rednose

Hello fellow cyclists!
Not sure where to post being 53 and willing to start training. Hope here is right :-)

Background: Having knees issues (loose ligaments) and a bit of fat (1.83cm for 83kg) and considering the season (winter and living in Germany) I decided for indoor training. Aim: chop off 4 or 5 kilos and improve my cardio-aerobic.

Current set up: my bike on dumb trainer, polar oh1+ for HRM and sigma r2 duo cadence/speed sensor.
At the moment I found that wahoo fitness app on my android smartphone read all the sensors.

From what I read/found so far I get there are app to track your training like strava and app for getting the data from the sensors. What I'm looking for is a FREE android app/approach that based on an initial test (FTP? 4DP from thesufferfest?) plans for you a training and monitor your doing. A sort of virtual coach.

I see trainerroad or thesufferfest could be an option - not cheap - but I do not see the point to pay for accessing hundreds of training plans when likely I just need one for the next 3/6/12 months.

At the moment I ended up monitor my RPM/HRM with wahoo while watching youtube video of trainings, but I do not find this satisfactory.

Anybody else with similar needs? As alternative are there any "standard" training plans for a newbie like me?
Many Thanks for any suggestion!

r

jpescatore

If you just want training plans, for $18 you can buy the book "The Time Crunched Cyclist" - even less if you buy it used.

Training Peaks also has a free app, and for $10 you can buy the Time Crunched Cyclist 11 week training plan on Training Peaks - look here.

Personally, 3 years ago I bought a $450 dollar Wahoo Kickr SNAP smart trainer and pay $15/month for Zwift - I got so bored on a dumb trainer + TV that I never used it. Now, over the winter I'm getting in 1,500 - 2,000 miles of workouts and just plain fun riding in the basement when the weather doesn't support pleasurable outdoor biking. I put the
Time Crunched Cyclist workout plan into Zwift custom workouts.

jadocs

I noticed you did not list having a power meter. How are you doing an FTP test?

rednose

Hi!
FTP: actually do not know yet. I read somewhere (may be thesufferfest?) that if you have a cadence/speed sensor one can figure out a virtual power meter.... but I have to check that again ....

jpescatore : many thanks, I'll have a look!!!
@all: Other suggestions/opinions are welcome!

r

Carbonfiberboy 

More mundane stuff:
Temperature of your training room? I find 55° to be ideal.
Box fans? 2 X 24" probably for you.
Sweat bra for your bike or towels definitely recommended. Don't sweat on your bike.

Since you don't have power, no FTP, instead you'll want to find your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR). They happen at about the same effort, but LTHR is trickier, since it takes the heart rate a while to come up after the start of the effort. Therefore a very good warmup is necessary. When I do that, I use an all-out 8' effort and use the average HR for LTHR. You should be about to barf at the end. My warmup takes about 1/2 hour and involves 2 all-out 90 second efforts.

Training Peaks Premium is definitely a good idea. That app monitors your progress using its Dashboard (Premium only) to show progress, training readiness levels, etc. It does not, however, give advice. For that, the Training Bible might work, but for indoor work, the Time-Crunched book is probably better. Training Peaks has plans that goes with that book.

Losing weight is much more about calorie intake than exercise. Exercise helps, but not if you eat back what you lose. Exercise has its own goals.

AdkMtnMonster

Here’s a mention of the FREE Global Cycling Network training videos. They’ll wear you out, burn calories, build muscle, increase your FTP and torque, make you better looking, more friends... ok, definitely the first 4 things. And the only cost to you is your full effort. Anything less and you’re only cheating yourself.

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com...train-with-gcn

bruce19

I just watch a variety of GCN vids while I'm on my rollers. I'm not very tech sophisticated.

Carbonfiberboy 

Some trainers have a published speed vs. power curve. That's what you've probably seen mention of. Check the web, see if your trainer does. Such like are not terribly accurate because they don't take into account the variable losses between your feet and the resistance unit on the trainer. Which doesn't much matter, really. You just want to see improvement and have a number to plug into various formulas.

superdex

A few apps have a free version, then a free trial, but if you want the plans, that's the sauce they want money for. Pay for sufferfest or trainerroad for a month or two, write down the workouts, and then stop paying. That would be one way. You can probably do some good searching to find sample plans on the Web too.

What you lose, though, is management via the app. Zwift, for example, will automatically adjust the power targets of the workouts based on your ftp (requires some sort of power measurement though).

dropping 3-4Kg is more about consistency on the trainer vs. any specific plan. If you throw in a couple fasted rides each week, you'll drop the kilos quickly. (but if having a plan works for you, by all means)

one more thought: while "serious" training plans will all revolve around power, you can achieve your goals without it. If your trainer is relatively new, you may find the apps know its power curve, which will be good enough for your goals...

Good luck, and report progress!

rednose

.... uhmmm some doubts. I just finished trying to calculate my LTHR according "bicycling dot co dot za" "calculate-lactate-threshold"

being 53 years old my LTHR should be (they say) somewhere between 133-150bpm. I'm not "dead" at the end of the exercise I could have continued in terms of muscles and breath, but my average bpm was 159 ... so even I follow their protocol my LTHR is in 154-157bpm ... It sound strange to me. It is more then 10 years I do no sport at all and to me it sounds my heart goes to limit before my legs muscles ...

I did not follow the GCN protocol for the LTHR, because they say to run 30min flat-out and one week ago in a session I reached 187bpm. I'd be worried to push my heart to 170-180bpm for 20min ...

I ask myself (well here too ;-) : is there a formula correlation between LTHR and FTP? I.e knowing LTHR could I calculate the FTP?

Cheers all and happy cycling!

Carbonfiberboy 

HR is individual. There is no formula, no method other than to exercise and see what happens. The more out of shape you are, the higher will your HR be for a given level of self-perceived effort. You don't have to worry about hurting your heart by going hard. It'll do whatever you ask - that is if you have a doctor's permission to exercise in the first place. Your guess at LTHR seems very reasonable for a 53 y.o. male. At your age, my MHR was somewhere around 178 and my LTHR about 160. You're still young, don't worry about it.

Use this test protocol: https://trainright.com/cts-field-tes...-calculations/.

You should have been able to tell that the .za thing was nonsense by the wide range of possible answers. You want one number, one single number, not a range.

jadocs

No, and even if there were, it would not be accurate.

I'm about the same age as you. my LTHR is 158 - measured on the bike. My max measured on the bike is 172.

burnthesheep

IMO for someone beginning I'd totally guide them the GCN show workout direction for a few months before going to non-Zwift based training systems. If you don't like watching a youtube GCN show workout video........you'll really hate staring at a chart on a screen.

You can Zwift with a dumb trainer and no power. But you can't really race. And Zwift has training plans in the library.

Going to have to balance your cost (your comment on the programs not being cheap) with your desire for visual entertainment (already not liking youtube videos).

Best bang for the buck ticking all the marks is a bluetooth speed sensor, dumb trainer, and a Zwift subscription.



To address this:

LTHR is measured by ear prick test. LTHR is approximated by a power test on the bike. FTP by power test is an approximation of your LTHR. It's tough to approximate you RPE and HR to those values without the real tests. Possible, but it's tough.

jadocs

I meant to say my 60 minute threshold heart rate.