Nov OS Week 8 BIKE TEST ALERT
Well it's that time again to dig deep and fire it up for a testing week. It's only 5' and 20' of effort that will set your FTP and VO2 until we finish.
I've seen some strong bike numbers reported and am looking forward to the reports. Remember to refuel and rest up because we have to report to Roy's run thread on Wednesday.
Gordon
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Man, no pressure, what with the G Man opening up this week a day early just for little ol' me. But don't worry, I got it done! To quote our in house motivational speaker, Boom and Boom! FTP test finished, VO2 360 and FTP 301 (ave and NP both 317 for the 20 minute segment). It's only a two point bump from a 2x20 conducted one week prior to the OS, but since I blew up on the week 1 test trying to hold the same power, its a total win to me. 300 club! I was in a world of hurt the last five minutes, tried to jump the last minute and had to bring it back down. I was totally toasted at the end but it feels good to be finished.
Good luck everyone! Work works!
http://app.strava.com/activities/32629693
Wow! Great job Roy!
I dont think these tired old bones will ever see the inside of the 300 club! Nice job.
Previous FTP was based on the 2x20 protocol before the new protocol came out. I felt like the numbers I had been working with were just about on target (maybe improved 3-5W), so it was kind of a last minute decision to test. Ended up going through with it because I wanted to get a feel for the 20' protocol. However, I didn't do the EN 20', I did the TR 20' protocol, which is slightly different (more pre-test time @ or above FTP as warm up, but not as intense, and half the rest in between the 5' and 20' efforts').
Anyhow, ended up with a small, but entirely expected, bump from 249 to 253 - both power agent and GC say average power for the interval was 266, but GC says the xPower (its equivalent for NP) was 263, while power agent says the NP was 267. Just something interesting to note - but I took the average because at least that number they agreed on
@Roy - nice work bro!
So, I did my test saturday due to life stuff. I'm a HR guy presently and 5 minutes in my bike computer died...so 2 of the 3 things I would evaluate myself on, avg spd and distance, were gone. I just said to myself well at least this will be a tough 40' FTP workout. Stuff happens, gotta deal with it - for instance I forgot to put on my HR strap for IMLP this year :-). Moved onto our "other cues"....RPE and keeping the pressure steady on the soles of my shoes. My subjective evaluation is that a) this was hard but n) not nearly as hard as the first test so I am counting this as a win! I will upload my HR data later tonight and have a look through it but I am pleased.
Looking forward to reading the FTP-bump-for-NOSer's reports!!!!!
p.s strangely enough, I had emailed Coach R that morning for a quote on a power tap/wheel, maybe this is a sign :-)
Nice job on the early test guys, I'll be cranking it up early tomorrow morning.
@Roy - Excellent work to hit the 300 club. I figured as you are an OS vet and Captain you could handle the extra pressure and you were true to form.
Gordon
I did the bike test on Saturday, and made a classic rookie mistake of changing the format of the test. I did my first test as a free ride, with the ability to change gear, cadence etc.
This test, I "decided?" to do the test in erg mode, with the intent to match my goal watts for each phase of the test, and push at the end to see if I could get better numbers. End result... blow up on VO2, dropping a couple of watts from the first test. Similarly, I dropped a couple of watts on my 20 min test. Another variable is that I was a bit fatigued from the week of exercise and work, and short on sleep from a Christmas party the evening before. Either way, bygones. I'm ok with roughly holding par at this point in the OS. I know I am gaining experience and fitness. The real work comes in the second half. Good luck to everyone in turning themselves out during testing week, and continue to keep it positive everyone!
Run test tomorrow...
@Mike Thanks for the reminder about the test advice.
Get after it!
FTP Test #2 in the books; 5' test started ~300W and maintained it there +/- a few watts the whole time; really struggled to hold it at the end, and put in the max effort i could; 20' segment started @226 for the first 4', tried to tack on a watt per minute for the middle 12 and stayed on target; for the last 4', i geared up and mashed it out -- even got out of the saddle for part of the last minute; nice to end the test on an upward trend for AP of 242 ==> FTP of 230W
tacked on 25' run for just over 5k; wanted to get it in early to allow for max recovery before Wed!
keep it going NOS!
