2015 NOS Week 1 Bike – The First Test

drjohnson08

Welcome to the 2015 November OS!  I hope you are as excited about getting back
to work as I am.  14 weeks seems like a
long time right now but it will be over before you know it.  So, try to be as consistent as possible and bring
your A game to every workout and you will lay the foundation for those race PR’s,
podiums and 1^st time finishes next summer.  You will be a transformed athlete when you
exit the OS!

 

Brenda shared some great resources in the introductory
thread.  Here they are again along with a
few others:

Wiki OS Master Page     http://members.endurancenation.us/R...aster+Page                   

Wiki OS Best Practices  http://members.endurancenation.us/R...ctices+Doc

How to Prepare for your Best OS  http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

The Vets OS Advice for the Noobs  http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

 

A few other cool
threads:

OS Core and Swim Preparation  http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

2015 Heads We Win/Tails You Lose  http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

The Watts per Kilo Klub (WKK)  http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

The WKK tracker  http://wkk.marcrobards.com/main

You Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine  http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

 

Alright team, let it rip.  Tell us how those tests went and how bad it
hurt!

Edwin Croucher

Nice welcome Doug. Thanks for leading the OS. I'm looking forward to all the fun to follow.

Steve West

Doug, thanks for leading.... going to be a good OS for sure!

Great list of resources too. Well worth the time to scan/read thru them all.... especially The Vets OS Advice for the Noobs thread: http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/10100/Default.aspx

Lots of great stuff and reminders even if you have been down this OS road before.

See Y'all in the pain cave!

Brenda Ross

Going to do my bike test today in 30 minutes. Have not been on my bike since the first weekend in September, so I am curious to see what will come of this. I will check in later.

rlh2000

Go Brenda Go! Sticking with my numbers from a bike test from about a month ago, as I have barely been biking since then (HM training) and don't want a bike test in my HM taper week. I figure in a couple weeks if it's feeling too easy I can bump it a bit before the halfway test. Embrace the pain everyone! 20 minutes of hell!

Coach Rich

Thanks for starting this thread!

Jonathan Rothberg, Dino Sarti, Chris Kuebert and I started our OS early, testing on the bike yesterday by TT'ing up Glendora Mtn Road in the San Gabriel mountains. The road is 8 miles at 5-6%, ~2800ft total gain. 

The Ride on Strava

The Ride on Garmin Connect

Results:

• 44:19
• 273w <--calling this my FTP, close enough, since all I do right now is climb on a road bike.</li>
  
• 3.47 w/kg <-- at 173lb</li>
  

Goal for end of the NovOS is 295w @ ~160-162lb = 4.0w/kg.

My long term goal is 315w @ 150-153lb = 4.55w/kg, by 8/25/15, before IMWI

I have a verrrry long history on this hill. See this spreadsheet started in '07, but I've been TT'ing this thing since at least '02. PR, I think, is 38:35 on a training ride in 2010 when I was training for Everest Challenge...and apparently hitting the crack pipe at the bottom 

Brenda Ross

Well I got it done. Almost thru up after the V02 section. Numbers are pretty low. I think they are the lowest they have ever been, but I guess there is no place to go but up. Think I will keep my numbers to myself for now. Hope everyone else has great tests.

baprince15

I just tested and remember why I both love and hate testing.
Based on TrainerRoad, which I'll be using throughout the OS, my starting FTP is 201 (95% of 212).
This is WAY off from 220 from my final test prepping for IMBoulder, but after essentially taking the last 3 months off the bike, it could be worse.

Craig Marchione

I was a little early in my testing as well. I did not lose anything from my last test so will start with an FTP of 228 and a W/kg of 3.03. Testing is so much "fun".

Joe Hallatschek

@Brenda - same here. I put my bike up weeks ago and won't see numbers like I had last year for some time!

rlh2000

Brenda- you did just do a marathon a couple weeks ago. No shame at all, regardless of what your bike test shows!

