Hit it hard on the bike this morning and felt really good. I tried to push harder into each interval and surprised myself. Looking forward to testing next week...well kind of Also, I finally installed a new battery into my HR monitor after tons of issues and that seemed to do the trick!
I haven't posted here in a very loooooong time, but many of you know I've been pretty active on Strava. Sad to say my NOS week 13 is turning into a wash: Did the real critical stuff (the 15/20/15, 3x 1mi run), but work hammered me early in the week, and now I think my body's battling a low-grade flu. Got immunized mid-December and I think that's helping keep it from turning into a full-blown sickness, but I'm gonna take today off, and if I feel OK tomorrow I'll do a light day just to keep the joints lubed.
I hate days like this: I def feel way worse about NOT working out than sick, but I'm reasoning that if I can give my bod a chance to nip this thing, a lost day or two now is much better than a lost week or two later.
OMG this was by far the hardest ride this NOS for me! Looking back I still don't know how I managed to dodge through all 5 intervals and still hitting some good numbers ... must have been in some kind of delirium ...
Overall workout 65' NP 298 (0.95) with intervals of 350 (1.12), 348 (1.11), 346 (1.11), 349 (1.12), 347 (1.11) http://tpks.ws/bFCe
Good to be done as well. 5'x4 220, IF 1.1. A bit of a silly question but new to power meter training so I will ask any way. How did you break down the individual data for the interval? Did you just restart and save each segment or is it a setting on your garmin?
Stefan's suggestion sounds great, I must try that. I have just been using the lap button on my Garmin at the appropriate times. Works fine for me. I can see the laps on Strava or Garmin Connect later.
I do it both ways as suggested by Stephan and David depending on the situation. If I'm riding or running outside I usually preprogam the workout. If I'm riding on the trainer I usually just hit the lap button but I have used a programmed workout then as well. Either way gives you laps that you can analyze at the end.
Go figure. What a difference a week makes. Last week really struggled thru the 4x5'. Hit the target in 1-3 but blew up in #4. Today, this was like a walk in the park. 1.1/1.1/1.1/1.2 + 20' @ .85. Can't explain it, but will take it.
Reid, it is amazing what a bit of rest can do to the body. I could barely run Z2 last week, but hit some good Z4 yesterday after resting up a bit more this week. I have also been wearing my compression sleeves and tights after and during workouts.
I had a decent bike session today 4x5' of sweating and fighting to get 1.085, 1.094, 1.114 & 1.104
It was a big struggle, but the thought that it was the last of these sessions got me through it.
Slow improvement today over past weeks for the 5X5' battle. Ended up with 1.08, 1.08, 1.08, 1.09, 1.09 for the intervals and I wasn't thinking of bailing half way through each one. Mental focus!
Went to the pain cave knowing I wasn't going to hit a single one of these intervals today. I figured I would just try to hit a couple watts above FTP and call it a win rather than just bailing on the workout. Things went a little better than expected. I got 4 out of the 5 in at 1.111, 1.141, 1.085, 1.103. I just could not get it together for that fifth one. I finished the workout off with 20 minutes at .928. I'm calling it a win.
Had a good workout. After reading all of the posts today, so did everyone else. Especially after hitting those hard mile intervals yesterday. Based on Saturday's ride, I hit all of the intervals. This was the best overall set of this workout since last year. I was 290W or above for all but # 4. I let that interval fall too low for me to be able to pull it back up in the end.
That was not an easy ride today. Did the main set only followed by an easy run. I've been doing the run durability hack this out season so this is the 13th week of 4x5's. and this was the hardest one to finish.
My Wednesday got messed up, so I ended up doing a bit of a swim on Wednesday and then doing the Wednesday run on Thursday morning and then the Thursday bike in the evening. Not a good idea necessarily! That bike was a struggle. I got the full 25 min of high power in but had to break it up after having run so hard in the morning. Clearly enough, I haven't elevated my FTP in this last 6 weeks of the OS (much), but I feel like I've solidified it. At the beginning of the 6 weeks, just making things was really rough...now I'm climbing to the place where I feel comfortable with it.
So today is my 42nd Birthday! Took off yesterday to rest up for my ride today. Didn't help. Life intervened yesterday.
