TrainerRoad – STW approved sessions

ianpv – sounds like you’ve had a rough time, congratulations for getting back into it so successfully! Hope that means your cancer treatment is going well. There’s too much of that stuff about.

I had a chat with my physio today, he reckons there’s a good chance that the recovery from having the metalwork taken out will be loads better than first time round. So, the current plan is to get back to fitness now (mtb on turbo, I’m actually running at only 10% FTP or so down on pre-Christmas already), maintain and improve though until autumn when I can get on a road bike, then be a bit of a ninja by the time I have the surgery in January. Couple of weeks off for surgery, then ease back in, and hopefully be on good form for summer 2017.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Your support and encouragement has actually been really helpful to me.

Off for a (skiing!) holiday tomorrow, so will probably do an FTP test in a couple of weeks then start sweet spot base again.

Another Kennedy Peak + 1 here. Useful session.

Been doing them using the iPhone app too now I have a BLE PM and HR monitor. Works well. Quite handy when doing work in TT position as I can put the phone where it’s easier to keep an eye on what’s going on. Don’t hear the start/end beep over fans/turbo/headphones but then its rare that I’m not looking at the countdown towards the end of an interval!

Had to bin a session this evening because I was getting a small knocking sensation through the cranks that was doing ma swede in.

I have quite a basic tacx blue motion turbo and there is a v small amount of play in the mounting assembly when the bike is fitted. Should it be rock solid, or do you always get a smidge of movement? It’s the first time I’ve had this problem and the turbo hasn’t had a ton of use, so wondering if it’s getting worn some how.

Should have done Mount Field tonight but really didn’t feel like doing steady 85% work so did Table instead, that felt hard! An IF of 0.94 with sod all rests, in fact the “rests” are at around 80-85%FTP.

Table’s a good form tester. Good way of checking that your FTP is about right too!

Hmmm. I was looking for a workout for later in the week. Table might fit the bill. Last workout before a rest week…

FTP test, kind of finished sweet spot base 2, well over 8 weeks with colds and a bit of outdoor work. Increase of 5% to 279w. Pretty pleased with that given the illness. Hoping to get up to 300w by May/June. Should be doable with a bit of focus and luck if I can stay healthy.

Scott peak for me to ‘test’ my body after 5 days of some kind of bug. H.R. Seemed to be about right, and while I didn’t feel good, it wasn’t awful. One more taper/priming session on Thursday and then it’s race time 😀

Struggled today with Richardson – 8×15 seconds on/off at 125% after a 30 second 160% sprint start.

Later analysis shows I couldn’t get into zone 5 HR, still tired from the weekends racing maybe reflected by immense leg pain around the 4th/5th sprint…

Do you find those sorts of workouts useful? I don’t tend to do them that often as I feel the 15s on isn’t long enough

Well, the initial sprints and first 5 mins are certainly indicative of first lap XCO, after which it settles into closer-to-time-trial pace. And I need the pain management training to be fair.

As for Billats in general I hate them in the first instance becuase I find VO2MAx efforts hard, but appreciate I can (usually) do better at those than say 6 intervals of 3 mins each.

I’ll be going straight to Augusta Thursday night as I’m TT’ing Saturday (my first) and need to find a gear/rhythm on the *whispers* tweener rings…

Yeah I agree the initial sprint then effort type workout is good, but I prefer the ones where it’s sprint then constant or rising effort a la the owl and the priest. For Xco I think it’s rare to just do 15s on, even overtaking someone takes longer. It might just be cos I’m rubbish at keeping to the right power in such short bursts 😳

Very pleased tonight.
Completed short power base supplemented by a bit of commuting and other stuff. Good jump in FTP from 255 to 279. I almost feel like a proper cyclist again. Next stop 300! Going to go for rolling road race high volume.

Arse. Just failed Augusta, I should have been able to knock out those intervals. HR would go up more than 85%, legs burning, focus all over the place. Im not unwell so I guess i need a rest. TTing on Saturday so after that I might pootle for a week.

