caloso

For sure.

burnthesheep

I wish I knew if my meter was accurate for sprints. I thought I had heard that left only meters are notoriously bad. I'd love to think the peak and 5 second numbers are real.

rubiksoval

Ha. Don't let Coggan hear you describe FTP like that. TSS is based off of NP, which is an altogether different thing, but sure, Occam's Razor and all. It could be a bit low, but sFTP is still higher than mFTP at the moment. I did a few max efforts over the last two weeks to round out the PD curve, but that can change pretty quickly I guess.

Anyway, I don't train by TSS or TSB or any of that stuff. I mention in because that's a concept most are familiar with, and after three months of training, this was my biggest ride of the year so far and one I was happy to get through. It was essentially 3 hours of as many 20-60 sec hard (470+ watt) efforts I could do (an NP buster). I was shooting for 20+ minutes of accumulated z6/supra-threshold work with an additional accumulated 15 minutes of z7/FRC work. Just managed to get that.

But I also bust NP pretty easily. Like to the tune of 40+ watts over FTP in an hour in the past. I've also done 350 TSS in less than 4 hours at nationals (after doing 300+ in the first 3 hours and 15 minutes trying to hide in the pack and then getting dropped), so this isn't altogether uncharted territory though those numbers were a bit higher then.

Yesterday I felt half-decent. Today I crouched down and couldn't get back up without grabbing a desk. Mission accomplished I guess.

rubiksoval

Ha. It feels pretty awful.

Of course, 50 TSS in 35 minutes felt like death a while back, too, to the point of pulling off to the side of the road for a minute...

Will hopefully get some good numbers this weekend to check for any needed adjustments.

Ygduf

that's a lot of words for what the kids need to know: TSS is a little like HR in that it's kind of useless to compare across riders. In theory it should be the same, but as different people have different strengths/weaknesses, and the more divergent those strengths/weaknesses are, the less comparable it becomes.

burnthesheep

Hermes

Which PM do you have? The only PM that is accurate at the track for steady state and transient response is the SRM Scientific. My point about data being suspect is that when I ramp up cadence at the track, the accelerometers on the Garmin Vector 2 seem to lag and overshoot. In a sprint where I am accelerating to the line around 125 rpm, it strikes me that the calculation of power adding the two pedals together and determining rpm might be off.

Here is one of the sprints from Sunday. Note that Garmin Vector has other L/R metrics calculated in the box over the 33 seconds. Speed is wrong but cadence is more indicative of speed and ramps to 125 at the end.

TMonk

2x20's this morning on Fiesta, felt fantastic.

1st: 292 w, a calculated 99%. Felt a bit blocked up. Took off the leg warmers and got an extended RI before number 2: 307 w. Not even close to a maximal effort and I felt really good. I might have to actually test soon instead of just bumping it up 5 w in Cycling Analytics which is what I did for this block.

TheKillerPenguin

Just curious, what causes mFTP to be lower than sFTP? Is it basically lack of data?

burnthesheep

Just a cheapo used left-only Stages, 2nd gen.

I don't pay for TP or anything, so can't zoom in to know how accurate it is. The best one's I've ever done were like a 1200w peak and 900w for 5sec. It's had lower peaks and done right at 990w to 1000w for 5sec before also. I think once or twice I've done 700's/800's for about 15 seconds before, overcooked the start of a 1 minute hill KOM try.

Usually 95 to 110 rpm for those 5 second peaks getting on top of a gear around the last corner on the group ride.

Hermes

If you look at my right left data, you will see it is pretty close. Assuming it is accurate, my sub threshold L/R data is more varied with my right leg being more dominate.

I would assume your data is okay but transient data may be suspect. My peak is 1200 watts that occurs when I do a 500 meter time trial from a standing start which I think is low due to the PM not capturing the first pedal stroke accurately. And I have higher 5 second power than Sunday but at lower cadence. For example, in a 500 meters, I am still standing at max effort 10 seconds into the race.