But today I rode out with my wonderful hubs. Great ride other that I was absolutely exhausted. I haven't slept much the last couple days. It was so cold. The farther we rode the colder it got! My toes were frozen. Had a great time though. Stopped and ate a celebratory sticky bun and chia tea. Yummy.
I have a new garmin 920xt. Isn't there a way to have garmin cross to strava? Or is it just auto to Garmin connect?
Garmin Connect will automatically push your workouts to other services, including Strava. To set up Strava to receive the updates, go to the upload from a device page at https://www.strava.com/upload/device and click "Get Started" under the Garmin logo. HTH
The numbers some of yall are putting up are pretty mind-blowing! Inspirational!
Sat Bike workout done. This one was tough. I always do the warm up the same to get repeatable HR numbers, today it was 137 bpm, and it has always been 133 of late. I don't feel ill, but do feel some fatigue. During the main sets my sweat rate seemed a little higher than usual too, so I backed off just a little. Still had a good wko.
Oh my dear this was a real sufferfest today! When I hopped on the bike my legs felt like I wouldn't be able to do even one of the intervals but 5' into the first interval it somehow got a tick easier. Not really much but just enough to keep me going forward instead of backing up or do something else stupid This 90' today felt like forever but a NP of 288 @ IF 0.92 was the reward for that fight! Even the interval metrics are damn close to were I wanted them to be: 20' @ 311W (1.00) 20' @ 309W (0.99) 12' @ 310W (0.99)
Today was a complete cage match. I am pretty sure the Gorilla had my play book because everything I did to try and gain a little advantage, he was ready for and just kept hitting me harder. The combination of the swim and run yesterday were very present this morning. In addition to that, my wife and I went out with some couples from the neighborhood. I didn't do anything to hurt myself chemically, but we were out until after midnight. Anyway, I came away from the bike bloody. My intervals were in the range and nearly where I wanted, but how I got there was no fun. Fortunately there was a run after the bike that at least made me feel good.
Saturday workout done and boy was it hard. I echo what others have said about being a cage match and suferfest. Just tried to stare at my Garmin to keep the power in range. Fell off a little for the last one but stayed in my range so I'll take it. 20' 295, 20' 294, 12' 291. Now if Garmin connect would just upload my workout!
Tired but glad to be done and glad about learning how to use my garmin effectively 20' 223, 1.1; 81 cadence 20' 218,, 1.0; 82 cadence 5' 220, 1.1; 81 cadence I was interested in seeing if I could up my cadence and keep my numbers where they should be since my cadence has often been to slow. I assume this will help me smooth out my riding?
Felt pretty good going into ride today having had nearly 36 hrs rest between yesterdays Z5's and today's Z4's.
Trying to get a sense for what to target next week in the ftp test so decided to try and push it up a few more watts today. It was tough but very pleased to have hit 20' @ 1.04IF, 20' @ 1.04IF, and 5' @ 1.06IF. I've had a nice steady progression on those intervals the last few weeks so feeling like the gains are coming... wk10 @ 1.00, wk11 @ 1.01, wk12 @ 1.03
Got the brick run in before sundown for a few miles and it felt good to loosen up. Now some rest, stretching, and core the next 2 days, then onto test week!
I had a pretty good day. Managed 251 W for each of the three segments (20/20/12). There's kick in the old boy yet. :-) Even had a little it left for the last few minutes in bringing it up to 90 minutes. http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/681598660
We were going to have really nice weather today, so I waited until afternoon so I could bike and then immediately run after. Worked out well with the family, too. :-) Run itself was nothing special, but did manage to reverse split.
I'm probably going to stick with a plan like this for the next couple of months, so I may not do a test week next week...will probably run again tomorrow. When I signed up for NOS, it was largely because of mental health. I don't have a super early IM and it's still going to be too cold (and rainy) here to do a lot of outdoor riding until some time in March....and I know if my FTP has bumped any, it's not by much...since I tested at 255 or so, but I've been doing the FTP segments more around 250. Nonetheless, I think that was a wise call because it has let me come through this without being completely wiped out or burnt out...the FTP intervals in this last 6 weeks are longer than the ones in the First 8...which, combined with the naturally higher figure, makes them awfully darn hard.
