JOS Week 8 Bike Thread- TEST WEEK!
I'm posting this thread a little early to get everyone thinking about the test next week. 
Here are some handy test execution tips:
http://members.endurancenation.us/R...r+Athletes
http://members.endurancenation.us/R...etes+(Bike)
Also, look back at the thread from the 1st OS Bike test and see what people did right, and wrong. (Do this BEFORE you test. 
)
http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx
It's helpful to think about some possible goals. It can also be dangerous, either possibly holding you back, or setting unrealistic expectations and blowing up too early. It is a careful balance.
This is my plan- 1) Review what I did pacing-wise for the first test. I had a great 1st test in terms of execution. Aim to repeat! 2) Look at past OS results for a target (this only applies if you've done an OS plan in the past). I improved 7% last year from 1st to 2nd test so I know that's in the ballpark for me to judge my pacing. 3) Treat the test like a race. Rest, hydrate and fuel well.
I will likely test on Sat. as it is easier to psych myself up for a Sat. am test vs. Monday after work. (I don't do pre-work am WKOs unless I absolutely have to) Do whatever gives you the best shot at a good test. Good luck everyone! Go git yerselves some hard-earned watts!
Additional pre-test tips and mojo welcome!
Comments
OK, so much for this ^^^.
Did my bike test today as I prefer testing in the am. Maybe that was my first mistake. Legs have that sore-ish, heavy feeling from the get-go but I keep thinking they'll join the party soon...
Used the Sufferfest "Rubber Glove" video for entertainment. Warmed up then did the 5' test. 9w increase vs. prior test. Good! Not great, but good. Took the 10' of rest then got into the 20' test. Plan was to start off a little higher than work my way up gradually and then give it my all in the last 5'. Except "my all" never showed up. Last test was super smooth for first 15', this time I was up and down and up and down because I couldn't "keep it up". (See Chris, girls have that prob too!
So net net, I was one watt LOWER than last test. Now I know that a bad test doesn't mean "I suck", but it sure feels like it. I've nailed every bike WKO this OK, except 2 missed VO2 WKOs. (Ironically my VO2 was what improved) so it is VERY disheartening. My highest ever FTP was 177 (outdoors) and I'm at 168 now. Is it POSSIBLE this is as high as it gets for me? Or did the last 7 weeks of training just hit my legs like a ton of bricks for test day? (I've felt pretty good most of the OS) Did my expectations mess with my head? (First test, I didn't really have any) Do I train with 168, or swag? (Maybe add 4.5% as that was my VO2 increase and try training with that?) I've been hitting most of my FTP intervals in the 1.02IF range so that doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Do I re-test maybe next week sometime, maybe Tues. in place of a reg bike WKO? Or do I list my bikes on Craiglist? (Kidding, just being dramatic) Is there a Wiki post somewhere on a failed bike test?
You know this but I'm just going to throw it out there anyway. RnP warn us that we will not be rested for the second round of tests. That is it, in a nutshell. You are working hard. Progress is being made. Just because some peeps are gonna be stoked about their 5/10/15/whatever watt bump doesn't mean anything to your progress.
You wanna swag? Swag away! Raise that bar by a couple of watts and see if the workouts ...... work out. Rich says it's like the bench press. So, put a little more weight on the bar and start doing the sets.
I, personally, wouldn't retest over and over until I get a number I like. I would do this ^.
As a matter of fact, I expect to go thru the same thing tomorrow.
You've heard my tales of woe as of late. And, I'm doing the FTP test tomorrow. I do not expect to see any big gains but I know it's b/c I'm tired right now. And, if that happens, I'm going to just put a little more weight on the bar and start lifting if for the next cycle.
Shake it off, still lots of work to do!
it is. That is what I did after wk1 test. I couldn't accept anything less than a 20% drop from my high and therefore set FTP 4W higher than test and within a few weeks was doing the wko's consistently at 5% higher, but didn't actually move FTP. It's just a number and just wasn't your day.
I've been there and I feel your pain. I remember one of your great FB laments that I so resonate with: 'all that work for a few crummy watts'
^^^ This! Take today to lick your wounds, then move on. You are definitely stronger for your OS efforts...keep on keepin' on girl!
Setup: Had 0 confidence going into this. Had plenty of hope but I felt it was delusional, at best. Legs have been tired for a week and a half. Have adjusted accordingly to stay on track but I've been in survival mode rather than attack mode.
Woke up and had a big meal of oatmeal/chia/hemp/almond butter/banana/agave with a 16oz glass of H2O + apple cider vinegar. About 8:00.
