gsteinb

wow.

I get up to maybe 95 over the winter pre season.

I'm no where near that now though.

It works for what I'm doing though. That whole more than one approach, I guess.

dz_nuzz

I think there is a trade off. The higher my CTL goes the better I do at stage races but the worse my short term / high end power becomes. When I was doing really well at stage races (granted this was before I was duking it out with Cat 1s) I was running high CTL. It works to an extent, but it also hinders me. This coming year will be me trying to find some weird hybrid between probably a lower CTL but higher ATL right before major races.

When I realized I was getting dropped during those 1-2 minute efforts I decided to listen to my coach....hmmmm [MENTION=125938]Ygduf[/MENTION] ?

Ygduf

I'm at 115 ctl now and were I racing like I did in 2015 I would be losing ctl. That year with races both weekend days I hovered around 90-95.

I did just PR OLH this week and beat Metcalf and Stefano on Hwy 9 today, so I'm not sure it's all bad!

I have no fast-twitch fiber to lose-might as well maximize the slow.

One of us went 2-1 in less than a calendar year without rolling over any points👌.

I am non-cooperative, like my doctors say.

Wylde06

I had some of my better races (both club and usac) the higher my CTL got once I increased my volume in July/August. I need to make an effort to get the volume in, and get ctl up around 70-75, early next year before racing starts back up. I want to shoot for an upgrade next year.

mattm

I did too god dammit!

Or at least I got all my Cat 1 points in less than a calendar year, didn't use any "rollover" points at all.

Better recognize.

Ygduf

haha sorry. low blow. I'd never do that on purpose.

I get sensitive when people tell me what to do after not being me during the last 8 years of cycling in my body.

aaronmcd

My CTL averaged around 105 -115 this year. Might try and do less next year but my OCD half hates seeing that line dip below 100! Haven't ridden much the past week and a half, haven't even changed my Stages battery, so Idk where CTL is at now. And I don't need to!

Anyway, today I explored the north bay, where I'll likely end up doing all my long rides for the next year. Managed over 6000' of climbing in the 87 miles, but most of that was rolling hills, 30" to a few minutes. Did one 20' climb towards the end cuz it just feels wrong to do a long ride without at least one real hill!

And wow it was warm today. That base layer was a bad idea, but I got too lazy to stop and undress midride. Took a rare nap afterwards, been getting crap for sleep cuz our new apartment has a lot of mosquitoes. The house has a pond. There's a big fish in there but I guess it can't handle all the mosquitoes. Actually woke up at 3 am and pitched a tent on our bed a couple nights ago, now have a mosquito net.

Ygduf

I wake up with a pitched tent on my bed most nights.

Wylde06

The only way I can hope to get 6000ft of elevation gain is if my garmin freaks out and the gps drifts really bad.

Todays ride was a whole 140 feet...over 42 miles!

hack

Oof ... "fun" little ride out in the Sierra today. 75 miles, but 9,000 feet of climbing. Back was killing me and I need to resume stretching. The nice thing about the ride was the opening 9 mile 1800 foot descent and the midway ~15 mile 4,000 foot descent. Miserable otherwise.

Ygduf

which roads?

hack

French Meadows Loop so a lot of Mosquito Ridge, Corkscrew wall, and some Nat'l forest roads.

Any sustained efforts were killing the back, so I had to settle in on a reasonable power metric to still move forward, but not aggravate it more.

tetonrider

simple: you fire them!

tetonrider

all y'all talking about CTL... a few thoughts:

1) CTL is a #, which is inevitably going to lead to comparisons between individuals, but it's really not so comparable across riders, in large part because...

2) the whole model doesn't take into account specificity of workouts and how one got to where they did. all TSS is not equal.

75 TSS from zone 1/2 riding isn't the same as 75 TSS from VO2max intervals.

in my experience, these models typically inflate the importance of longer/easier rides (and their contribution to CTL) while downplaying the stress of shorter, more intense sessions. that said, other than as a spot-check i don't really rely on those metrics to guide training.

there's so much off-the-bike stuff that the PMC doesn't come close to touching...

dz_nuzz

I 100% agree with you about all TSS not being equal. That was a mistake that was made when I started with a new coach. He tried to get me to do a lot more of my TSS in VO2. We never tried that again.

gsteinb

800 TSS on 15 hours. Ack. I'm tired.

Wylde06

All I know is I was racing a lot better when I increased my volume and got my TSS up close to 80 mostly from z2/z3 riding.

gsteinb

60 minutes @ 4.0

COMPLEX 1 (4 ROUNDS)

Drop Knee Squat - 8
Run Stance Squats - 3
box jumps - 10
single leg deadlift - 8

COMPLEX 2 (4 ROUNDS)

bulgarian split squat - 8
skaters - 30
Box Jumps - 10
single leg bridge - 8

COMPLEX 3 (4 ROUNDS)

front lunge - 8
back lunge - 8
box jumps - 10
kettlebell swing - 8

60 minutes @ 4.0

3 hours total

Hermes

Great strength workout. I like the breadth and variation of exercises within each complex.

TexMac

Morning commute to work 27 miles 1.45hr zone 2
Lunch - gym (deadlifts, lunges,chinups, Ab's, pushups,bent over row, seated rows,single leg ham pulls, hip abductors,shoulder press)
Evening commute back home zone 2

aaronmcd

Yesterday:

Afternoon: Easy ride for a couple hours. ~30 TSS

Night: Punk rock show at the venue by our new place. ~120 TSS

furiousferret

I'm over the hump but still 2-3 weeks away from real volume, CTL @26. I'm hoping to have it up to 70ish in January but we'll see. I can only do what my body allows me right now. Down 5 lbs as well.

Rocky was also at 26 TSS when Adrien told him to win, so there's still hope.

rankin116

I can't tell if I'm on the verge of a cold or dealing with some allergy/rhinitis issues. It's hard to tell the difference sometimes. I did a hard day of racing Sunday, essentially in a swamp, and had some asthma issues after the races. Common for me this time of year and I'm working with a doc to try and figure that out. Yesterday I felt like I was getting a cold, started up with Flonase and Flovent last night and today I feel slightly better, but definitely not 100%.

Figure I'll take today off as well and see how I feel tomorrow. Supposed to race Saturday and Sunday, the start of the the big local cross series, so I want to be optimal for those. I hate this waiting game though, always questioning the choice to ride or not.

TheKillerPenguin

Still a bit sick as well but I think I may spin easy for a bit cuz I'm antsy and it's pretty out.

TexMac

29 miles/2 hrs morning commute on zone 2.. wet and the temps have dipped to 50's and can tell it's harder pedaling in this temp compared to evening 80 deg
evening prob 25 miles home then wed off, commute again Thurs, Friday off and sat long club ride. Hoping these zone 2 commutes will help get my ftp closer to 290 ish when i start intervals in Jan. My ftp in April-July ish was 265