Hey folks. I'm seeing a lot of suffering out there and knocking out that gorilla. Way to go!!!
Just before Christmas I applied for a new job and got asked to move to the second phase which was to write a 5 page briefing paper. I had a little over two weeks to do that so I worked on it over Christmas and the New Years week. I ended up reading over 500 pages of material to write that paper so it was a lot of work. I found out on Jan. 13 that I had made it to the next stage which was a presentation of my paper and an interview. The interview was Friday so on Thursday I was doing last minute stuff preparing for the presentation and the interview so I postponed the Thursday bike ride until after the interview.
So Friday came around and I went and did the interview and presentation. It went well and I came home and had lunch and a nap. After the nap I got on the bike and it didn't go well. I didn't have any mental energy to push myself. I had been running on nervous energy all morning and there was nothing left in the mental 6 pack. I did the 4-5 minute intervals anyway and they were all below the target but they felt really hard. I finished up with 10 at 0.81 and cooled down and called it a day.
I decided then that I would take today off and ride and run on Sunday because it's supposed to be sunny and in the 60's so a ride outside is in order. I'm glad I made that decision because today I woke up and felt worse than when I have the post IM let down. I was shelled. Luckily I'm feeling a lot better as the day goes on but I was not aware how much that whole process took out of me. Between the job application and giving blood it has taken a toll on the NOS workouts this year. Such is life. As Rich says this is just a game.
Luckily I'll find out at the first of the week if I've passed this stage as the next stage is for the final candidates to meet with the division director. We'lll see...
Congrats Mark on the interview success. It is no joke that stress has a huge impact on how we perform as "athletes". It has been interesting to follow your saga after giving blood. Take it easy and recover well. I rode on my FTP test course today which is approx 20’ with a big hill for about 13 of it. I did two of these at almost exactly 1.0 but VI was high for sure. I tried to add 5 min Z4 but had to pull the plug on that as my legs were cooked. Boy am I glad tomorrow is a rest day. Just before my ride I had bike fits done on both my Tri and road bikes. I am starting to prep my tri bike now and put new tape on the bars got a new Sitero saddle and have ordered a chain. I also got my first pair of tri bike shoes, so wanted to get it all dialed in. I ended up with my seat going about 1cm higher on both bikes. My fitter (a physical therapist and multiple KQ triathlete) informed me this would work my hamstrings more and he was right! I like my new position on my road bike though. I will test my tri bike out on the trainer first as I want to be able to return the saddle if I don't like it. I think I will though. It is a bit narrower at the tip versus the Adamo TT I have been using and it has been chafing. Not sure how the position change may affect testing next week. But it feels unlikely my FTP will change much based on today's ride.
Comments
Thur. Bike workout done. My numbers were ok, but it was a real struggle! Hope it's just the cumulative effect of where we are in the OS.
EN WU(133bpm), 4X5' @ 1.12, 1.11, 1.11, 1.096
Also, I finally installed a new battery into my HR monitor after tons of issues and that seemed to do the trick!
5 x 5' @ 1.11, 1.12, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14
15' @ .87
115min / .92 IF
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/679850184
I haven't posted here in a very loooooong time, but many of you know I've been pretty active on Strava. Sad to say my NOS week 13 is turning into a wash: Did the real critical stuff (the 15/20/15, 3x 1mi run), but work hammered me early in the week, and now I think my body's battling a low-grade flu. Got immunized mid-December and I think that's helping keep it from turning into a full-blown sickness, but I'm gonna take today off, and if I feel OK tomorrow I'll do a light day just to keep the joints lubed.
I hate days like this: I def feel way worse about NOT working out than sick, but I'm reasoning that if I can give my bod a chance to nip this thing, a lost day or two now is much better than a lost week or two later.
I'll be kudoing y'all on Strava!
Overall workout 65' NP 298 (0.95) with intervals of 350 (1.12), 348 (1.11), 346 (1.11), 349 (1.12), 347 (1.11)
http://tpks.ws/bFCe
5'x4 220, IF 1.1.
