mattm

531 TSS so far this week, diggin a hole!

TheKillerPenguin

If you dig it to China you can probably get a Dengfu out of it!

mattm

Lol - I had to google that - was hoping it was some tasty thing, but instead it was a bike...

v disappoint

wktmeow

FTP test today - pretty much dead even with last test, except it was on a flat course this time and I'm 5 lbs lighter now and haven't been doing any direct threshold work, so I'll take it as an improvement. Still 15w away from the mythical 5w/kg (for 20 mins, not the 95% ftp calculation, not sure if I'll ever get there in terms of FTP...). I was also worried that the last one was a miscalibration or fluke otherwise, because my time up the climb I did it on was not very good for the power, and the calibration number on my garmin looked weird compared to what I'm used to seeing, so good to know that I can actually repeat that number at least.

Anyway, it hurt. Sputtered a lot the last 6 mins or so, stopped pedaling completely through a couple of the corners for a few seconds at a time.

cb3

Well, looked at the texas racing schedule and there is nada for the next 2 months that isn't a considerable drive out of town (save a race in Louisiana but not going to that).. Going to do the bike portion of a 70.3 Ironman on Sunday in some serious heat. Been riding the TT bike which has been a nice change of pace after Tulsa Tough. After a week i'm already ready to get back to mainly riding the road bike.

Tuesday night crit - 4th in a smaller than normal B race. Did alot of pulling including the last couple of laps. new i was screwed pulling back the break alone on the front but i kept on the gas and only got beat out by 3 in the sprint. I realize it has no effect on anything but i can't understand strong riders sitting in an entire training race just to unleash a strong sprint at the end..

Ready to get in some good structured training the next 2 months!

hack

I'd love to hit 5 w/kg for 20 min. I'm a lot more than 15 watts away from that one. Heck, I'd take 4.5 w/kg.


Well done.

mattm

+1

Wylde06

At my current weight, I would need to average 445 watts for that.

Flatballer

500 here. Totally doable. Right now I'd love to hit 2.5 w/kg.

grolby

My 20' power is somewhere around 4.6 W/kg (haven't done a formal test or weighed myself in a bit), and I can tell you it hasn't exactly translated into spectacular results.

FWIW 5 W/kg for me would be about 280W, maybe a bit more if I'm a little heavy. A good 20W away.

aaronmcd

Also around 4.6 as of yesterday. Probably need 5 to hang on in the hilly races. Need to lose 5 lbs and add 13 watts for that. Could be doable.

TheKillerPenguin

vo2/ftp bro checking in, unless I'm OTF my happyplace watts matter less than the other stuff. When I've gotten OTF I've finished pretty well, but when in the group I've done pretty mediocre at best. You on the other hand, have got the tools to do fine, you just use em too early.

grolby

Heh, for sure. I so want to be a break rider, cause I'm stuck on a break I was in that worked as a 4, like 4 years ago. But I need to let it go and stop trying to force it. But yeah, exactly.

TMonk

4.2 here, but I'm not an FTP type guy.

mattm

Actually I take it back; rather than an increased FTP, I'd rather be able to recover more quickly.

(micro-recovery, as in between efforts, not between workouts)

I think people focus on FTP too much - unless you're doing steady-state races (TTs?), it's all about surging, and recovering quickly from the surges.

Oddly it seems like TrainingPeaks doesn't measure that yet (maybe via HR?), but I bet it will one day.

TheKillerPenguin

I agree. Not that I'd trade my FTP for it because FTP is useful when you get away, but I am focused heavily on the micro recovery stuff since that seems to matter more in race situations. If you can't recover quickly it's not like you're going to be able to put out your FTP watts anyway, suddenly you crack and are only able to do high tempo and get dropped anyway.

Edit: FTP is also useful for dem KOM sniping rides

silversx80

I guess I can chime in here again, since I'm as ready for tomorrow's races as I'm going to be. I hope I didn't taper too much, and should be heading in to tomorrow with a CTL in the mid-low 80s and ATL in the mid-60s. After taking Sunday off, my TSS was 102, 117, 96.4, 20.4, and 48.7. Last week's TSS was 644. I've also been doing 2 sessions of bursts per week, for several weeks now (10X30" @ 125-150%, 2 sets; or 5X30" @ same intensity, 5-6 sets), so I should be crit-ready.

I guess I'm just getting pre-race jitters already... been a long time since the last one.

TheKillerPenguin

Have fun!

Ygduf

I don't disagree. Accelerations and <5 minute efforts dominate most races that don't have hills in them.

But, if you train the left you tend to fill the right anyway. My FTP is where I would expect it to be with my volume, with about zero ftp-specific work. (outside the TT bike, but that's muscle endurance work in the position, not aerobic capacity ftp work)

wktmeow

I'm just discovering the same thing this year based on the workouts my coach has had me do. In fact, I've improved by 20w by targeting FTP/sweet spot a lot less than previous years. Overall volume is up, but much more of it is z1/z2 than before. The hard stuff is much harder than before as well, though. The closest thing to 'regular' threshold work I've done this year has been over-unders for 12-18 minute sets, and even that was limited to the late winter/early spring.

Previously, I'd do lots of 2x20's, 2x30's, longer sweet spot rides, etc, and my top end felt flat because I'd never train it. I was always worried that if I trained too much anaerobic then my FTP would drop, but that does not appear to be the case at all.

dmotoguy

Current status: just tested at 275w threshold, weight at 86kg. Have been doing more vo2 on the trainer (trainer road) and raced 3 crits this week. Just set a new 1 minute record at 500w, on my third day in a row of racing..was just trying to hang with light guys up a punchy climb.

3 weeks out from my goal crit, Boise Twilight.. want to win the 4/5 and then get my 3 upgrade.

Is there a TSB planning tool out there? I want to plan my next few weeks so I hit a specific CTL/ATL/TSB right before.

TheKillerPenguin

Drink 6 bottles, still lose 4 lbs. Summer long rides

spdntrxi

yep... drank 3 bottles in 2 hours/ 30 miles and was still thirsty... called it quits. High 90's is no fun.

mattm

I'd like to do Boise Twilight, but it's a bit out of the way... always heard it's a good race tho!

As for TSB planning, TrainingPeaks.com/WKO4 offers something around that I believe.

TheKillerPenguin

I was gonna ride early today to try and beat the heat but I got a slow flat yesterday without realizing it, and had to buy a spare tube. BUT my local shop doesn't open until noon and it is hotter today than yesterday