Training Status??? (IV)
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Finally got a gravel bike last week and got a chance to take it out. I had a big smile on my face the whole time. Really looking forward to having a fun alternative to road rides.
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Got out on my new gravel bike for the first time yesterday. It was nice not having to worry about cars - though pedestrians were a small issue. But it was a fun smooth ride. I won't be giving up track racing, but it's certainly nice to do something different.
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Lighter week than I would have liked but it is what it is.
Did a 51 mile ride on Saturday with ~3350ft of climbing. Most I've done since starting to ride again. Finished in 3:20 averaging 15.5. Hoping to start finishing these rides in 3hrs. Could have been possible with the aero wheels but I'm on my psimet Al clinchers till the spring.
Semi on the hunt for a road bike with disc wheels so may end up selling my Williams if that happens.
Knee has been behaving so far. Having some soreness in my left Achilles so need to stretch that out more and make sure I keep it covered when riding. I think it got cold on Sat!
Did a 51 mile ride on Saturday with ~3350ft of climbing. Most I've done since starting to ride again. Finished in 3:20 averaging 15.5. Hoping to start finishing these rides in 3hrs. Could have been possible with the aero wheels but I'm on my psimet Al clinchers till the spring.
Semi on the hunt for a road bike with disc wheels so may end up selling my Williams if that happens.
Knee has been behaving so far. Having some soreness in my left Achilles so need to stretch that out more and make sure I keep it covered when riding. I think it got cold on Sat!
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Quick add on question to the above....
So my current 2 month rotation block is going to be... interesting.
We're doing procedures MWF and start early and end early. This should theoretically get me home and give me 2-3 hrs on those days to hit the trainer...easy. I'm very lightly following a sufferfest plan right now but I'm curious about adding volume to it. If I do decide to add volume to things atleast for this 2 month block, should I do the sufferfest workouts before or after the 'free ride' part of things?
Guessing free ride after so workout targets can happen? Is there much utility in trying to push things towards the end of the 'ride' as training?
So my current 2 month rotation block is going to be... interesting.
We're doing procedures MWF and start early and end early. This should theoretically get me home and give me 2-3 hrs on those days to hit the trainer...easy. I'm very lightly following a sufferfest plan right now but I'm curious about adding volume to it. If I do decide to add volume to things atleast for this 2 month block, should I do the sufferfest workouts before or after the 'free ride' part of things?
Guessing free ride after so workout targets can happen? Is there much utility in trying to push things towards the end of the 'ride' as training?
Last edited by ridethecliche; 11-02-20 at 06:53 PM.
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Finished off a hard week on Saturday with a 332 TSS ride, ramping my CTL up over the last several weeks to 61. That is the highest CTL I've had, but I haven't really tracked it carefully in the past. It is time to take a rest week, which is new to me because in the past I've always had enough rest weeks dictated by life. Now with working from home, no vacation or work travel, and older kids, I have had enough time to get tired and need the rest. My plan is to ride just a few days during the week, no intervals harder than sweet spot, and then my next longer ride will be Sunday.
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Skipped the ramp test, just went with 5x10 sweet spot at 88,90,94% to kick off sweet spot base. Not too easy but not too hard either. Nice to get back onto a plan
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Starting to ramp up again, I just passed 10,000 (well, including a 65 mile ride that is 'stuck' in Zwift) miles. About 9,000 indoors.
I can hit up Sean Wilson who was the SCNCA President and usually know what's going on with these sort of things. Going under the assumption something will happen, so right now the focus is just basing and shedding the last 8 pounds of fat.
As of tomorrow I'm training again. Not sure what things will look like in 2021... hopefully some TTs at least to compliment virtual racing. I don't think mass-start can be expected to be full-bore in the southwest US quite yet, so VoS stage race and Tour de Murrieta omnium might not be on the table.
Totally slacked off this week, like 200 TSS total. But here's what I'm thinking for next:
M: 1.5 hrs on Zwift with SST up Epic KOM, threshold+ Fuego Flats reverse and z5/6 Zwift KOM to open up for FTP test
T: 1.5 hrs w FTP test on Fiesta Island
W: 3 hrs Zwift, not sure what yet
Th: off
Then 6-8 hours over the weekend, with one to two short rides and a big one Saturday. Starting nice and slow, next week will be a lot bigger.
Totally slacked off this week, like 200 TSS total. But here's what I'm thinking for next:
M: 1.5 hrs on Zwift with SST up Epic KOM, threshold+ Fuego Flats reverse and z5/6 Zwift KOM to open up for FTP test
T: 1.5 hrs w FTP test on Fiesta Island
W: 3 hrs Zwift, not sure what yet
Th: off
Then 6-8 hours over the weekend, with one to two short rides and a big one Saturday. Starting nice and slow, next week will be a lot bigger.
