chicagogal

Wow, a climb of 3mi at 6% would take me almost 20min. No way I can sustain zone 5 for more than 5-6min. How long does climb this take you? In other words, how long can you sustain power zone 5?

jadocs

Zone 5 is right above threshold power on the 7 zone power. I'm assuming he has an Wahoo Elemnt, because I also use the 7 zone option.

rubiksoval

You said a 75 mile race, but okay. It was a ride.

Regardless, races/rides typically start out fast. That's what makes group rides and races what they are, the surges. You stay with the surges and wait for the calmer bits. Siting up just because you were scared of a number potentially robbed you of a much faster ride with possibly similar efforts.

rubiksoval

Yep. Biggest "aha" moment for was how much time I wasted on solo training rides. I'd do a 3 hour training ride and coast/soft pedal for 45-60 minutes of it. Madness.

rubiksoval

Zone 5 as in ~105%+ of FTP? That should be sustainable for well over 10 minutes, if not approaching 20.

colnago62

chicagogal

I think of zone 5 as 106-120% of FTP (that is how training peaks has it set), and while I can hold the low end of zone 5 for over 10min, I would struggle do even that for 20min. I can only hold the middle of zone 5 for 5ish minutes.

Carbonfiberboy 

Wow! I'm impressed. That's a 1647' climb, so in under 20' you'd be climbing over 5000''/hour. Most of the club riders I ride with climb at about 1/2 that rate.

chicagogal

ok, thanks. This makes a lot more sense. I use 6 training zones, with zone 5 as solidly Vo2...

chicagogal

I did a 3mile climb today at an average grade of 5.5%. It took 17min. That is pretty standard for me. I've climbed it faster and slower. Fastest time was 15min, slow times at around 20min.

cthenn

Where are you getting 1647'? 3miles at 6% is only 950'. At 20 minutes, that's a 870 VAM, more or less, which is not super fast (no offense!).

chicagogal

Yeah, you are absolutely right. My 3mi 6% climb today came in at just under 1000' (according to GPS). Average pace for me is 9-10mph on a good day. Not bad, but I'm just an average cat3 lady :-)

cthenn

I was just trying to understand the 1647' number. The funny thing is two different posters mentioned (about) a 3 mile/6% climb, so I don't think I was disparaging your effort! Women who can do a 20+ minute effort at over 1000 VAM is rather impressive.

chicagogal

Haha. no, I don't feel that you were being disparaging!

rubiksoval

Yeah, zone 5 is 105-120%. That's right over threshold.

It's going to vary pretty significantly, but 15 minutes at 105% shouldn't be out of this world for the more aerobically trained and predisposed.

VO2 isn't necessarily 120%, either. That also varies. Mine is closer to 130% in peak shape.

105% is most certainly not sweetspot, however, as alluded to above. Doing 2x20 at 105% would normally suggests FTP is low. And sweetspot is traditionally 88-95% FTP in any case.

cthenn

Yeah, I was going to say, SS is not above TH, it's just below TH. The main problem is people using an incorrect FTP. If your FTP is really higher or lower than you think it is, all these zones are incorrect. You may think you're doing a Z5 effort for 20 minutes or whatever, when really if your FTP is higher, then it's not Z5. You really have to do fairly regular FTP tests to get a truer sense of the actual number.

Sojodave

Agreed; however; there was 4000' of climbing in that "ride" that I wanted to save my legs for.

Carbonfiberboy 

[QUOTE=cthenn;20890611]I'm sorry, I messed up the calculation. 950' is correct for the 3 miles, 868 VAM. A very good effort.

On 8' Z5 repeats, I get ~950, but 8' is my absolute limit for that. On all-day climbing rides, I get about 600.

My apologies for causing a tiny ruckus. I was just so amazed that we had a La Course contender on here! No slight intended.

colnago62

I am sure you are right. I only do a test every couple months or so.

WhyFi

This makes me wonder: how much does your FTP move around?

and

How much of a masochist are you? FTP tests are teh suck.

colnago62

It changes a fair amount between January and March, and then June. I will take another before September to see how much I will lose by January 😂 I do the two 8 minute version. They aren’t as taxing mentally. Swift has a new ladder type test I want to try.