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(How To) Cardiac Drift - A Different Way of Looking at Indoor Training

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(How To) Cardiac Drift - A Different Way of Looking at Indoor Training

Old 02-19-19, 08:52 AM
  #176  
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Originally Posted by Happy Feet
I for one find this to be an entirely fascinating thread but probably not for the reasons the OP intended.
Me too. Mods, please, please don't lock this.
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Old 02-19-19, 10:22 AM
  #177  
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Off topic (but clearly unavoidable) - How do I put together a training plan?

While the purpose of this thread is to explain how to make adjustments to workout intensity, duration and frequency, some appear to be both confused and adamant around goals, etc.

Here's a very rough draft of how I, living in a free country, choose to prioritize energy system targeting based on my individual training goals, fitness, place in the season, target events, etc.

Please don't reply that you are not living in a free country because I can't help you with that.

I view training plans as living things primarily concerned with energy system prioritization.

The end.

Seriously, though, that's all I do. For any particular event, I need some blend of being able to perform over a long period of time, medium period of time and short period of time.

For most of the events I enter, I take my training from general ==> specific, endurance ==> long intervals ==> short intervals.

This is because the ability to maintain and the time it takes to gain/lose each system decreases as you go from long ==> short.

For this reason, I also spend the largest number of weeks with a focus on endurance and the least number of weeks with a focus on short power.

My endurance phase is all long as it needs to be unless I need to compromise based on the number of calendar days I have before the event.

My "in-between" phase length depends on the importance of that energy system relative to other energy systems but also the potential for improvement because my strategy MAY need to consider my strengths over my weakness, depending on which has the most potential to improve and also my thoughts regarding my competition and THEIR likely strategy, etc.

The prioritization occurs both in when to "change focus" ("phase") and also with a phase or block with respect to how time is distributed among energy systems.

Friel does a great job of simplifying this and making it practical in Fast After Fifty.

What it all boils down to is how are you going to allocate time at intensity? In "base", many do more endurance which you then maintain, for example, one long weekly ride. In the in-between times (does that conjure SpongeBob memories for anyone?), "middle intensity" stuff takes center stage and make way for short power as the event approaches. Of course, for time trialists and some triathletes the middle intensity stuff is also event-specific so they may even swap short and middle intensity stuff to "raise the ceiling", etc.

Regardless, I following the same process for any event. I just manipulate how I budget time at intensity.

The end.
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Old 02-19-19, 12:27 PM
  #178  
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Originally Posted by fstrnu
While the purpose of this thread is to explain how to make adjustments to workout intensity, duration and frequency, some appear to be both confused and adamant around goals, etc.

Here's a very rough draft of how I, living in a free country, choose to prioritize energy system targeting based on my individual training goals, fitness, place in the season, target events, etc.

Please don't reply that you are not living in a free country because I can't help you with that.

I view training plans as living things primarily concerned with energy system prioritization.

The end.

Seriously, though, that's all I do. For any particular event, I need some blend of being able to perform over a long period of time, medium period of time and short period of time.

For most of the events I enter, I take my training from general ==> specific, endurance ==> long intervals ==> short intervals.

This is because the ability to maintain and the time it takes to gain/lose each system decreases as you go from long ==> short.

For this reason, I also spend the largest number of weeks with a focus on endurance and the least number of weeks with a focus on short power.

My endurance phase is all long as it needs to be unless I need to compromise based on the number of calendar days I have before the event.

My "in-between" phase length depends on the importance of that energy system relative to other energy systems but also the potential for improvement because my strategy MAY need to consider my strengths over my weakness, depending on which has the most potential to improve and also my thoughts regarding my competition and THEIR likely strategy, etc.

The prioritization occurs both in when to "change focus" ("phase") and also with a phase or block with respect to how time is distributed among energy systems.

Friel does a great job of simplifying this and making it practical in Fast After Fifty.

