Training Status??? (IV)
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You know, you get up in the middle of the night to do the first race of your A series on the year. Drive a bunch of hours. You game it, or you don't. How the year unfolds from there is on you. A 53 year old won the overall that day, then led the overall series for nearly the entire year. Ultimately losing in October by only one point to someone 1/2 his age. It started in the rain in May, on a small mountain in Massachusetts.
Last edited by gsteinb; 10-01-20 at 04:29 AM.
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I hit a milestone today too, down 20lb since March. About 3 lb a month. 14 to go until 72 kg. That would in fact be the lightest I've been since Jr High, and almost 50lb less than my heaviest when I was doing nothing but lifting and trying to make massive gainzz in college.
Last edited by procrit; 10-01-20 at 08:57 AM.
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Sky is an orangeish beige in NorCal again so I will be on the trainer again. Sigh.
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You know, you get up in the middle of the night to do the first race of your A series on the year. Drive a bunch of hours. You game it, or you don't. How the year unfolds from there is on you. A 53 year old won the overall that day, then led the overall series for nearly the entire year. Ultimately losing in October by only one point to someone 1/2 his age. It started in the rain in May, on a small mountain in Massachusetts.
I doubt I'll ever be competitive for first though lol.
Must have been a huge bummer, but man it's awesome to see you're still flying after all these years.
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I'm intrigued by this product by nopinz, basically indoor cycling gear you can stuff ice packs into, although with winter coming my fans take care of most of my cooling needs so I'm not really limited
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/p...orkouts-471294
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/p...orkouts-471294
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I just stick a regular ice pack in my bibs or jersey. I will put them in a ziplock bag to keep them clean from my sweat, but that works fine.
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I hit a milestone today too, down 20lb since March. About 3 lb a month. 14 to go until 72 kg. That would in fact be the lightest I've been since Jr High, and almost 50lb less than my heaviest when I was doing nothing but lifting and trying to make massive gainzz in college.
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Has anyone used the trainer road or sufferfest style apps?
I have a few trials for those two, fulgaz, rouvy, etc through the kickr but there are so many options that I have analysis paralysis.
Realistically, I know that any amount of riding right now is going to make me stronger, but I'd like to get something with a real interface so I can plan things out because I enjoy that aspect of it. Bonus points if things have a plan template to just follow along with etc.
Currently I have zwift for 'riding around' and peloton for yoga. I guess I could import ergdb intervals into zwift to avoid getting another subscription, but I guess I can justify one more. Realistically most of my riding is going to be indoors, especially during the work week. The peloton bike workouts are actually decent too. I didn't realize it earlier but they have a more power/HR cycling oriented series as well.
I might end up doing the ergdb->zwift option after my trial periods are over, but I'm curious what others do.
I have a few trials for those two, fulgaz, rouvy, etc through the kickr but there are so many options that I have analysis paralysis.
Realistically, I know that any amount of riding right now is going to make me stronger, but I'd like to get something with a real interface so I can plan things out because I enjoy that aspect of it. Bonus points if things have a plan template to just follow along with etc.
Currently I have zwift for 'riding around' and peloton for yoga. I guess I could import ergdb intervals into zwift to avoid getting another subscription, but I guess I can justify one more. Realistically most of my riding is going to be indoors, especially during the work week. The peloton bike workouts are actually decent too. I didn't realize it earlier but they have a more power/HR cycling oriented series as well.
I might end up doing the ergdb->zwift option after my trial periods are over, but I'm curious what others do.
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I'm the resident TrainerRoad cult member lol I do everything with TR, I just really enjoy the plan structure they have and their extensive workout library. Their calendar and plan builder is really great and, while I can't go into detail, I have been part of testing an upcoming feature that's going to be a bit of a game changer in comparison to what other platforms offer (especially given your profession I think the feature will benefit folks like you). You can try their plan builder for free to see what it would recommend for you.
I do run zwift as well (it just receives power data, TR controls Erg) but it could easily be anything else. When soccer is on, I can throw on a premier league match and be just as happy with that as a visual aid. Personally, I get a ton of satisfaction doing TR, and maybe I could cobble together a plan for myself at this point using like ergdb, but I really like the whole TR ecosystem
I do run zwift as well (it just receives power data, TR controls Erg) but it could easily be anything else. When soccer is on, I can throw on a premier league match and be just as happy with that as a visual aid. Personally, I get a ton of satisfaction doing TR, and maybe I could cobble together a plan for myself at this point using like ergdb, but I really like the whole TR ecosystem
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Zwift is great as a visual aid. I like to do my 2x20's up Epic KOM, it's entertaining to have the resistance change with the gradient in sim mode and motivating to have other riders to pass/race (cat 6 style).
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"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
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Heading down to the track soon, coaches hours on T/F mornings for endurance (pursuit) and sprint efforts on the motor. Last week we did 2x 3 km on the motor, and 1x 4 km alternating 2/1 laps drafting/in the wind. Would have got a fourth effort in, but I need to get to work unlike the bulk of the retiree's out there. He stays on the track and the riders alternate based on his white board notes until everyone is finished or otherwise needs to leave.