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It really is a nice change of pace and I get why people like to get away from cars. It'll definitely help me technically too. Oh, and having a week of rides on it now, I could definitely see doing a gravel race.
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Finished off a hard week on Saturday with a 332 TSS ride, ramping my CTL up over the last several weeks to 61. That is the highest CTL I've had, but I haven't really tracked it carefully in the past. It is time to take a rest week, which is new to me because in the past I've always had enough rest weeks dictated by life. Now with working from home, no vacation or work travel, and older kids, I have had enough time to get tired and need the rest. My plan is to ride just a few days during the week, no intervals harder than sweet spot, and then my next longer ride will be Sunday.
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I don't really have a long term plan since I have no idea when I'll be racing next. There is no CX here this fall/winter, so I'm hoping it will be on the road next spring. But, who knows? I may be ramping up just for the fun of it. I'm also training just to keep interest and not lose fitness that I'll never get back (being in my 50's).
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TTT Tuesday. Another 20K TTT with partner and this for a new fastest training time and average speed of 23.4 mph. We did another 20K but it was more z2 and slower. Great day at Fiesta with lighter winds.
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I don't really have a long term plan since I have no idea when I'll be racing next. There is no CX here this fall/winter, so I'm hoping it will be on the road next spring. But, who knows? I may be ramping up just for the fun of it. I'm also training just to keep interest and not lose fitness that I'll never get back (being in my 50's).
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I backed off on training for ~2.5 months this summer, although I did occasionally do a pretty hard ride. I quit looking at power or recording rides so I don't know exactly how little riding I did. Then just when I started to ride a bit more (mostly mtn biking) I got pneumonia that had me knocked flat for 2 weeks and had me riding very easy for another 2 weeks. After ramping up into training for a couple weeks I did some power testing and cried hard at how much power I lost at every duration (5sec, 1 min, 5 min and 20 min). The good news is that after about 7 weeks of regular training I'm seeing my power come back up. I still have a way to go but power at each duration is coming back quickly enough that I think I'll get at least to where I was last year.
I'm now worried about losing (even more) short term power for good so although I'm more focused on longer duration and base right now, I'm working in 1 ride a week with sprint, AWC and/or V02 intervals and also hitting those powers a bit on a weekend unstructured ride. I think this is the right approach, being in my 50's, but I'd love to hear what works for other masters. It is hard to fit in those short intervals, FTP and/or SS intervals, at least 1 long ride and enough rest.
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I’m kind of 2nd guessing my current FTP, reason being in recent zwift races I was averaging 270+ for an hour and my current plan with trainerroad largely has sweet spot intervals around 90%, which for me is now 272w. I’m thinking if I can already average that for an hour that I might want to have slightly higher stress for 15-20min intervals that make up this plan.
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I’m kind of 2nd guessing my current FTP, reason being in recent zwift races I was averaging 270+ for an hour and my current plan with trainerroad largely has sweet spot intervals around 90%, which for me is now 272w. I’m thinking if I can already average that for an hour that I might want to have slightly higher stress for 15-20min intervals that make up this plan.
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Yeah, I did that today, took it up to 305 from 300 (and it was previously set at 295). My workout today was 5x10min @ 88,90,94,94,90% and it went well, just enough at 94% to feel like I was at the edge of it being really thresholdy. The nice thing about the trainerroad SSB1 plan I'm doing is that it's a bit forgiving to any overestimates because the intervals generally have some good breaks and intensity stays around 90%, so I'm not too worried about blowing up during workouts. We'll see if this sticks as my ongoing training target. Even at now, 90% is 275w for me, which is still within the realm of what I've averaged for an hour, but I don't want to be greedy.
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Shooting for 5 (hrs) on Saturday, but we're also looking at ran starting mid morning.... I don't want to do another 5 hr Z ride. I think what I'll do is pack a ran jacket, try to get out early (if it's not already raining) and stay within 10 or so miles of home in case it starts getting ugly. Then I can hope on the trainer at home and do some climbing to meet my 5 hrs and get closer to the Tron bike in Zwift.
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Shooting for 5 (hrs) on Saturday, but we're also looking at ran starting mid morning.... I don't want to do another 5 hr Z ride. I think what I'll do is pack a ran jacket, try to get out early (if it's not already raining) and stay within 10 or so miles of home in case it starts getting ugly. Then I can hope on the trainer at home and do some climbing to meet my 5 hrs and get closer to the Tron bike in Zwift.
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Have been having some pretty awesome indoor training sessions and hoping to get out for a 40-60 mile ride sunday and monday since I'm stuck on a 24 hr call today.