Also, you can load your data into Golden Cheetah that is a free software. FWIW, none of the software solutions will determine if your PM is calibrated. Calibration has to be done with a known weight hung on the pedal and calibration software from the factory. I do not know if Stages can be calibrated.

furiousferret

Went out to do some intervals; whenever I went over 500w my chain would pop and slip forward. Rode to the bike shop, they have no idea what's causing it; thought it may be the frame. I have to get it figured out before I do any racing or real training because its an accident waiting to happen. Pretty sure its something to do with the wheel, the hub slipping. Its tuned perfectly and it doesn't happen on the smart trainer.

rubiksoval

That's a bummer. I have that on my 520 and actually started using that mid ride Sat. I'd started off with 5x30s on, 60s off and that plus a few 60 sec efforts made me think I had about 8 minutes of Z7 stuff already. I found a screen I'd set with a few zones and changed it to show Z7 and it was only 4:30 minutes so far. So after that I just kept it on that screen to ensure I was actually pushing hard enough to make the clock move. Helped a lot.

Ttoc6

Team group zwift ride last night. Hour in v2 with 10ish minutes at "race pace". If the weather holds, the outdoor ride starts up next week!

rubiksoval

I always set sFTP it where I think it's most accurate. I usually shoot for what I'm confident I could do for about 45 minutes based on current workouts. I set sFTP about 10 watts higher than mFTP a few weeks ago, and mFTP has shuffled around between 5-15 watts over that time and is now about 3 watts under. I'm going to up sFTP another 10 watts before the weekend's mountain ride and then try to do enough longer, harder efforts to get mFTP to match up.

So yes, just holes I guess, but also the types of holes and what you're focusing on at the moment. For example, I set new 1 and 2 minute 90 day PRs a week and a half ago and mFTP went up 8 watts and was closer to sFTP. But then I did a big 20 sec effort later last week and it dropped back down 10 watts while FRC went up 3 kJ. Kind of a revolving door, which I guess is why sFTP is an available option in the first place, especially as you're getting back in shape. Unless you're constantly testing 5-10 durations every week, there may be some lag until you're at a high level of fitness.

All of these halfway arbitrary numbers are basically an excuse to sit in front of my computer and stare at graphs for an extra 10 minutes after a big ride. It's not telling me anything new, but it's like trying to get enough stickers to get a prize out of the toy box. At the end of the day, I'll either be able to hang in the race or I'll get shelled. That's all that really matters. Funnily enough, for getting to the end and trying to finish well in the bigger crits, mFTP is one of the least important metrics to focus on (AP and NP for Sunny King or Gateway, for example, are typically only in the 220-230/260-290 range). For local crits it's much more useful, though, since those almost inevitably end in breaks.

TheKillerPenguin

Ah yeah, that makes sense! I wasn't sure if WKO4 was autocalculating your sFTP as well; my experience with WKO4 is second hand through my coach and screenshots of various charts he sends over from time to time. I tend to do the same thing after coming back from time off, but in golden cheetah instead.

Hermes

Another VSC track structured session last night. TSS 101 but this time 150 laps including warmup, with 100 laps of efforts focused on endurance at race pace versus sprinting. And I did this workout in the aerobars and Sundays workout in the 3T 35cm Scatto sprint bars.

aaronmcd

You checked and/or replaced the cogs and chainrings first I presume?

caloso

Just signed up for Bariani. Going into this without any fitness is a bold choice on my part, I must say.

furiousferret

They look fine on a cursory check but I'm at least swapping out the cassette. Its up there in the miles and time to change anyway.

Ttoc6

Short tabata set. Power was not as bad as I thought it would be. Hard effort and I faded over the course of the 8 on intervals. Still set some year best numbers.. long ways to go to get to race fitness.

I've decided I'm skipping the opening crits of the year. Sketchy courses I've raced before and have heard horror stories about. Sure, I want upgrade points, but I also dont really want to race early seasons crits against zwift-aholics.. I include myself in that group

Hermes

Gym day with upper body and glute work.

aaronmcd

Without fitness or sleep. Don't forget daylight savings.

topflightpro

I've got the 37s. I debated whether to go down to 35, but I was coming off Alpina 33s, and really didn't like how narrow they were. Now that I'm really comfortable on the 37s, I wonder if I should go to the 35s.

Probably doesn't matter that much.

Hermes

When I got my 3Ts, the buzz from the gang I run with was .1 sec in the flying 200 m over whatever they were using before. The number is suspect but I like the bars. However, they are not that great for standing starts. For me wider is better.