Unless moving to tweener rings is really tough, as I did find i didn’t have the perfect gear, I was overgeared slightly 250w at 97rpm I’d rather be at 105 – 52/17 fwiw

Those billat intervals have been pretty tough nd I raced in the middle, I think that’s had some kind of effect.

Finished SS Base (finally after some extra breaks due to illness etc)and onto build. Nice rise in FTP from 269 to 286 so reasonably pleased. General build seems most likely choice although tempted by short power as that is my main weakness.

Nice work 🙂

Tough one here. 8 pm Sunday evening, knackered after a long day and weekend of jobs and kids, and I still had to get in 145 TSS over about two and a half hours to finish the week on plan 😐 Ground out most of Kennedy Peak + 1 to get the job done. Really had me thinking about Kryton’s latest musing!

Don’t blame me, I’m having a rest.

Nothing until Wednesay when its Pigsah, a lunchtime 45 mins Z2 small ring only outside on Thursday, 30 mins of Dorr Friday night before BoB on Sunday.

I even went for an all you can eat Curry for Sunday lunch. 😀

Ugh absolutely no motivation tonight.

Supposed to be doing an FTP test since I’m halfway through short power build, but I still feel tired from my race at the weekend.

Tempted to go for an easy spin outside (might even beast myself up a local climb to see what I can do) but I just feel very bleehhhh at the minute.

Ugh here too. First proper fail of the year so not too bad I guess. Went out to do a session at lunchtime but had nothing in the legs. Just tried to do it on the turbo and abandoned about ten mins in. Annoyed at not sticking to the plan.

Chin up folks!

You can’t be machines every single day. You’ve been nailing the training for weeks, so don’t be hard on yourselves if you have a bad day or couple of days.

I’ve got major man flu at the moment, so haven’t turned a pedal for a couple of weeks (there was a skiing holiday in there too, man flu is just the last few days).

ugh x three. Having a week from hell work-wise so had to do a short work out on tues when had been planning carpathian peak, 13 hours in front of a computer yesterday, then decided to get up early and do my vo2 max intervals on a short and steep local hill but my legs and brain werent feeling it at all. On the plus side i rode some nice singletrack instead 😀

I’m starting to think that one of the main requirements for improvement is how to deal with adversity. I tend to feel that time invested in training = improvement but recently I’ve had 3 involuntary breaks from training (over and above planned rest weeks) which means my CTL gets good then tumbles.

Now because I am behind, instead of riding outside tonight I have to do 5x15m Z4 in the shed of hell – oh joy.

I’m back, I think.

Still on “rest” week in the form of tapering for battle on the beach, but completed Pigsah OK yesterday, 2 mins at 125% x 6.

I’m starting to think that one of the main requirements for improvement is how to deal with adversity. I tend to feel that time invested in training = improvement but recently I’ve had 3 involuntary breaks from training (over and above planned rest weeks) which means my CTL gets good then tumbles.

Its a hard one, Normally I just try to push on through, but I think if your at the point your body wont listen to your desire to go harder its better going for a spin.

I’m focussing on training outside at the moment and I do find its harder to maintain focus than when on the turbo with the nice line to follow!

shed of hell – oh joy.

🙂 Stop complaining. Get on with it!

Back on it last night to see if the legs were working again. A couple of hours of z2 with 2 x 20 min blocks at high tempo pace. Nothing too intense. Seems ok 🙂 Think it was the coming down with a sore throat/cold thing, now it’s actually here I seem ok-ish. The kids are full of snot so it’s not really a surprise. Shall keep any intervals under threshold for the next few days though. Out for a spin in the sun today 🙂

New FTP and started General Build. Sill (over-unders seemed okay). Decided to follow it up with centennial (6x~7minutes @ FTP) the night after to free up some weekend time. It looks innocuous compared to VO2 max type work but it still felt tough especially at higher ftp than before.

which means my CTL gets good then tumbles.