I 'failed' a ramp test this morning. I mean, I did it and gave up at the end like normal, but I was trying to squeeze it in before I had to get to the hospital and thought I had more time than I did. Didn't really warm up for it which was a bad idea as the last one was done after an easyish 45 minute workout. I think next week is my 'test week' on sufferfest with their ramp test scheduled for next week so it ends up being a bit of a ramp down kinda week.
I really want to do another one of the zwift ramp tests because I've been doing one monthly lately. I could probably squeeze it in after an easy-ish workout on weds and then do the Sufferfest protocol for their ramp test which includes a particular workout the day before the ramp test. That's probably the only way I'm going to fit it in this week.
Then again, a friend yelled at me today for testing too much so there's that lol.
I guess I shouldn't be too upset about the ramp test today. I basically set myself up to fail on it and if anything it's a pretty decent sign. I've been riding now for a few weeks now with a decent amount of intensity and my knee issues have been manageable which is awesome. I should have expected to drop a bit just from the position change, so it is what it is.
Kinda unsure if I'm going to swap to the 165 cranks now to be honest. I have everything I need: cranks and the 4iiii to go with them, but things are working pretty okay right now. Would be nice to not knee myself in the chest when I try to ride in the drops though.
I 'failed' a ramp test this morning. I mean, I did it and gave up at the end like normal, but I was trying to squeeze it in before I had to get to the hospital and thought I had more time than I did. Didn't really warm up for it which was a bad idea as the last one was done after an easyish 45 minute workout. I think next week is my 'test week' on sufferfest with their ramp test scheduled for next week so it ends up being a bit of a ramp down kinda week.
I really want to do another one of the zwift ramp tests because I've been doing one monthly lately. I could probably squeeze it in after an easy-ish workout on weds and then do the Sufferfest protocol for their ramp test which includes a particular workout the day before the ramp test. That's probably the only way I'm going to fit it in this week.
Then again, a friend yelled at me today for testing too much so there's that lol.
I guess I shouldn't be too upset about the ramp test today. I basically set myself up to fail on it and if anything it's a pretty decent sign. I've been riding now for a few weeks now with a decent amount of intensity and my knee issues have been manageable which is awesome. I should have expected to drop a bit just from the position change, so it is what it is.
Kinda unsure if I'm going to swap to the 165 cranks now to be honest. I have everything I need: cranks and the 4iiii to go with them, but things are working pretty okay right now. Would be nice to not knee myself in the chest when I try to ride in the drops though.
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2hrs new TT position. 225w AP 230w NP. Yesssssss. Good speed too on the hilly route.
That bike is fun. Just flies.
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Only got in 4 (of 5 planned) today but man am I wiped. Spent the first 2.5 hrs hammering a local group ride, then hopped on zwift for another 90 min on a "B" pace group ride putting out a very consistent ~3.2 w/kg. I would have stayed outside longer but we got rained on.
Another two hours (and more rain) scheduled for tomorrow. I'm either going to do a Zwift "grand fondo" (medio fondo) at 45 mi, or just do my own thing which might be Alpe de Zwift with a bit extra.
Another two hours (and more rain) scheduled for tomorrow. I'm either going to do a Zwift "grand fondo" (medio fondo) at 45 mi, or just do my own thing which might be Alpe de Zwift with a bit extra.
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Last edited by TMonk; 11-08-20 at 10:50 AM.
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Finished first week of SSB1 HV, went pretty well. I started Tuesday with 300w FTP but took it up to 305, Friday was ridiculously easy at z2, yesterday was 3x20 @ 88, 92, 90% that felt way more difficult than those workouts tend to be (even with 15min rest between intervals), but today's 3x30 at 85% felt easy, so I'm attributing yesterday to warmer basement plus likely underfueled, which is a rarity for me because I love to eat carbs. Looking forward to this 2nd week to get a better idea of how I'm adjusting
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Got some sleep on call overnight so went out for 35 this afternoon. Managed to average over 18mph on a ride for the first time this season, thanks to the IAB position.
We're supposed to have good weather tomorrow as well so hoping I can get out of work early enough to get in 40-50 miles. My position feels really really weird and off to me and I feel like I'm not really making as much power as I should be and need to raise the seat some... But my knee isn't really bothering me so... If I go up it'll have to be just a little bit.
Still trying to figure out if I should swap to the shorter cranks since things don't feel awful right now...
We're supposed to have good weather tomorrow as well so hoping I can get out of work early enough to get in 40-50 miles. My position feels really really weird and off to me and I feel like I'm not really making as much power as I should be and need to raise the seat some... But my knee isn't really bothering me so... If I go up it'll have to be just a little bit.
Still trying to figure out if I should swap to the shorter cranks since things don't feel awful right now...
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Finally starting to get some volume in my legs...rode two 100k rides on Zwift over the weekend. The second one was crazy hard and I cracked with 10k to go. After doing a year of no intensity, I'm surprised how well my FTP has held.