Brenda Ross

Thanks guys and gals. This is what is so great about having a group to train with. Everyone helps you keep perspective. Next up....treadmill test, as I am sure that I will be running on that bad boy for most of the winter (ugh)

Julie Pfeifle

So.. do you all use TrainerRoad?? I joined it a few months ago, but... have never used it. I just re-opened it, and updated a few things (like my weight... dang it!), but am wondering if you find it worthwhile. I have a Quarq that I've been training with for a couple years, so don't need the Virtual Power. I also don't have a speed/cadence sensor (as I've just used the GPS on my Garmin for outside speed/distance) and the Quarq picks up the cadence somehow. I haven't really worried about speed/distance on the trainer. Should I?
Thanks! Looking forward (but nervous) about the test tomorrow! It's going to be very sad...

rlh2000

Yes, TR is totally worth it!! I have a powermeter and use it. The interface is great. Try it and you won't go back to your measely garmin while on the trainer! You don't need to have speed/cadence sensor for trainerroad if you have a powermeter, would just be extra metrics, but speed isn't important in general on a trainer when you have power.

I'd say the general consensus is TrainerRoad is definitely not necessary, but for $10 a month, it is a really nice bonus.

Mark Lane

  Brutal bike test! First time that I have lost watts, but no excuses. OS starting FTP @ 233w, and I'm still in the ballpark for my goal of 250w.

drjohnson08

Great work so far with those tests everybody.

Julie, I have a PM and use TR. The visual helps a lot when those intervals start hurting. Another cool thing is the OS workouts are uploaded to TR. No need to worry about speed or distance on the trainer. I still use my Garmin to upload to WKO, Strava, etc

Trent Prough

Dreaded bike test done!! Results = FTP of 239 on kickr and 251 on Garmin.
Lot's of work to do!!! at least I squeaked in under 150lbs at 149 for w/kg of 3.53
Paced it way wrong...like I thought I was in IM shape back before I was 40. (high hopes)

I am throwing it out there to all... my goal for the OS is to drop 10lbs or close to it in weight and bump FTP north of 270 to get over the 4 w/kg
Guess I deserved the horrible pacing effort for not doing a test in over 2 years and doodling around.

Steve West

Pathetic failure this AM. I say pathetic because despite my strong desire to convert my circadian clock from a PM person to an AM person, I was unable to muster much today. Granted I have not been biking in 9+ weeks and I haven't been getting up at 4:30 for a while. But I thought if I wanted it bad enough, I could make it happen.

After 25 minutes of warm up and several attempts to spin up to 100%, the best I could get to was about 80% and even worse was I couldn't hold it. So tonight after work I will go again, this time there will be no "do it later" option. To be fair, in the past 5 years less than 40 of my workouts were before noon, and only about 10 were at 0:dark:30

Congrats to all who got it done this morning.....

Jan Schorpion

Glad the FTP is over, at least for a few weeks. Highest FTP ever for me. 249W, 3.77 W/kg. It is probably highest because it is my most accurate test I think. I bought a Powertap last year, but never used it on the trainer because I didn't want to use my road tire on the trainer. But I put my trainer tire on the Power tap for the winter and so its an increase of 10W compared to a FTP test I did in mid September ( 238). 

Mark Cardinale

Bike test done and i can only restate how much i hate doing FTP tests!  Total mental challenge to make it through those 20 minutes.  Got it done and came away with a starting FTP of 247, down 8 watts from my 2014 FTP.  This is right about where i thought i would be given my last race was just 3 weeks ago.  This puts me at 3.55 watts/kg.  Last OS i started 20+ watts down from my 2013 FTP so i feel like i'm carrying much more fitness into this OS that hopefully i can build upon.

Great job everyone!  Keep posting and remember where you start isn't nearly as important as where you finish!

@Steve, i'm sure you'll post better numbers at after work.  I'm just the opposite where i tend to perform better in the morning when i'm fresh and rested.  Good luck!

Mariah Bridges

Following along as I just finished B2B- will be entering the OS in a week or so. That just means everyone has to work extra hard for me since I am resting. RIGHT?!?!?! Y'all are rockstars so I know you can handle it.

Gonzalo Canteros Paz

I am resting today as I did a 400m/15mi/3.5mi Tri with my 10yr old yesterday. I won AG (same as last yr) and 6th overall and he went from 2:26hr(last yr) to 1:46 !.
I had to do this one to support him! . I also did the Columbus Marathon for a PR of 3:36 last Sunday 10/19.

So...will test tomorrow night and we'll see what I have left...to then start 100% focused on NOS !

Good job those who did it today !

[Deleted User]

--EDIT--

Updated to take NP instead of AvgP

Ok - my first time training w/ REAL Power, so excited to get down to business!

Previously had based on HR, then TrainerRoad Virtual Power (which is actually pretty slick)... but nice to have some REAL numbers now.



Ended up restarting the workout between the 5 & 20' test so 2 parts to the file.