BOOM and BOOM! Barely slept last night, b/c I was so excited about today's test. I really have got to get my emotions under control better... But, with lack of sleep and the fact that the Patriots lost last night, I was sufficiently cranky when I got on my bike this AM ... So, let's see ... I last tested in week 4 when my Quarf arrived. VO2 max then: 184. Today: 203. How much of that is truly being stronger and how much is better pacing? I don't know. I definitely feel that I paced much smarter today. FTP then: 156. Today: 167. At first a bit disappointing, b/c I thought I'd be able to hold higher, but I was pretty drained after the VO2 max and had a hard time getting a good rhythm going. Plus, 120% of 167 is 200, so I guess I'm close to where I'm supposed to be.
All in all, I feel everything until now was 'foreplay' - this is my first EN OS, so just getting used to EN style training etc. Now, I feel like I hae a solid base on which to build, and the real work starts!
But who the hell thought it was a good idea to throw a run in today as well??? What the ...?! Got it done and out of the way. No singing during the workouts today, but now that they're done: JOY TO THE WORLD. BOOM!!!
Well feeling a little pressure to get in a good test. Jumped on the bike not feeling quite a good as the 2X20's last week but decent.
My 5' VO2 was 301 and pushed out a new FTP of 250 and happy with the tests. In all honesty I had a goal FTP of 254 on my seasonal spreadsheet but seeing as I missed a week or so I can live with the result. My 5' segments on the 20' test were 251, 258, 263 and 277. I probably need to tighten those up a little still learning the pacing on the 20' test
Keep the test results coming.
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/129186
FTP stayed exactly the same at 224. Avg Power and NP for the 20' section were both 236. That's the disappointing part.
VO2 test average was 282 and NP was 278, up from 270 avg./267 NP, an increase of a little over 4%. Which one do I use for my VO2 number? I used 270 from the last test but cannot find in the forums why I chose to do that, so I figured I would ask which is correct. That's the general question.
Confusing part is how/why did my VO2 improve but my FTP did not? Due to work and 'life" I have actually missed 2 of the VO2 workouts so far this OS, but none of the FTP rides. So... I was expecting the opposite result and am thoroughly confused.
Love seeing everyone else's tests!! You guys/gals are ROCKSTARS!!
@ Greg - You've been training your brain ... you now know how to work harder, maybe acounting for 5 min bump? Which # to use for VO2 workouts? If 280 leaves you in a hole for your next workout, than you can drop down to 270. Anywhere in the 270s ought to be fine, though, ther's no real reason to work any harder than 270, especially since you need to bring that FTP up over the next 6 weeks, more than you need to raise your "roof" of VO2 max.
Great work everyone -
Ryan good job a bump up is a bump up!
I feel for you Rich I hate equipment failure.
Ian I have had the same thing happen to me a couple of OSs ago. I bounced back with bigger numbers on the next test and I sure you will too. Keep your chin up bud!
Great test Mike!
Good job Scott! Indoor isn't comparable to outdoor at all.
Great job Kate! A gain is a gain. I slept well but had anxiety pre-test time. Just remember you gained watts on a fatigued body. One day off is not enough to recover enough to have full rested fresh legs.
Great job Greg!
Great job Naomi
As I mentioned above I get some anxiety before testing. I want all that hard work to show results. I got on the bike and sis the 20 min. warm-up. I hit the VO2max test hard. My previous test I had a 256 I tested today with a 276. I was happy with that. Now on to the FTP test. Started out good choose a wattage that I was comfortable with to start about 224 which was 10 watts higher than my last test. Keep the numbers right around that for the first 10 min. The next 10 min I pushed the wattage up to 235-250. I maintained that through the next 9 min. Then I crushed myself with everything I had left in the last min. I ended up with a test result of 233. This is still lower than what I was before IMLP but I'll take it. New zones are going to be fun to train at.
Here's the TR file. I used the 20 minute test and tweaked it a little in the warm-up. I also tacked on an extra 5 minutes between the 5' and 20' test periods to match the 10' rest period in our plan. That was aided by my dropping my water bottle some 2.5 minutes into the VO2max test. Once I got off the bike I was tightening up so I took some time to stretch and chase away the sparklies. I didn't do the 20' interval quite as I'd hoped. I thought I could handle my mythical targets in the various stages of the test but found out I was sorely mistaken. Make that very sorely mistaken. I hung in there though.
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/129299
I had a 337w average for the 5' test. Before the OS it was 320w. There's a 5% bump in VO2max.
Before the OS I tested out at 255w, for an FTP of 242w. This time around I held on for a 275W average according to my Garmin. TR thinks I averaged 273w. (Both avg and NP were 273w). TR breaks down the 20' test into quarters and it shows how I faded over time from start to finish. NP was 275, 275, 269, 271 and in that first quarter I had targeted 285w. Silly me. I mean REALLY silly.
