UPDATE! My summer has been going really well. Been doing 6 rides a week, with about 3 of those hard or hardish. The program has remained the same: On Monday is 15" leg openers (or proper 15" sprints, and maybe an attack up the 4 minute climb to my house depending on the overall volume/intensity of the prior week (I work weekends so sometimes I'd get two rest days in a row). Tuesday is the 'ride out of my face' group ride. Wedendsay's recovery spin. Thursday used to be some sort of intermediate ride but in the last month or so it's been mostly some kind of interval work (3' hard 3' easy on a gradual climb) and a couple Thursdays ago I did 5x4' hill repeats on a 4' rolling climb. Fridays are a long ride at endurance pace (but I usually do it harder) Sunday is whatever I feel like doing (usually moderate ride, though the first month it was a second rest day due to my work schedule). For the first month or so the noticeable gains were quite slow coming, probably because I was doing too much volume for my fitness level in my impatience to not be so slow.... Then I finally allowed myself a "recovery" week (not really recovery, just slightly less volume) and after that I started noticing big improvements in my power output and speed. On my last Tuesday ride I hung with some of the top riders of the group ride (who usually drop me badly) and that was super satisfying (and a bit surprising!) (though most of the A+ riders were missing; still, there were strong riders in that group; all who rode over the winter). I also had a very strong Tuesday ride the week before that when, despite not riding smart (lots of brash attacks) I still had massive reserves towards the end of the ride to pull strong with the A stragglers (4 of us in a rotating paceline) and for once I was the one who was pushing the pace! Then one other guy who usually is *much* stronger than me (I was a little surprised he wasn't with the A+ riders where he normally is) started racing me up a little hill after we had been pace lining for like 20+ minutes and I was still feeling spritely and I just looked over at him and said "oh, we're racing are we?" as he started to pass me (I was pacing myself trying not to be a complete dick and leave the others behind) but when he started going a half wheel ahead of me I lit it up and he wasn't able to match my acceleration. Oh man, the recent power gains have been soooooo inspiring! If things keep going this well and I maintain my fitness over the winter I will seriously consider racing next year (I'll be 40).
It's super exciting to see these rapid gains after all this self doubt each time I tried to get fit again in the past after a series of unfortunate events and it never happening. And this time; largely (mostly) thanks to getting a power meter, I finally broke through the "fitness wall" and feel like I'm soaring now; like there is no limit in sight! I really was beginning to think I was genetically cursed, or that my collapsed lung I suffered 20 years ago was limiting my potential, but now I see I just needed to keep at it a little longer and train somewhat smartly.
The other big exciting thing that happened sort of overnight about two weeks ago was when I suddenly still had gas in the tank after 30 miles. Almost every ride for weeks on end I'd struggle so much to climb or ride hard after 30 miles. But the last two rides I keep having attacks up to the end of the 50 mile ride.
Last Sunday I really surprised myself when I did a 32 minute strava segment (rolling hills) and averaged 184 watts (I didn't even realize it was a segment), but it sure was fun to be able to go that fast without a wheel in front of me. My FTP on June 13th was 178. Now I estimate it to be 240 to 250 but I think it might be even higher for following reason: Jens Voigt (yes, the one and only legendary Jens Vogt who could suffer like none other) says he used to like doing a 40/20 exercise where he'd go
a little above his threshold for 40 seconds then easy for 20, and repeat this 5 times and with a long zone 2 recover imbetween two sets.
https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/my-...Ss5DUCF7p6S.97 Am I missing something here? This seems like it should be super easy for a pro?? especially a master of the pain cave? On GCN, their version of this workout was "hard" for 40" and easy for 20" and 10 reps per 3 sets with 5' easy between each set. To figure out what "hard" was meant to be I googled and found another version of the workout suggesting 120% of FTP for the hard portion (which is solidly into VO2 max territory). So I did a little math and saw that 1.2X250 = 300 watts for 40". I wasn't feeling as fresh as I was expecting yesterday so I decided I'd set the goal for the 40" wattage at 280 (I mean, could my FTP really have gone from 178 to 250 in two months?) But the thing is, the workout was much more manageable than I was expecting. People talk about this workout as being super tough, but it was not nearly as hard as trying to hang onto the A ride all summer! (but, really, very much a simulation of the A ride). I dunno if it was just the excitement of me actually, finally, doing a
proper training session with a timer and a watt meter combined with my grave trepidation of this workout and wondering if I'd really be able to do it or what, but I just found that my legs were oh so game to do 300 watts for 40" with 20" rest 10X3 with two 5' rests between. Yes, there were moments towards the end of each session that were a bit difficult, but still, nothing like the pain and anguish and give it all hell of the A rides; I was never really at the end of my limit during those 40" efforts. Was I somehow not doing the workout right? Don't get me wrong, it was not easy, and getting on the gas again after 20", especially toward the end of each set, was mentally difficult, as each recovery 20" block felt shorter and shorter as I was being less and less recovered with each one, but each time I got back on the gas, I was like "oh, this isn't so bad, this is just like an A ride) and was able to keep up the wattage. A few times, I did struggle a little and the watts would fall off a bit (240 for a few seconds) but then I'd just kick it up a gear and pedal harder. Even though I was doing this workout on the road, I still managed to average each 40" very close to 300 watts. Overall, my average for all thirty 40" efforts was about just under 300 watts. They say you should only do this workout once every 10 to 14 days. Honestly, I think I could easily do this again next Thursday, which I guess suggests my target watt should have been higher or maybe my 20" spins could be a little harder (The average of those started around 90 or so and by the end of the third set were around 60 watts). I'm gassing myself multiple times a week; I don't see this workout as especially hard compared to my other workouts and the Tuesday night ride sufferfest (the recent hill repeats were also harder, but I was doing that by feel as much as wattage--that one I would not do more frequently then every two weeks as I
did go to very close to the limit a couple times and 5 hill repeats is a lot (it was actually 6, but I didn't do a warm up and sort of used the first two as my warm up--first one I went very hard, second one I held back a little to allow my body to recover/warm up).
Anyway, for the first time in my life I really feel like I can call myself an athlete and a cyclist. And I just can't believe how well things are going. I guess another take away from this 8 week training block is that I did not miss a beat. I rode rain or shine; I always stuck to my program and never wavered. There was one day where I didn't do a recovery ride because it was raining, but I did 40 minutes on the rollers which was probably more beneficial than recovery ride since it was long enough to be a recovery ride with the added benefits of rollers. Oh, and the other thing I never miss a beat on is recovery. I've been taking recovery super seriously. I always do a 10 minute warm down after each ride and I never coast after killing myself up a climb or interval or whatever; I always keep the pedals moving over, even if it's only 25 watts! I think keeping the pedals moving over after a hard effort is really important for keeping the dreaded overtraining at bay.
This afternoon I'm doing a 66 mile ride with 5500' of climbing ; so during that ride I'll probably get a better idea of just how hard the 40/20 workout was yesterday!