Patrick Dalton's Micro-Awesomeness-Kickass Thread

NavEEd

Coach P, quick one about the tests for Power.

The power tests are broken into 2 tests.  VO2 and FTP.  Are these both supposed to be done in the same session?  

Thanks!

Coach Patrick

@Patrick, yes!!! There is more info on the test in Resources // Wiki // Cycling -- it's tough, just make sure you don't nuke yourself on the 5' test!

NavEEd

How long of a break do you take between MS's on the bike?  I take around 5', or do you aim for full recovery?

Coach Patrick

I usually take about 4 to 5 minutes....unless I am shelled then it quickly becomes like 8!!

NavEEd

Two poor bike workouts this week.  Just some ramblings/thoughts here.

The first workout (3x8'(2)@95%) I messed up the calibration on my head unit, causing the meter to be WAY off.   Ended up getting the first set out at a fairly consistent power, even though the display was off.. the other two sets were just disasterous and ended up just trying 

The weds run, I just went out and ran for 45' as Rx'd, dropping the reps due to still being on the mend.

The second bike I was just knackered for some reason.  Couldn't hold 120% for much longer than a minute.  The run after the workout was stellar however.  Felt great.    

Weird...  Weird week.  We'll see what tomorrow AM brings for the bike

Coach Patrick

@Patrick, there are lots of things that can affect your performance -- stress, lack of sleep, nutrition, etc -- so be sure to take a broad look at what's happened this week. If your ride today is still junk, I might suggest you run for time but not intensity tomorrow...keep it between Zone 1 and Zone 2. It's weird that your bike is jacked but the run is fine (fatigue usually doesn't discriminate). Please keep me posted!

NavEEd

Well the ride was crap today (indoor). Went for an easy 5k after I finished. That didn't go so hot either.

I only rode for about 20. Minutes.

Going to run for 75 or so tomorrow. Slllloooow...

NavEEd

Long run sunday was OK, had some hip pain acting up around 10k or so. Energy levels werent' too bad (pretty windy here during that)

I've a physio appointment tomorrow morning so I tried Tuesday's workout this morning. (2x12'@95%) I made it about 10' into the first interval and blew up, tried to go for the second one and couldn't hold anything of note. 3k run after, super easy, difficult.

I'm wondering if my FTP is too high. I did a test at the end of the 8 week bike focus plan before xmas, bumping my FTP from 263 to 283. I kept riding indoors over xmas doing various workouts at 95%. I came down with a cold and pretty much lost a couple of weeks after that.

I'm wondering if I should back my FTP setting down 10w to 273 or maybe a little lower for the next couple weeks and maybe re-test?

Thoughts?

Coach Patrick

@Patrick, the underperformace + hip pain has me thinking some pretty solid fatigue. I say yes to backing the FTP down again, and taking a full 48 hours off -- as in nothing between the Monday AM workout and the Wednesday AM workout. We need a bit of rest!