Interesting one this. First time this winter that I’ve really looked at the PMC properly. Really makes you appreciate the value of consistency! Had a steady build of CTL since about September last year and seen some good gains from it. Think not trying to rush it and build it gradually has been key to avoiding my usual overtraining problems.

Probably not that impressive compared to some, but I’m pretty pleased with my chart (Oct to end of Feb)…

Edit…. just compared it to the same time period last year, all a bit of a mess with some illness and injury…

I’m happy to peak, rest, lose a bit and come back etc but the last month is annoying

PMC by

What happened the last month? Noticed you went from about 50 to 80 in about a month before that, think that would finish me off!

Past couple of years mines been a bit of a rollercoaster, and for years before that with running I suspect it was much the same. And I’ve always struggled with overtraining, motivation, peaks and troughs. Keeping it steadier seems to be working for me at the moment. Probably more suited to my veteran status too!

It was base and the foundations were there so although hard that wasn’t an issue. I rested a week then I didn’t warm down after my first long hard ride and tweaked my hamstring, came back, got ill. At least base takes a while to erode.

Good grief the trials and tribulations of the modern (coughs) athlete. Just finished work at 7.45, kj01 is crying with stomach ache, and I’ve missed my 30 mins taper effort for today. It won’t affect my fitness for Sunday but still…

New FTP for me tonight and off on 4 x 5mins at 340w. One minute into the first interval and I knew I was in trouble. Some minor adjustment down to 330W after I completed the first salvaged the session. Looking forward to doing this much more easily in a few weeks time.

I did English at my new FTP yesterday. Max Aerobic Intervals and very much pass the sick bucket. After 2 sets I was finished and so was amazed to see a +1 and a +2 option for the truly masochistic.

Somewhat off topic, but Zwift have put a monster circuit ‘The Pretzel’ on their fairly tale island. Took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to complete…by far the longest time I’ve ever sat on a turbo-trainer and I’m knackered today…
No food and one water bottle didn’t help…

Just to get some advice from the masses… So I’ve just finished XCO, after subsequent weekends 2 X races, 1TT and yesterday battle on the beach. Now, my next will be XCM but over the next few weekends I have a club ride and a sportive this weekend, Flanders the following week, and my next XC race 9th April.

My thoughts are between now and the 9th to ditch the turbo where possible and get on the road for an “intense” lunch hour / evening. After 9th I have a month before my XC races kick off again, so I’d start on the 12th with the XCM plan during the week.

Sound sensible? Or will I get fat and unfit? 🙄

Can’t help with the training other than make sure the intense stuff is properly intense, not just “Yea that was hard. Maybe.”

That’s a pretty varied calendar you’ve got though!

Well, my lunch time loop is 28k of which after 3k out of town the first 10k is a succession of hills(2-5min 120% intervals sims). Then it’s a 3k flat on the aero bars (4-5mins sweets spot 90%), then 1k flat rest, then 7k rollers back into town (7-8 mins 90% sweet spot), then cruise back home.

You can see how I’ve broken it down to be slightly focused on training rather than riding.

But moreover, the reason I ask is that I’m lacking long miles this winter, so would like to get out while I can, and am a bit “turbo’d out” after 95% of my efforts have been on that since December.

I don’t want to lose fitness though.

I definitely had a case of the turbo blues last night. Workout was Young which wasn’t too bad and I managed it but certainly a bit of going through the motions in my mind. Next up is Acrodectes (1hr 30 of VO2 Max Minute on/ Minute off) which based on my experience with English I’m already dreading.

I think I’m done for the turbo this year. 60+ hours on the thing is enough and the motivation has gone! The clocks go forward at the weekend, so it’s time to suspend the trainer rd account, get the summer bike out and get outside!

Yeah. I smashed my loop with a 30kmph average and some PB’s on the winter Defy with guards et al. And that was with post BoB aching quads.