What it all boils down to is how are you going to allocate time at intensity? In "base", many do more endurance which you then maintain, for example, one long weekly ride. In the in-between times (does that conjure SpongeBob memories for anyone?), "middle intensity" stuff takes center stage and make way for short power as the event approaches. Of course, for time trialists and some triathletes the middle intensity stuff is also event-specific so they may even swap short and middle intensity stuff to "raise the ceiling", etc.

Regardless, I following the same process for any event. I just manipulate how I budget time at intensity.

The end.
This is all good and about what all of us training wonks do.

A few riders, and I'm one, will start their next season in October with a couple of months of mostly endurance work, though even that will include pedaling drills, some zone 3 and 4 work and some cross training. After a couple months of this sort of base work, if one even bothers with that, one wants to incorporate workouts of various intensities into every week, and not only various intensities, but various types of workout.

This is winter in the PNW. Typical for winters here, outdoor riding is frequently not reasonable, i.e 34° and raining and/or wet snow banks on the road shoulders. OTOH, we have snow in the mountains. So my typical workouts until at least April will be skiing, both Alpine and Nordic, snowshoeing, Stepmill and strength work at the gym, roller work - mostly FastPedal, one-legged pedaling, Z3 intervals at both very low and high cadences, and a little Z2 steady-state work. Plus, weather permitting, one long hard group ride a week.

My big rides will be in late June to late July. I'll be able to change to a strong outdoor cycling regimen about April 1, supplemented by roller work when the weather's bad. That period also will have a variety workouts in every week. Rather than do one long endurance ride a week at an endurance pace, I do one long hard group ride with a ton on intensity in it once a week, or even two days in a row if I can get fit enough. That's the way to build real endurance, capacity training.

Thus my winter work is all about whole body fitness to support injury-free hard cycling work and there are zero weeks when I only do a progression of similar workouts. For instance I've found I need Z4 work every week, all year, to stay aerobically fit, and pedaling drills on the rollers every week to keep my pedaling skills up and net get sloppy.

As you say, the variety of workouts will slowly trend toward those with greater intensity throughout the training year. Strength work will trend from the general to the specific and toward lower volume and higher intensity.
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Old 02-21-19, 01:30 PM
  #179  
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Old 02-21-19, 06:11 PM
  #180  
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Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
the variety of workouts will slowly trend toward those with greater intensity throughout the training year. Strength work will trend from the general to the specific and toward lower volume and higher intensity.
Someone read and understood the 1985 edition of "Bicycle Road Racing: Complete Program for Training and Competition" by Edward Borysewicz ex US National Coach.

-Bandera
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Old 02-21-19, 06:29 PM
  #181  
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Log

Wasn't able to perform yesterday's 6 x 10 workout because of life happening but able to bang it out today. I was genuinely terrified of this workout because it was so hard last week.

All metrics were identical this week with the exception of an average heart rate of 136 vs 153! RPE also significantly lower.

Alcohol may be the explanation because I know I drank at least twice last week during the week...and paid for it evidently.

Additionally, the previous workout was the first time at the increased power. Apparently, I'm coping with the increased power quite well

Edit - I forgot to mention the possible impact of an additional recovery as well as much lower load over the weekend for the reasons I explain in the below quote.

Originally Posted by fstrnu
Just a quick post to report that I didn't forget to post an entry but that there simply isn't much to share that would be constructive since I had both technical and life-happening issues this weekend.

The only thing helpful that I can think of is to point out that I was deliberately splitting my (preferred) 1 x 120 workout into two 1 x 90 workouts because I didn't believe I was going to be able to squeeze in 120 minutes on either day, which turned out to be true since I had technical problems saturday (blown tire) and life-happening problems sunday and therefore only got 60 min in each day. Ouch. Had I known, I would have increased intensity dramatically but I didn't.