5' NPower = 338

20' NPower = 293

FTP = 294 * .95 = 279 / 174lbs = 3.53w/kg

Goal FTP = 305 @ 167lbs = 4.0w/kg



http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1178888-2014-Test-Power-5-min-20-min

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1178923-2014-Test-Power-5-min-20-min

Nate Parady

Did my test last week before taking some vacation time and came in at 215. Only 13 watts down from my all time high. Not bad as I had estimated it to be 217. Not a bad guess.

I'm making this OS a bike focus and would love to be at 240 by Feb/March. Lots of work to do.

Really need to work on pushing my VO2 up so the FTP can grow.

Stevens32

I have little numbers, a good deal below where I was last year, but I got the test done! It's a place to start! Great job everyone, way to get the work done

 

oh and who wants to tell me how to change the 'tag' on my post…it's clearly outdated and I forgot thanks!

Todd Glass

Nothing like that first test to bring a little bit of huliity along with a lot of pain to my training plan.  No place to go but up. 

Dino Sarti

Pretty good test on Saturday with a few SoCal EN peeps. Protocol was a Time Trial up a pretty famous local climb called "GMR" (Glendora Mountain Road). The details are in the screen capture below. It's 8.51 miles at an average of 4.7% grade. I was able to do it with a pretty steady effort at 1.04 IF with a VI of 1.01 producing 805kj in about 50 minutes. 2200 feet of gain in 8.5 miles over the course of 50 minutes is no joke. If you are from a flat state, come to GMR and it will change your notion of what hills are.



The key for me was pacing. I started out at 300 watts for a few moments, but I knew that was just not sustainable for me. So I dialed back to about 265, which is what I geusstimated my FTP to be. My thinking was by definition I should be able to hold 265 for an hour. After the first 15 minutes, I really started to focus on my IF number. Since it has 3 decimal points, it moves faster that the Normal Power number because of the smaller scale. So by watching IF move up a few numbers, I new I would pick up another watt, and another watt and so on.

As a result, my normal power for the second half was greater than my Normal Power for the first half. I actually came up 1 watt in the final couple minutes to finish at 275.

Implications:
1. I need to lose weight. I looked at coach Rich's numbers and we produced about the same power, BUT he was about 5 minutes faster than me because he is 20 POUNDS lighter than me. Watts/kilo is a cruel bitch!

2. I went 49:13. My PR from early 2012 was 49:10. I went back and looked at the numbers. I made less power is 2012, but I was also 15 pounds LIGHTER. Watts/kilo is a cruel bitch.

3. I need to focus on making more power, BUT my primary focus needs to be losing 20 pounds. Making more power at this weight is just silly. So, for the OS my most IMPORTANT workout will occur 5-6 times daily whenever I eat something! Watts/kilo is a cruel bitch.

Edwin Croucher

Followed up last week's bloody cage match with another on today. My numbers were not much better, but the actual fight was way better. Reverted to the older 2 X 20' protocol. It prolongs the pain, but it really feels more like What I have for an hour. End result is still the lowest FTP I've tested in a couple years. That just gives me a bigger target to shoot for. I based my vdot on the 1/2 marathon I did on October 19th

FTP 250 NP, Weight 157 W/kg 3.50 vdot 49

[Deleted User]

Rookie question as I see everyone posting their data ... is FTP and the resulting Training Zones based on NP or Average Power?
I understand "NP" is more representative of the physical toll on your body and accounts more for surges/spikes ...mine are only a few points different between them, but want to be looking at the "correct" number nonetheless!

Edwin Croucher

@ David, Results are usually based on NP. However, if you are doing intervals that are under 5 minutes, NP is not accurate.(Check "Training & Racing with a power meter) Whatever number you use. just be consistent. That with give you the most accurate view of your improvement,

Gordon Cherwoniak

Well got the test done, 215 is my new FTP with my Vo2 @ 257.  Basically where I started last year and worlds away from my best FTP of 260. 

Let's just say I've got lost of work to do and not much fitness.  My shining example is that my tri bike did not make it off the trainer from last year.  I pulled the plug on Lake Placid and road my mountain bike some. I'm in run Jail and will ride 3-4 times a week.  Further I have committed to working out with my brother 3X a week as he get back in shape.

My goal is a 250 FTP at the end of the OS, with thoughts of reaching for 260.  I'll have a couple weeks off the bike from Dec 26-Jan 9th and may just extend my OS as I have time.