My goals are to weed out some pursuit positioning and become familiar with these new Alibaba tri bars that I got. Eventually they will get translated to my TT bike. The coach (former road pro/fitter) offered to let me come to his house one of these weekends and really dial me in on my TT bike. Gonna get some electronic shifting for it and some track time on the track bike first.
My goals are to weed out some pursuit positioning and become familiar with these new Alibaba tri bars that I got. Eventually they will get translated to my TT bike. The coach (former road pro/fitter) offered to let me come to his house one of these weekends and really dial me in on my TT bike. Gonna get some electronic shifting for it and some track time on the track bike first.
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"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
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Fiesta TTT with a twist. We got to the island early since we are experiencing high temperatures so it was cool and very little wind.
My wife designed the workout. 2x(15 minutes of 5x(1’@120% then 2’ z2)) 10 minutes rest between sets and then 2 lap team time trial exchanges every 2 minutes. Fun workout. We needed the 1 minute efforts to restock our high end.
My wife designed the workout. 2x(15 minutes of 5x(1’@120% then 2’ z2)) 10 minutes rest between sets and then 2 lap team time trial exchanges every 2 minutes. Fun workout. We needed the 1 minute efforts to restock our high end.
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Which is the one with real video? Is that Rouvy?
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A friend pointed me to interval.icu today. Looks like another free wko app with less functionality and a better interface than golden cheetah. I use GC now. The integration with strava makes life so much easier re:uploading workouts.
I totally doubt that now. But given what all you've been up to, I'm sure you'll start your next race season with a much more clear mind than many.
I'm going to put things through their paces I think. I just signed up for sufferfest last night. I'll get 14 days free plus 60 days for having a wahoo trainer. I'll plan to do their power test this evening or sunday and pick a plan and try to see it through even if it requires paying a month. If I get bored or once I'm done with that, I'll check out trainerroad. I like the idea of being able to 'ride' on zwift during the intervals. Can always have TV on in the background during those times.
I think I could also do things via ergdb at this time, but I'd rather use some sort of plan because I know I'd get bored since I'd likely just do SST. I also think that some of these are going to make me do longer intervals...which is something I've been avoiding. Wachusett was the first time I've done anything resembling a hard 20 min interval.
Would be nice if they had a nice steady grade for it. Something like an infinite 3-4% grade for intervals.
I totally doubt that now. But given what all you've been up to, I'm sure you'll start your next race season with a much more clear mind than many.
I'm the resident TrainerRoad cult member lol I do everything with TR, I just really enjoy the plan structure they have and their extensive workout library. Their calendar and plan builder is really great and, while I can't go into detail, I have been part of testing an upcoming feature that's going to be a bit of a game changer in comparison to what other platforms offer (especially given your profession I think the feature will benefit folks like you). You can try their plan builder for free to see what it would recommend for you.
I do run zwift as well (it just receives power data, TR controls Erg) but it could easily be anything else. When soccer is on, I can throw on a premier league match and be just as happy with that as a visual aid. Personally, I get a ton of satisfaction doing TR, and maybe I could cobble together a plan for myself at this point using like ergdb, but I really like the whole TR ecosystem
I do run zwift as well (it just receives power data, TR controls Erg) but it could easily be anything else. When soccer is on, I can throw on a premier league match and be just as happy with that as a visual aid. Personally, I get a ton of satisfaction doing TR, and maybe I could cobble together a plan for myself at this point using like ergdb, but I really like the whole TR ecosystem
I think I could also do things via ergdb at this time, but I'd rather use some sort of plan because I know I'd get bored since I'd likely just do SST. I also think that some of these are going to make me do longer intervals...which is something I've been avoiding. Wachusett was the first time I've done anything resembling a hard 20 min interval.
Would be nice if they had a nice steady grade for it. Something like an infinite 3-4% grade for intervals.
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I have no idea how to pace right now and this is the first time I've done a real 20 min effort since I got back on the bike.
I've put maybe 1200 miles on the bike since I started 'riding' again. I'm honestly pretty pleased with the results at this point.
Let the noob gainzzzz begin!
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This is going to sound a little silly but I've been going back through the old training status thread to find my old posts when I first got an SRM about 12 years ago. At that time I was coming back from a bad injury that had me off the bike from like may through Sept. Ignoring the weight difference of like 20 lbs, my numbers aren't too dissimilar now. At that time I was super obsessed with trying to hit 4w/kg for threshold and kept confusing the role of NP in determining ftp in 20 min efforts.
I think I eventually did actually test at 4w/kg at some point during the tail end of the season. But all those rides I mentioned above were kind of funny. I'm so anaerobic that I recover pretty fast from those hard efforts relatively speaking, so it's super easy for me to pump up NP if I go hard on every hill during rollers etc. That's what happened in the beginning when I was first trying to figure things out im pretty sure.