One other thing I can think of is that, to mitigate this problem I might plan for some additional intensity with less volume just until things calm down a bit because I'd much prefer 90 minutes at higher intensity than the chance of a 120 minute workout getting cut short and resulting in negligible stimulus. If things get too crazy I'll crank it up even higher for a 60 minute workout. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Actually, when I think about it, I might steer clear of the house/distractions altogether and just bust out a couple of hours on a spin bike at my gym. As much as I hate not being able to capture the data, failing to get the workout would be worse and flying blind for two hours in the gym would beat compromising duration any day. I'll just need to setup the bike as close as I can. At least for low intensity and one workout only it matters less I'd think.
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Old 02-21-19, 06:39 PM
  #182  
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This message is hidden because fstrnu is on your ignore list.
Cool.

Last edited by Bandera; 02-21-19 at 07:18 PM.
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Old 02-21-19, 07:45 PM
  #183  
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Originally Posted by Bandera
Someone read and understood the 1985 edition of "Bicycle Road Racing: Complete Program for Training and Competition" by Edward Borysewicz ex US National Coach.

-Bandera
thank you for the comment. However, I've never heard of the book, but that general knowledge came from somewhere. I didn't invent it, though I use it and find it valuable. It rather permeates training references now. I'm not entirely sure of the scientific basis. I've heard that top riders have deviated substantially from this dictum with good results. I rather think it depends on one's entire training continuum and goals. Whatever, I've had good results from this advice and I'm using it again this year. My moderate aerobic intensity period is a little longer than usual this year as life and weather have happened, but my strength work is on target.
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Old 02-21-19, 08:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
I've never heard of the book, but that general knowledge came from somewhere. I didn't invent it, though I use it and find it valuable. It rather permeates training references now. .
"Eddie B" as he was known and Dr. Ed Burke were in great part responsible for taking US cycling from an International joke in the late '70's to Olympic Gold by '84 and helped develop the "new" talent of LeMond and the 7-11 boys who took it to the top ranks of European Pro racing with great results. Thank them also for the then "new" scientific/practical oriented OTC that has done so much for rider evaluation, research, training, hardware tech and much more in the last decades.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, or at least try to sit on their wheels.

-Bandera



-

Last edited by Bandera; 02-21-19 at 09:50 PM.
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Old 02-21-19, 11:41 PM
  #185  
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Originally Posted by Bandera
"Eddie B" as he was known and Dr. Ed Burke were in great part responsible for taking US cycling from an International joke in the late '70's to Olympic Gold by '84 and helped develop the "new" talent of LeMond and the 7-11 boys who took it to the top ranks of European Pro racing with great results. Thank them also for the then "new" scientific/practical oriented OTC that has done so much for rider evaluation, research, training, hardware tech and much more in the last decades.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, or at least try to sit on their wheels.

-Bandera



-
Ah. Ed Burke. I use some training programming software which he helped develop. I base my year's training around it, though I've modernized its weight training progression. It works. Too bad the company which brought it to market vanished. Not enough crazy people, I think. Still runs on Win10.
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Old 02-22-19, 12:11 AM
  #186  
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[QUOTE=Bandera;20806592]"Eddie B" as he was known and Dr. Ed Burke were in great part responsible for taking US cycling from an International joke in the late '70's to Olympic Gold by '84 and helped develop the "new" talent of LeMond and the 7-11 boys who took it to the top ranks of European Pro racing with great results. Thank them also for the then "new" scientific/practical oriented OTC that has done so much for rider evaluation, research, training, hardware tech and much more in the last decades.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, or at least try to sit on their wheels.

-Bandera

Did you know or train with Eddie? It would be great to get together some day for brisket, wine and a discussion about cycling and the people / coaches that made it happen. Tonight, I was at a training session with Roger Young at the indoor velodrome. Roger was on the 7 Eleven team with Heiden et al and an Olympian. He is the brother of Sheila Young, Olympian speed stalker.

I have been using Roger as a coach for the last 8 years. He runs a great training session and draws a lot of talent. We had a tun and creative workout tonight. I have learned a lot about training and racing skills from Roger. Great guy. Eddie B did a great job getting the US onto the world stage in cycling.