A bit of a silly question but new to power meter training so I will ask any way. How did you break down the individual data for the interval? Did you just restart and save each segment or is it a setting on your garmin?
Stefan's suggestion sounds great, I must try that. I have just been using the lap button on my Garmin at the appropriate times. Works fine for me. I can see the laps on Strava or Garmin Connect later.
Go figure. What a difference a week makes. Last week really struggled thru the 4x5'. Hit the target in 1-3 but blew up in #4. Today, this was like a walk in the park. 1.1/1.1/1.1/1.2 + 20' @ .85. Can't explain it, but will take it.
Reid, it is amazing what a bit of rest can do to the body. I could barely run Z2 last week, but hit some good Z4 yesterday after resting up a bit more this week. I have also been wearing my compression sleeves and tights after and during workouts.
I had a decent bike session today 4x5' of sweating and fighting to get 1.085, 1.094, 1.114 & 1.104
It was a big struggle, but the thought that it was the last of these sessions got me through it.
Had a good workout. After reading all of the posts today, so did everyone else. Especially after hitting those hard mile intervals yesterday. Based on Saturday's ride, I hit all of the intervals. This was the best overall set of this workout since last year. I was 290W or above for all but # 4. I let that interval fall too low for me to be able to pull it back up in the end.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/680176471
That was not an easy ride today. Did the main set only followed by an easy run. I've been doing the run durability hack this out season so this is the 13th week of 4x5's. and this was the hardest one to finish.
Intervals : 4 x 5 min @ 1.09, 1.11, 1.06 ,1.09
Can't believe we're just about to this phase ... and the beginning of a new one!
WU w/ 12' Z3 @ 0.85IF then...
5' @ 331 1.10
5' @ 336 1.12
5' @ 337 1.12
5' @ 342 1.14
Good way to start my Friday!
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/680748714
So today is my 42nd Birthday! Took off yesterday to rest up for my ride today. Didn't help. Life intervened yesterday.
But today I rode out with my wonderful hubs. Great ride other that I was absolutely exhausted. I haven't slept much the last couple days. It was so cold. The farther we rode the colder it got! My toes were frozen. Had a great time though. Stopped and ate a celebratory sticky bun and chia tea. Yummy.
I have a new garmin 920xt. Isn't there a way to have garmin cross to strava? Or is it just auto to Garmin connect?
Thanks everyone. Have a great rest day. I am!
Happy Birthday Jacklyn!
Garmin Connect will automatically push your workouts to other services, including Strava. To set up Strava to receive the updates, go to the upload from a device page at https://www.strava.com/upload/device and click "Get Started" under the Garmin logo. HTH
The numbers some of yall are putting up are pretty mind-blowing! Inspirational!
Sat Bike workout done. This one was tough. I always do the warm up the same to get repeatable HR numbers, today it was 137 bpm, and it has always been 133 of late. I don't feel ill, but do feel some fatigue. During the main sets my sweat rate seemed a little higher than usual too, so I backed off just a little. Still had a good wko.
20'@238w=.99, 20'@235w=.98, 5'@240w=1.0 w/ a nice long CD.
I'll have to do the run later, or even tomorrow am.
This 90' today felt like forever but a NP of 288 @ IF 0.92 was the reward for that fight!
Even the interval metrics are damn close to were I wanted them to be:
20' @ 311W (1.00)
20' @ 309W (0.99)
12' @ 310W (0.99)
http://tpks.ws/W7Ad
Run to follow a few hours later ...
Today was a complete cage match. I am pretty sure the Gorilla had my play book because everything I did to try and gain a little advantage, he was ready for and just kept hitting me harder. The combination of the swim and run yesterday were very present this morning. In addition to that, my wife and I went out with some couples from the neighborhood. I didn't do anything to hurt myself chemically, but we were out until after midnight. Anyway, I came away from the bike bloody. My intervals were in the range and nearly where I wanted, but how I got there was no fun. Fortunately there was a run after the bike that at least made me feel good.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/681406477
20' 223, 1.1; 81 cadence
20' 218,, 1.0; 82 cadence
5' 220, 1.1; 81 cadence
I was interested in seeing if I could up my cadence and keep my numbers where they should be since my cadence has often been to slow. I assume this will help me smooth out my riding?