So, a 273w avg for 20' comes down to an FTP of 259w. 242w up to 259w is a 7% bump in FTP. My W/Kg was 3.08 before the OS and after this test it now sits at 3.22. It would have been better but I've been a bad little piggy these days.
BTW, that brick run was a very nasty 15 minutes after what I did to myself on the bike. A good reminder of what not to do on race day unless it is a mini sprint or something.
@ Steve - yeah. I have the same reaction to the post test run every time. *that* was actually the easy part of the morning.
I normally prefer to test outside but the wet roads made that not a feasible option, niether was rescheduling for a non-wet day. Since I am an HR athlete I tested at the spin bike at the gym. That is hands down the worst scenario. ever. It's a mental thing that I really truly struggle with. For my normal workouts it's not so bad, but 40 mins of go go go but not actually going anywhere...
just *awful.*
Plus it's kind of apples and oranges since all my other tests are outside. My HR didn't really budge (from 176 to 178) but my mileage and speed went down - 18 something mph and 12 miles (compared to nearly 20 mph @ 13 miles). So it's hard to give it much weight either way, but at least I gave it a shot.
I am pretty stoked with today's test. 5 min. Vo2 test remained the same 282 W. 20 min. FTP test 244 watts an increase of 8 watts from my last test. Nice work everyone.
FTP 225 to 235. Almost vomited at the end. I did fall over onto the couch with my bike clipped on as I had nothing left at the end. Never seen my HR go so high!!!
I did ride this in the bullhorns as opposed to aerobars (which is how I typically ride my workouts)
Well my test did not go well. FTP came in at 4 points lower than current but vo2 came in at 10 points higher ( and is now truly 120% of previous FTP value- I discovered it was at 116% previously). I went into the test a bit fatigued from working all weekend, but not too bad. But tests like this do freak me out a bit so I may have psyched myself out as well. I think I I started out too hot on the 20' tt and couldn't hold on. Looking back on the previous test I ramped up slowly, stayed in aero, and maintained a steady cadence and built to the end. Today I was all over the place. Ego is definitely feeling bruised which is not a good place to be after a weekend on call.
So, what to do? I don't want to test again.
Subjectively I feel like I am in much better shape than 7 weeks ago, and I have found the last few bike workouts only moderately difficult. I don't think I should drop my FTP number to reflect the new test. I could leave it where it is, or raise it a few (? 5w or 2%) points and see how the next few workouts go. What say you Internet?
Great job Peter!
Awesome Dave!
Kar-Ming fantastic work!
Thats my vote
@ Kar-Ming - Lucky you leaned the correct direction. Nice job on pushing your self to the limit.
@ Satish - It's only one workout so don't punish your self too much, not to mention you just did a weekend on call. My mother was an OR nurse and I know that I would not want to be doing a test after a call weekend. . I had two of three blow tests last year, mostly because I was chasing numbers. Take the 5w bump and file this experience for week 14.
Gordon
I didn't expect to see any gains in today's test given how my legs felt and the calf tightness I ended up with after Saturday's run (in fact I thought I might even lose a few points), but I didn't expect to see my FTP drop as much as it did.
At the start of the OS my VO2max power was 386, NP was 339, and my FTP was 322. Today I went out really hard on the VO2max, turned in a 388, (
), and ended up with a wicked cramp in my right quad (
). I took a little longer on the rest interval to spin, and stretch out my quads before heading back to the start of my TT course.
I started out OK, was holding my current FTP for the first 5 minutes, and things felt pretty good. The wind had picked up by a truly ridiculous margin between by VO2 and FTP intervals. As I hit more open sections of road I was getting pretty massive cross to head wind gusts and my power was jumping all over the place. I'm not trying to make excuses, but it was difficult to settle in and concentrate on my number (actually it was hard to see the number because my bike was all over the lane). I decided to ignore my PM, ride by feel and let the numbers end up where they may.
I'm not sure if the cross/tail wind I had on the way back was affecting my ability to get my watts up. I wasn't spun out, but was doing about 5mph faster over this segment than last time and it just felt like I didn't have as much to push against if that makes any sense. The most interesting difference I found between the two tests was my average cadence was 11RPM slower this time around.
Anyway. . .NP was 318, FTP 302. . .
at least I'm officially still in the 300 club. I'm going to stick with 322 as my number for now, as the workouts to date have felt fine with the ranges where they've been Anyone think otherwise?