BTW, no cardiac drift limits on me today. My Garmin claims I set a new HR record. I had to throw in everything including the kitchen sink to stay in the game today. It is unfortuate that more cyclists do not have the opportuntiy to race and train on the 250 indoor track with Roger running the session. They would throw rocks at their smart trainers.
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Old 02-22-19, 07:33 AM
  #187  
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Here's a harbinger of what was to come from the Eddie B/Ed Burke OTC's development program in '85:

https://www.velonews.com/2019/02/roa...om-1985_483642
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Old 02-22-19, 08:04 AM
  #188  
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Originally Posted by Hermes
Did you know or train with Eddie? It would be great to get together some day for brisket, wine and a discussion about cycling and the people / coaches that made it happen. Tonight, I was at a training session with Roger Young at the indoor velodrome. Roger was on the 7 Eleven team with Heiden et al and an Olympian.
I'll send you a PM.

You have Roger Young as your coach?
That's like having Pat Metheny as your guitar teacher.


-Bandera
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Old 02-22-19, 08:26 AM
  #189  
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Originally Posted by Hermes
It is unfortuate that more cyclists do not have the opportuntiy to race and train on the 250 indoor track with Roger running the session. They would throw rocks at their smart trainers.
Dude that's awesome. Only track I've ever had access to was the Dick Lane Velodrome in Georgia. Was sad to lose that when I moved away from Atlanta. Can't imagine how awesome it would be to have access to and indoor track!
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Old 02-23-19, 02:41 PM
  #190  
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Log

FINALLY able to squeeze in a two-hour endurance session!

Cardiac drift was below 5% despite and increase in power.

Cadence was hard to keep up toward the end which is exactly what I would expect for a challenging workout but should really have onset more rapidly, i.e. at 80% duration mark so power needs to increase again.

Both RPE and HR were in line with prior 120 minute workouts despite increased power so those are additional improvement indicators.

Thus power needs to go up for two reasons. Increased FITNESS plus improved ENDURANCE. If I hadn't already reached target duration, it would have made sense to increase both power and duration although, even then I'd need to begin substituting intensity for duration as I've run up against by max available workout time.

Additionally, instead of beginning higher intensity work a la being "done" with endurance development ==> maintenance, I'm going to continue on with prioritizing volume as I'm clearly responding well to it and, lastly, I have plenty of time for higher intensity given where I am in the season.

Oops, one more thing is that I'm really looking to see if I can get away with increased workout frequency as I'd love to get a big jump in volume. That would really be exciting!

Lastly, I'd like to capture some Wahoo Fitness App tips at the risk of helping any who are using that app and some of these tips might apply to any manual ERG software:
.
  • While I've always used a responsive warm-up approach, it's becoming very well-defined, effective and consistent.
    • I begin with a combination of lower cadence and a power then generates a comfortable torque; I don't care what the power is
    • As cadence naturally falls, I increase both cadence and power and follow this pattern until about half way into my warm-up (incidentally, the amount of time I spend warming up is somewhat inversely related to target workout power)
    • At the warm-up halfway point I increase power and cadence to a new ceiling, again based on session target power, i.e. higher power = higher cadence
    • The following the same process of cadence drops ==> increase cadence and power to maintain "RPE torque"
    • Today this process really saved me as my right knee was a bit uncomfortable and quite uncomfortable for the entire previous workout; after this warm-up I felt absolutely no discomfort during the entire workout, so much so that I really needed to pay attention to keep my cadence up
  • I don't want to see my HR during warmup or during work intervals, thus I use the screen where you adjust power which doesn't have HR
  • I also don't want to see total workout duration, at least until I start to suffer pretty badly
  • By tapping the metrics displayed on the screen where you adjust power, I can set it so that I only see lap duration
  • However, when I do the above I can no longer see current power, I see average lap power instead
  • But I want to see actual current power because I don't want to start my interval lap timer until I'm at full power
  • So I swipe to a different view which has current power but only lap time but does have HR but HR is a small number in the lower left and i don't even see it because i'm concentrating on current power which is a big number and toward the top
  • Even if I saw HR at the end of a rest interval, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's the work interval HR I really don't want to psych me out
  • The lap button works for every view so as soon as i hit power i can hit the lap button and then swipe back to the power control screen which has lap time and no HR
  • For today's workout I took a 30 microbreak every 5 minutes for comfort reasons and watched Netflix which was great until I got to the point where I started to suffer and have to concentrate on maintaining cadence