Brick run 2.7 miles easy.
Trying to get a sense for what to target next week in the ftp test so decided to try and push it up a few more watts today.
It was tough but very pleased to have hit 20' @ 1.04IF, 20' @ 1.04IF, and 5' @ 1.06IF.
I've had a nice steady progression on those intervals the last few weeks so feeling like the gains are coming... wk10 @ 1.00, wk11 @ 1.01, wk12 @ 1.03
Got the brick run in before sundown for a few miles and it felt good to loosen up.
Now some rest, stretching, and core the next 2 days, then onto test week!
https://www.strava.com/activities/245565609
Enjoy the rest of the weekend crew!
@ Mike Shubert-Thank you! I couldn't figure it out from the Garmin side.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/681598660
We were going to have really nice weather today, so I waited until afternoon so I could bike and then immediately run after. Worked out well with the family, too. :-) Run itself was nothing special, but did manage to reverse split.
I'm probably going to stick with a plan like this for the next couple of months, so I may not do a test week next week...will probably run again tomorrow. When I signed up for NOS, it was largely because of mental health. I don't have a super early IM and it's still going to be too cold (and rainy) here to do a lot of outdoor riding until some time in March....and I know if my FTP has bumped any, it's not by much...since I tested at 255 or so, but I've been doing the FTP segments more around 250. Nonetheless, I think that was a wise call because it has let me come through this without being completely wiped out or burnt out...the FTP intervals in this last 6 weeks are longer than the ones in the First 8...which, combined with the naturally higher figure, makes them awfully darn hard.
Hey folks. I'm seeing a lot of suffering out there and knocking out that gorilla. Way to go!!!
Just before Christmas I applied for a new job and got asked to move to the second phase which was to write a 5 page briefing paper. I had a little over two weeks to do that so I worked on it over Christmas and the New Years week. I ended up reading over 500 pages of material to write that paper so it was a lot of work. I found out on Jan. 13 that I had made it to the next stage which was a presentation of my paper and an interview. The interview was Friday so on Thursday I was doing last minute stuff preparing for the presentation and the interview so I postponed the Thursday bike ride until after the interview.
So Friday came around and I went and did the interview and presentation. It went well and I came home and had lunch and a nap. After the nap I got on the bike and it didn't go well. I didn't have any mental energy to push myself. I had been running on nervous energy all morning and there was nothing left in the mental 6 pack. I did the 4-5 minute intervals anyway and they were all below the target but they felt really hard. I finished up with 10 at 0.81 and cooled down and called it a day.
I decided then that I would take today off and ride and run on Sunday because it's supposed to be sunny and in the 60's so a ride outside is in order. I'm glad I made that decision because today I woke up and felt worse than when I have the post IM let down. I was shelled. Luckily I'm feeling a lot better as the day goes on but I was not aware how much that whole process took out of me. Between the job application and giving blood it has taken a toll on the NOS workouts this year. Such is life. As Rich says this is just a game.
Luckily I'll find out at the first of the week if I've passed this stage as the next stage is for the final candidates to meet with the division director. We'lll see...
Have a good weekend everyone.
I rode on my FTP test course today which is approx 20’ with a big hill for about 13 of it. I did two of these at almost exactly 1.0 but VI was high for sure. I tried to add 5 min Z4 but had to pull the plug on that as my legs were cooked. Boy am I glad tomorrow is a rest day.
Just before my ride I had bike fits done on both my Tri and road bikes. I am starting to prep my tri bike now and put new tape on the bars got a new Sitero saddle and have ordered a chain. I also got my first pair of tri bike shoes, so wanted to get it all dialed in. I ended up with my seat going about 1cm higher on both bikes. My fitter (a physical therapist and multiple KQ triathlete) informed me this would work my hamstrings more and he was right! I like my new position on my road bike though. I will test my tri bike out on the trainer first as I want to be able to return the saddle if I don't like it. I think I will though. It is a bit narrower at the tip versus the Adamo TT I have been using and it has been chafing.
Not sure how the position change may affect testing next week. But it feels unlikely my FTP will change much based on today's ride.