Training Status??? (IV)
Nonsense
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Same boat. Power records galore in November, great start to base, derailed by sickness. A little better every day, but man am I frustrated.
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2hrs with 3x30 @90%, that was tough, mentally, even with erg mode, 76 ctl
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I transitioned to VO2max work this week and have hit a brick wall. I really hate these change over weeks because it usually takes my body a week of workouts to get in the groove of a new energy system when I haven't been using it. I end up feeling like my whole season is going down the tubes for a week because I suck. But then the next week is usually ok. Just need to stick it out.
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mainly a saddle issue lol I have a fizik arione and I can never get 100% comfortable with it (although nothing else I've tried so far has really been any better), so the last intervals usually require a lot more getting out of the saddle. my HR is pretty steady throughout, stays under 160 mainly, even last night doing 94% for 20mins (avg 159, and I think threshold HR is 165).
Cat 2
HAAARD vo2max workout today. 3 Sets of 7x70Seconds at 120%. 10 second run in to the hard bit. Then 40 seconds between intervals. I had to full stop pedalling between the last couple and could barely hold power at the end. But I got through it and skipped the last half hour of 30 minutes of aerobic riding.
Toughest workout I've done. Probably ever. Different than something like 90 minutes of sweetspot, but I was right on the verge of vomit a few times.
Toughest workout I've done. Probably ever. Different than something like 90 minutes of sweetspot, but I was right on the verge of vomit a few times.
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I think ERG mode makes long intervals much harder. The ERG resistance is relentless, you can't let up for a few seconds like you can outdoors on a "dumb" trainer. I always have a hard time keeping my cadence up for long ERG intervals, and once you cadence starts dropping it just gets that much harder.
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I'm not on a Kickr, but I've heard lots of complaints about ERG mode from teammates. It's exactly what JSK describes too. If your cadence drops for even a moment, the resistance increases, and it becomes difficult (impossible in some cases) to get the cadence back up.
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I'm not on a Kickr, but I've heard lots of complaints about ERG mode from teammates. It's exactly what JSK describes too. If your cadence drops for even a moment, the resistance increases, and it becomes difficult (impossible in some cases) to get the cadence back up.
I love the focus though, it makes me drive through those 110%'ers for the complete interval.
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I have the cycleops hammer and I think erg mode works wonderfully on it, in fact I use it almost exclusively (zwift is just receives power while I let trainerroad do the erg). I tend to be in the low to mid 90's but I can drop into the mid 80s without feeling it become too hard.
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@mattm is going to disown me, but I've started using the trainer at night, even a few Zwift sessions (which are funner than Trainerroad but less structured). They do fill a gap of sustained (over 30 minutes) which is hard to find in the winter on weekdays. In the summer I can just do Oak Glen and Onyx, but those are iced up now.
I've had a few close calls at night (hit a bottle on a decent, almost went off a cliff) and its just not as effective. There's an effect riding in pitch black where the car lights open up your retinas and afterward you can't see where the road ends. Or maybe I'm just getting old and need glasses.
I could ride in lighted areas but those typically include stop signs and stoplights. Our training crit courses are fine but I have to drive to those.
I've had a few close calls at night (hit a bottle on a decent, almost went off a cliff) and its just not as effective. There's an effect riding in pitch black where the car lights open up your retinas and afterward you can't see where the road ends. Or maybe I'm just getting old and need glasses.
I could ride in lighted areas but those typically include stop signs and stoplights. Our training crit courses are fine but I have to drive to those.
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90mins z2 today, just 2 more hard rides this weekend before easy week.
**** that
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@mattm is going to disown me, but I've started using the trainer at night, even a few Zwift sessions (which are funner than Trainerroad but less structured). They do fill a gap of sustained (over 30 minutes) which is hard to find in the winter on weekdays. In the summer I can just do Oak Glen and Onyx, but those are iced up now.
I've had a few close calls at night (hit a bottle on a decent, almost went off a cliff) and its just not as effective. There's an effect riding in pitch black where the car lights open up your retinas and afterward you can't see where the road ends. Or maybe I'm just getting old and need glasses.
I could ride in lighted areas but those typically include stop signs and stoplights. Our training crit courses are fine but I have to drive to those.
I've had a few close calls at night (hit a bottle on a decent, almost went off a cliff) and its just not as effective. There's an effect riding in pitch black where the car lights open up your retinas and afterward you can't see where the road ends. Or maybe I'm just getting old and need glasses.
I could ride in lighted areas but those typically include stop signs and stoplights. Our training crit courses are fine but I have to drive to those.
I still do it sometimes tho, but not because I want to.