Originally Posted by fstrnu
Wasn't able to perform yesterday's 6 x 10 workout because of life happening but able to bang it out today. I was genuinely terrified of this workout because it was so hard last week.

All metrics were identical this week with the exception of an average heart rate of 136 vs 153! RPE also significantly lower.

Alcohol may be the explanation because I know I drank at least twice last week during the week...and paid for it evidently.

Additionally, the previous workout was the first time at the increased power. Apparently, I'm coping with the increased power quite well

Edit - I forgot to mention the possible impact of an additional recovery as well as much lower load over the weekend for the reasons I explain in the below quote.
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Old 03-06-19, 12:52 PM
  #191  
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Old 03-06-19, 04:45 PM
  #192  
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Dear diary,

Today I tried to make my irrelevant, frivolous training idea even more convoluted and confusing.

Success!
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Old 03-07-19, 08:04 AM
  #193  
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Log

Last Wednesday, expected chaos on the home front had me ducking into the gym at work for a 90 minute session on the Keiser bike which went better than expected and I was also able to successfully capture data so that will be a great for contingencies. Did not have HR info as I didn't have my strap with me and as usual Fitbit was useless. Power seemed about 20 watts higher than on Snap based on RPE. I'm tempted to get a second strap for work.

After a more-stressful-than-expected weekend at a state swim meet which also meant no weekend workouts, Monday's workout was abysmal. Planned duration was 60 minutes but quit after 20 minutes at working power. Post-analysis revealed a CD of 6% over just 20 minutes. Yesterday was back on track with a CD of 6% over 60 minutes of work.

I'm considering some forced progression to experiment with purposely driving up and dissipating fatigue/CD at different intervals, i.e. within and between microcycles and blocks. Endurance training should make this easy given microcycle uniformity delivering multiple tests. But will be tricky to get 120 minute sessions on weekdays so might substitute 6 x 10's since I can perform those on any day.

Originally Posted by fstrnu
FINALLY able to squeeze in a two-hour endurance session!

Cardiac drift was below 5% despite and increase in power.

Cadence was hard to keep up toward the end which is exactly what I would expect for a challenging workout but should really have onset more rapidly, i.e. at 80% duration mark so power needs to increase again.

Both RPE and HR were in line with prior 120 minute workouts despite increased power so those are additional improvement indicators.

Thus power needs to go up for two reasons. Increased FITNESS plus improved ENDURANCE. If I hadn't already reached target duration, it would have made sense to increase both power and duration although, even then I'd need to begin substituting intensity for duration as I've run up against by max available workout time.

Additionally, instead of beginning higher intensity work a la being "done" with endurance development ==> maintenance, I'm going to continue on with prioritizing volume as I'm clearly responding well to it and, lastly, I have plenty of time for higher intensity given where I am in the season.

Oops, one more thing is that I'm really looking to see if I can get away with increased workout frequency as I'd love to get a big jump in volume. That would really be exciting!
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Old 03-07-19, 09:08 AM
  #194  
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Originally Posted by fstrnu




The purity of the relationship between effort under controlled conditions and fixed power allows changes in performance to be more confidently attributed to actual changes in training status. This purity results from the absence of otherwise confounding variables and extends to the reliable measurement of effort as well.

Fitness is the relationship between effort and power.

