put on here until I start racing though!

[rdtrdt]

Just completed a Ramp Test - the first one since July - and managed a 2% increase...

I'm very happy about this, as I had surgery in August that kept me off the bike for some time: in Sept and Oct I had a couple of aborted attempts at getting back on the bike, before knocking it on the head and just walking 5 hilly miles every day until I felt normal again. In Nov I completed a 'recuperation' program of steady, recovery-level workouts in TR, then commenced SSB Low Vol part I at the end of Nov, finishing that last week. I tried to get really high quality workouts by ensuring I got loads of rest/recovery etc, and skipping a few days when I felt under the weather rather than forcing it.

The FTP bump is testimony to the efficacy of structured interval training, and TR's implementation of it.

Shame the "reward" isn't something more pleasant than increased suffering in the workouts to come

[simonp]

  great stuff

[rdtrdt]

great stuff

If that's for me then cheers! 

I posted here a while ago about seeing whether I could get to 4w/kg. It's quite possible that's impossible for me, particularly with the low-ish volume approach I want to stick to, so I've decided to have a nearer-term more achievable goal - sort of a "shrink goal" (opposite of a stretch goal, innit).

It's a pure FTP goal: I was 236w last year, tested today at 242, and the goal is 260 by the end of the coming season. I'm not bothered about weight - I'm naturally dead lean and am actually trying to add a little bit of weight through weight training - so it makes sense to take the weight bit out of my goal.

260 would be a 10% uplift from last year's 236. I think it's a realistic goal, ?probably? achievable, but we shall see, and a lot depends on how the old body responds etc. If I got there, I'm sure I'd feel noticeably quicker out on the road and/or find pootling around that much easier/enjoyable, which is sort of the motivator for all of this.

And if I don't manage it, at least I'll have endured a load of suffering while trying for it 

[DuncanM]

I found it really hard to get up this morning, but I managed it (a little delayed as my alarm wasn't set). My resolution of doing something, even if it's not the full scheduled workout has survived it's first test!
I think that it's harder to do TR on erg mode (with my setup) in a couple of ways.  One - I don't think I'm getting much flywheel effect, so the dead spots are brutal (today was more comfortable at 110 cadence than 95 even). Secondly, I noticed that when running the manual shifting setup there would be intervals where I was a couple of watts down, and so my TSS at the end of the session would be a couple of points off where it should be. The erg makes me ride as much above as below target, and that means I get the full TSS hit.
https://www.trainerroad.com/career/duncanm23/rides/47399634-adams-1

[Frank9755]

I did a ramp test today and got an FTP of 180, which is pretty underwhelming but not altogether surprising as I've not ridden much in the last 2.5 years and am not in great shape. 

In 2014, when I was last racing regularly and when I set most of my PBs, I didn't train (other than doing rides I wanted to do and riding to work), but I averaged 250W for a 10, 230W for a 25 and 200W for a 100.  And I would average 175W over 8 hours on a 200km audax. So, while I never had massive power, I have fallen a long way in five years, from around 3.5W/kg FTP to close to 2.5. 

I wonder how much of my lost power I can get back, and how quickly I might be able to do it.