I have no intention of coming down more than 5-10 lbs at this time so there's going to be little competition between me and 18 year old me. But hey, it's still interesting to look at progression that way.
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Jelly of your sprint! It'll win you races.
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Big bike day today, 2.5hrs on the trainer and 1hr with the 9y/o. Might be time to calibrate my Hammer, my average on that was 203w/1824kj, while my Assioma Uno reported 218w/1963kj (I could do TR power match, but I run the pedals into zwift and my garmin and the Hammer is just dedicated to TR). I think the higher number is more accurate in this case, or at least I hope it is, because it would mean my ftp is 300 lol
Next 3 weeks are going to be unstructured, racing zwift (which I never do) and maybe do some longer trainer rides on the weekend.
Next 3 weeks are going to be unstructured, racing zwift (which I never do) and maybe do some longer trainer rides on the weekend.
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Sorry for the long post but I could use a little guidance.
So I've been looking at the sufferfest plans. I'm kinda torn between the all rounder plans and their century or gran fondo plan mostly because I really think I need to be able to build up to higher distance riding again. Two of the kids did a 75 miler with like 5k feet at a 20mph pace and there's zero chance id have been able to hang on for even an hour.
But at the same time... Just about everything needs work so the all rounder plan would take me through December and then I could do something with a bit more volume or intensity based on how I'm doing then. I honestly have zero interest in riding for longer than 3-4 hrs by myself.
So I guess plan for now is the all rounder plan with the workouts condensed into the work week with some time for longer rides over the weekends.
Another related question.
I'm planning on doing these workouts in the morning before eating. Bad idea? They're all mostly pretty short (60-90 mins).
If I'm mixing it up with yoga, does it make sense to do that after the bike workout on the day with shorter rides (or recovery rides). I figure form starts to go off after riding for a bit so maybe strengthening makes sense after a bit of exertion?
Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for any and all insight! I realize racing is a question mark for the spring but I'm honestly doing this for my sanity as much as anything else.
Was only good for second back in the day lol.
Honestly looking back at my old posts has been illuminating. I was constantly fiddling with position and wasn't ever really comfortable on the bike. I was definitely fastish but I spent so much time fixated on hitting FTP targets (and constantly adjusting) and chasing NP and trying to convince myself that my ftp was xyz. Eventually I think I did get to like 270-280 for threshold but I don't think I did it the right way at all.
I'm excited to start working on this stuff again with some grey hair on my beard.
Also TKP your posts from back in the day were fantastic as well lol.
So I've been looking at the sufferfest plans. I'm kinda torn between the all rounder plans and their century or gran fondo plan mostly because I really think I need to be able to build up to higher distance riding again. Two of the kids did a 75 miler with like 5k feet at a 20mph pace and there's zero chance id have been able to hang on for even an hour.
But at the same time... Just about everything needs work so the all rounder plan would take me through December and then I could do something with a bit more volume or intensity based on how I'm doing then. I honestly have zero interest in riding for longer than 3-4 hrs by myself.
So I guess plan for now is the all rounder plan with the workouts condensed into the work week with some time for longer rides over the weekends.
Another related question.
I'm planning on doing these workouts in the morning before eating. Bad idea? They're all mostly pretty short (60-90 mins).
If I'm mixing it up with yoga, does it make sense to do that after the bike workout on the day with shorter rides (or recovery rides). I figure form starts to go off after riding for a bit so maybe strengthening makes sense after a bit of exertion?
Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for any and all insight! I realize racing is a question mark for the spring but I'm honestly doing this for my sanity as much as anything else.
Was only good for second back in the day lol.
Honestly looking back at my old posts has been illuminating. I was constantly fiddling with position and wasn't ever really comfortable on the bike. I was definitely fastish but I spent so much time fixated on hitting FTP targets (and constantly adjusting) and chasing NP and trying to convince myself that my ftp was xyz. Eventually I think I did get to like 270-280 for threshold but I don't think I did it the right way at all.
I'm excited to start working on this stuff again with some grey hair on my beard.
Also TKP your posts from back in the day were fantastic as well lol.
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Also TSS last few weeks has been
430, 270, 750, and finally 260 for this week.
I was on vacation two weeks ago hence the jump. Then had to scramble a bit this week for work since I had a 24 hr shift my first day back lol.
430, 270, 750, and finally 260 for this week.
I was on vacation two weeks ago hence the jump. Then had to scramble a bit this week for work since I had a 24 hr shift my first day back lol.
Last edited by ridethecliche; 10-04-20 at 06:43 PM.
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It's controversial for sure, but I do almost all of my riding early with just some coffee and have done fine. I eat a carb-centric diet so I'm always topped off, and I don't think anything up to 2hrs is going to leave me struggling (there are some tougher sweet spot workouts where I might have something halfway through). So, personally, it's fine to do them fasted.
out walking the earth
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I never eat before lunch, unless I'm racing and then it's just a couple of bars.
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