Endurance is fitness over time with the primary basis of stimulus and progression being workout duration. To achieve proper stimulus, duration must result in adequate challenge to the body, which is based on the state of endurance. As an indicator of endurance development, cardiac drift can be used to optimize workout duration. The rule of thumb is to target a cardiac drift between 5-10%. Below 5% and subsequent workout duration should be increased. Above 10% and duration should be decreased. The singular focus on endurance development during the base phase allows microcycle uniformity (i.e. the same workout can be repeated) which provides for multiple repeating tests of training status. This enables highly-tuned workout frequency as well as a balance fatigue accumulation/dissipation in training approaches employing forced progression.

It's worth noting that adequate stimulus and recovery is completely agnostic to / compatible with training methodology with respect to how time is prioritized among targeted energy systems (zone distribution), forced vs responsive progression, progression based on duration vs intensity, and so on. This is because insight into training status is not something to ignore. It does mean, however, that the insight provided can absolutely affect or call for modification to the approach taken. For example, why continue to work on endurance after it is adequately developed and the body is ready for higher intensity sooner than a generic plan calls for? Conversely, trade-off analysis may be in order if substantial progress is still being made by the time base training is scheduled to end. Also, the ability to monitor training may call for elimination of arbitrary variation within, and inconsistent progression between, workouts. Removal of arbitrary variation is all upside and also better enables real-time load optimization via adding, extending and splitting intervals as needed to both ensure adequate workout stimulus and preserve workout quality. And the most obvious impact to the current training approach is adjustment of intensity, duration, frequency, ramp rate and recovery week frequency. None of these invalidate the training approach, however, as they merely adjust for these highly-personal factors to increase the effectiveness of the employed approach.

During the Build phase, intensity becomes the primary basis of stimulus and progression. To continually challenge the body, working power must increase as fitness improves. The purity of the relationship between effort (and its measurement) under controlled conditions and fixed power makes heart a reliable indicator of fitness improvement. Additionally, like cardiac drift does for endurance development, maximum sustainable intensity (MSI) self-regulates both intensity and progression.

Fatigue is ever-present, however, and changes much more quickly than fitness does and even more so than endurance. Because of this, the accumulation/dissipation of fatigue is easy to identify when rapid decreases/increases in heart rate coincide with increases/decreases in cardiac drift. This is because fatigue can cause an abnormally low heart rate (AKA suppressed heart rate or heart rate suppression) which disproportionately impacts the earlier part of a workout because heart rate will often return to normal levels later in the workout. This results in both an abnormally low average work interval heart rate and an exaggerated cardiac drift. Conversely, heart rate will increase along with a decrease in cardiac drift as fatigue dissipates. This phenomenon is 100% reproducible by simply performing a difficult workout three days in a row which will produce increasing cardiac drift, followed by a return of each to normal levels after a recovery day.

Last edited by fstrnu; 03-07-19 at 09:22 AM.
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Old 03-09-19, 07:07 AM
  #195  
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Didn't have time to go through all the posts, and not sure this is totally on-topic, but: Haven't used a HRM for quite a while, but when I did, my HR almost always "drifted" DOWNWARD as a ride progressed, even on recovery rides. Any ideas why?
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Old 03-09-19, 12:29 PM
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Originally Posted by pakossa
Didn't have time to go through all the posts, and not sure this is totally on-topic, but: Haven't used a HRM for quite a while, but when I did, my HR almost always "drifted" DOWNWARD as a ride progressed, even on recovery rides. Any ideas why?
While maintaining same power by PM? For me, that's always low blood sugar, though I only see that on long, strenuous rides.
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Old 03-09-19, 12:57 PM
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Easy method, get a cold that you can't shake, but don't stop riding. HR just won't elevate. I can barely hit Z2. No cardiac drift at all, because I'm like a diesel now-- same output, regardless of effort.