Cat 2
Erg mode takes getting used. My first smart trianer (kicker SNAP) had a lot of issues with holding power and adjusting quickly. My new one (Kickr 2016) is real nice. Very rarely have issues unless I can't hold the power. Doing sweetspot or less workouts is awesome on Erg as I can zone out and just watch TV while I suffer. I've found doing vo2 stuff recently (used to only do it outside) I can't focus on TV or it makes the intervals too hard. So I turn on a race (bike or f1) with music and just sweat it out.
On that note.. Brought my car in for an oil change today with plans to go for a 1 hour chill ride on the tt bike while it was happening. Got 3 miles down the road and the tubeless I thought I had figured out blew off. On my disc.. So no fixing that. Started walking and hitch hiked a ride back to pick up my car. Went home and sat on the trainer for an hour to do my easy ride instead.
**** it, I'm putting a tube in the disc. Tubeless is too much work anyways..
On that note.. Brought my car in for an oil change today with plans to go for a 1 hour chill ride on the tt bike while it was happening. Got 3 miles down the road and the tubeless I thought I had figured out blew off. On my disc.. So no fixing that. Started walking and hitch hiked a ride back to pick up my car. Went home and sat on the trainer for an hour to do my easy ride instead.
**** it, I'm putting a tube in the disc. Tubeless is too much work anyways..
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My cadence is naturally low but I have pushed it up to the be in the low 90's most days. I have ruined more than one interval by getting behind on the cadence in erg mode. I couldn't imagine training now without it though.
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2x(3x5'x2') @108%
Trying to get a threshold workout on the 5 minute hill close to home. 66 minutes total, 87 TSS
Trying to get a threshold workout on the 5 minute hill close to home. 66 minutes total, 87 TSS
Cat 2
TT Bike ride. Full race sim. Aero helmet, skinsuit, disc wheel. All I'm missing is shoe covers and a front wheel. Happy with the effort I put out, but have some position work to do, it seems. Based on Best Bike Split's analyzer my CdA is pretty high for being a small guy. Probably not going to change anything too drastically before VoS, but after that I'll get to it.
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There was a race at 4 miles away at 8am I was hoping to make but we had an upgrade at work that didn't go smooth and didn't finish til 8:05. Probably for the best because I only had about 3 hours of sleep (family visiting) and felt like trash. Ended up noodling around later in the afternoon.
My mother in law is down to hours now so I'm not really planning for anything. Luckily they understand its therapeutic for me to ride.
Way to go! I've always found the higher the ctl the faster you are. I hope that's the case for you.
My mother in law is down to hours now so I'm not really planning for anything. Luckily they understand its therapeutic for me to ride.
Way to go! I've always found the higher the ctl the faster you are. I hope that's the case for you.
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Racing tomorrow so I went out with no real plan other than I wanted to keep it around 3 hours, get a few solid near threshold efforts, and not go into the anaerobic zone.
Ended up having a lot of fun weaving all over the southern part of the city, hitting a handful of the hills. Ended up with 42 miles and almost 6000 feet in 3.5 hours, 210 TSS
Ended up having a lot of fun weaving all over the southern part of the city, hitting a handful of the hills. Ended up with 42 miles and almost 6000 feet in 3.5 hours, 210 TSS
Cat 2
Got up and rode to a buddy's (pro cx racer) place to watch world this morning (boring race..)and then met up with another ex-pro and we cruised for about 4 hours in the hills. Been warm here in Utah. Not much snow, but still too much on one of the backroad climbs I like that takes us up to the ski resort. Something like 260 TSS in 4.5 hours of riding. Longest ride of the year and my best 20 minute power of the year getting up the North Ogden Divide.
One more week of hard stuff before a rest week and VoS.
One more week of hard stuff before a rest week and VoS.
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2hrs 4x18 sweet spot to close out the hard part of trainerroad’s sweet spot base 2 program, just have to do the easy z2 week. I never took an ftp test to start it, just went with 270, where I think it is. Managed to do all the workouts with not too much difficulty, so hoping to be at 275 for the build program, which I’m dreading already as a chronic avoider of anything over 100%
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Raced twice Saturday. Easy recovery ride this morning.
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Raced today, then tacked on an hour @90% rather than paying to get dropped in the P12 along with the other 2s doubling up.
FTP is coming along it seems, but I need the intensity for racing. Hoping a couple intervals workouts plus a couple races will be enough intensity to do well at the new Off The Front stage race next weekend (really only care about the road race).
FTP is coming along it seems, but I need the intensity for racing. Hoping a couple intervals workouts plus a couple races will be enough intensity to do well at the new Off The Front stage race next weekend (really only care about the road race).
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5x5' @ 105-110% with 1' rbi. That felt hard but not too hard. I think I may need to test again soon.