grolby

This was fun. The secret is: confidence! And the remedy is ride a lot more stuff that makes you feel uncomfortable. It'll pay dividends when cross comes back around, and it's not bad to be better equipped for the unexpected on the road, too.

canuckbelle

2.5hrs on the indoor trainer yesterday (it was 39F with rain...nope). Ugh...I don't get mad, I get stabby.

TheKillerPenguin

One of the workouts I do is very similar to that, but is 40/20. Typically starts in 3 sets of 10min and I get worked up to 3 sets of 15min.

mike868y

easy hour today. spinning out the superbowl beers.

globecanvas

That was hard. I usually do the rest intervals around 70% which feels easy at the start of each set and a lot less easy at the end. But on the climb, I couldn't get the the rest intervals below 85% without falling off the bike. Legs got tired fast. I'll go back to doing these on the flats.

Andy STi

Ha - How to cheat while training 101! But coach, I did do z5...

TMonk

What exactly do you mean by 30/30s? like tabatas?

TheKillerPenguin

Today was the last laying low day. From what I've been told this block is going to be just about as much volume as the last one but with vo2 2x/wk and ftp work taking the place of awc and tempo.

globecanvas

Sort of. 30 seconds @ 140% + 30 seconds @ 70%, do that for 12-14 minutes, do 3 sets. The 70% is important, the workout gets easy if you just coast for the rest intervals. I didn't get all the way through them today because the 70% was more like 85%.

TMonk

thanks. I'd like to give that a try sometime soonish.

aaronmcd

VO2 taking the place of AWC... wondering. What happens to the AWC, and what is the purpose of training it early and replacing it now?

tetonrider

well, that's a different workout. you'd then go much harder during the 30" "on" periods. they target different things.

(i don't think there's much point in coasting, though.)

grolby

Yeah, I do more of a sprint/rest 30/30 workout when prepping for cross and let me tell you it gets DARK. Probably much less useful for road, though.

wens

Yup, cx probably saved me a nasty crash this weekend when my front wheel found a piece of metal and started sliding while I was braking at the bottom of a hill. Front wheel drifts with a high probability of a crash being an endo are just a bit on the exciting side.

mike868y

last week before a rest week. 1:45 on the rollers today. 5*4'.

TheKillerPenguin

I think the idea is that the highest part of your top end is the first thing to flatten out when you're doing lots of volume, and maintaining it with sprints and 8x30s requires wayyyyy less stress than doing vo2. So now I've gone through base maintaining anaerobic repeatability, actually boosted my sprint power, and according to the group ride I did on Saturday my vo2 power may have even come up. The tempo kept my ftp from dropping as well. Now I can add in focused vo2 stuff along with ftp on top of the volume I've gotten used to, to build on top of where I currently am.

I think that if volume increased AND I was told to do vo2 work at the same time I would've fallen apart completely. I would've lasted like 2-3 weeks and died.

aaronmcd

Ah I see. Sounds like the plans working so far! When you said AWC, I was thinking 1-2 minute intervals rather than the sprints you always post about.

aaronmcd

Moody Tuesday.

1.5 hours before work with 5x4 @115-120% on Moody road climb. Also a few 25 second sprints.

TMonk

Did the protocol I got from GC today, sounded better than what I had planned:

3x12', alternating 30/30s at 140%/70%. The math was nice and easy for me: 400/200.

I felt good, and was able to complete the workout. My precision with pacing these kinds of efforts needs a lot of work, and a few in the middle of each set suffered as a result, but I feel good about it overall.

caloso

Got power again so impromptu FTP test this morning. Apparently it was overdue. Yay me.

Wylde06

caloso

I literally laughed out loud. Thanks.

canuckbelle

Holy balls today was hard. 3x15min 95% of FTP 90min total. I *barely* got through the second interval, and had to drop the power by 5% to make it through the third. Three days off for work travel.

revchuck 

After that extended period off the bike, I'm sure that hurt!

TheKillerPenguin

The AWC is 30sec all out with 2min between efforts at like minimal effort. It's like what @tetonrider was saying about it being a different workout than 30/30 tabata stuff. The wattage is typically 240%-170% (it always decreases as the workout goes on). It's the most painful stuff I'm given actually, as far as perceived effort goes I prefer doing anything else, even vo2.