So what if I can't go up hills, like... at all. I'm not inside on a trainer, so I'm ahead of the game.
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Old 03-10-19, 08:55 AM
  #198  
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Originally Posted by pakossa
Didn't have time to go through all the posts, and not sure this is totally on-topic, but: Haven't used a HRM for quite a while, but when I did, my HR almost always "drifted" DOWNWARD as a ride progressed, even on recovery rides. Any ideas why?
First guess would be nutrition or caffeine. Also, there are dozens of factors that can affect heart rate outside.
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Old 03-10-19, 10:21 AM
  #199  
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Clarity of Insight into Status Makes ERG Users Better Able to Optimize Load

The clarity of insight into status makes ERG users better able to optimize load. This is because changes in performance can be more quickly and confidently attributed to actual changes in status due to the reliable relationship between fixed power and effort under controlled conditions.

The ability to optimize training load is important because adequate stimulus and recovery are required in order to realize the adaptations that we seek. And changes in status require adjustments to training load in order to ensure this balance on an ongoing basis.

The three load programming variables we have to work with are intensity, duration and frequency.

During the base phase, ensuring proper stimulus and progression is a simple matter of adjusting duration as needed to keep cardiac drift between 5-10%.

During the build phase, the focus of proper stimulus and progression becomes intensity, which merely involves performing intervals at maximum sustainable intensity (MSI) or the maximum power which can be sustained across all intervals. A decrease in average work interval heart also indicates the need to progress intensity.

Not be forgotten, proper frequency must also be maintained in order to ensure adequate recovery while preventing reversion to the prior fitness baseline. This is where the combination of cardiac drift and heart rate comes into play. A sudden decrease in heart rate this coincides with a spike in cardiac drift is a sure sign of fatigue. Conversely, the subsequent return to normal heart rate and cardiac drift after an additional recovery day indicates fatigue dissipation. This is because fatigue can cause heart rate to become abnormally low, especially earlier on in the workout which will skew both average heart rate and cardiac drift. This phenomenon is known as heart rate suppression and greater fatigue can cause greater suppression which allows cardiac drift to reflect the magnitude and accumulation of fatigue as well.

This insight into fatigue occurs at every level from workout-to-workout (especially during Base with uniform microcycle / single energy system focus), microcycle-to-microcycle and block-to-block. And it can be used for both responsive or forced progression; making it fully compatible with existing training plans.

Last edited by fstrnu; 03-10-19 at 10:34 AM.
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Old 03-10-19, 10:27 AM
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Log

Decided to pursue maximum clarity of insight into training status via a uniform microcycle of repeating 6 x 10 workouts every third day. Today's workout resulted in a 3% CD which calls for the second power increase since Feb 13. This also reflects a healthy ability to recover using a 9-day microcycle which, as I've state previously, I'd like to challenge myself to increase to a 6-day microcycle. This will depend on the impact of the upcoming 9-day uniform microcycle at increased power on fatigue accumulation.

Originally Posted by fstrnu
Last Wednesday, expected chaos on the home front had me ducking into the gym at work for a 90 minute session on the Keiser bike which went better than expected and I was also able to successfully capture data so that will be a great for contingencies. Did not have HR info as I didn't have my strap with me and as usual Fitbit was useless. Power seemed about 20 watts higher than on Snap based on RPE. I'm tempted to get a second strap for work.

After a more-stressful-than-expected weekend at a state swim meet which also meant no weekend workouts, Monday's workout was abysmal. Planned duration was 60 minutes but quit after 20 minutes at working power. Post-analysis revealed a CD of 6% over just 20 minutes. Yesterday was back on track with a CD of 6% over 60 minutes of work.

I'm considering some forced progression to experiment with purposely driving up and dissipating fatigue/CD at different intervals, i.e. within and between microcycles and blocks. Endurance training should make this easy given microcycle uniformity delivering multiple tests. But will be tricky to get 120 minute sessions on weekdays so might substitute 6 x 10's since I can perform those on any day.

Last edited by fstrnu; 03-10-19 at 10:29 AM. Reason: typo
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