Church, then came home and cooked everyone breakfast but didn't eat any. This was tough b/c I make a killa' french toast breakfast. Instead, I threw down a couple of dates and a big bottle of water. 11:30 and off to the Pain Cave.
Ez warmup with some spin ups. Nothing official. When my legs feel like this, I preserve EVERY watt I can. So, it was totally by feel except with a few 1' builds and hi cadence spins. Most importantly, used a little Led Zeppelin to build some momentum.
Switched to AC/DC for the 5' VO2. This interval was a victory in itself. I didn't try to set a new VO2 ceiling b/c this is the stuff that has beaten me down for the last 2 Thursdays. When I completed the 5' at the prescribed watts, I, for the first time, started to get some confidence back. Still in check, but, I started to feel I had a shot to let myself get a little more aggressive than my original plan.
10' ez spin, and I mean EZ! I could care less about total wko numbers. Only concerned about the 5'/20'.
Switched to my go to: The Foo Fighters. Started out of the gate strong, plenty of space between my FTP blue box on TR and my yellow line. Good cadence, 86-89. Nice....HR is responding. This has been missing for the last week and a half. But, not today. HR responding just fine. OK, eval done, push a touch harder after a sip of water. The 2nd 5' would tell me more. Kept waiting for the grind. Got the opposite, legs actually felt warmed up and ready to go. HR up now in an area that rivals my VO2 work but that makes sense. I'm hanging around 1.1 and it's been 10' so not to worry. Sip of water, and all business for the next 5'. This is where I see Gain vs Fade. Though, I didn't continue the upslope that would have been dreamy, I wasn't about to pout or get greedy. Upslope plateaued but no fade. Kept the focus on cadence. Knew 87 held the same watts, 88 would give me ~2-3 watts, 89 yielding 3-5 watts. Made sure I stayed 88-89 as much as possible. 15' done. Sip of water, keep spinning. Broke it down into 2' of maintain, 2' of press a slight bit, 1' of Town Sign Sprint in my head with the local crew. No Fade.
It was as much a mental victory as it was a FTP bump. Going into the workout, I really pictured myself as Rocky climbing the ropes and trying to get up before Apollo. So, to even be in the game today was a win. To get any bump, was a surprise. Knowing that the intervals are now a bit higher doesn't worry me right now. Getting past this mental hurdle has given me a boost. Legs have been playing catch up but I think they're back. And, I saw that RnP put in some lighter days this week to give us some rest.
Anyhow, in summary....
new FTP getting bumped from 240 to 245.
Good Luck to all of you guys & gals. If you are doubting, like I was, trust me....you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. Fight. Scratch. Claw. Hang in there. Dig your heels in. But, fight. It may work out in your favor, it may not. But give it your best fight you can muster up!
Keep positive Kim! Take advice folks have provided. I hate testing...I do like the 'evaluation' terminology better...my swim coach says it's just one day, one test, just a check in....take the information...and move forward.
Where is this event ... Close enough, it might be worth a drive for me.
Due to the layoff I'm sort of "re-booting" my training although the nature of the "re-boot" will depend on how my body holds up to running in the days ahead. So the circumstances were actually quite good for an FTP test on the bike where I figured I could use a new baseline as I turn over a new page. My mental approach to the test was not to "target a number" but rather put in a good effort and see what happens. I think that attitude was actually really helpful on the bike tonight.
Up until now I was trying to get on the bike 3x a week and doing one FTP workout of 2x12'(4') McCrann-styles, one 4x4'(4') @100% and one ABP. I was regularly hitting around 255 watts on my first 12' interval and 260 on the second, and doing my z3/ABP time at around 225-230. My season-high FTP for the last 2 years has usually been ~255-260 and I've been pretty amazed in general that despite only 2 bike workouts/week August-Dec my FTP seems to hang out around the same area.
Of course my endurance is not great right now and I deliberately selected the 20/2/20 test protocol because we should be doing longer intervals now and I have always found the FTP from that test protocol seems to be a better guide for my training. One other decision was to do the test our of aero and in the base bars because (a) I will be doing 1-2 workouts a week on my road bike and (b) last year in training I did more intervals sitting up pushing higher watts and felt it was good for building fitness. Typically in a set of 2 long intervals I do the first one in the bars and the second one ~50-75% sitting up (more if watching a movie).
THE TEST
I tested with my dad and another buddy in the basement and we watched the re-make of Robocop in the hope that mindless violence would help with the testing. We did our standard 22' warmup that included 3x3'(1')@z3 then got into the "work".
Surprisingly I settled into a nice number and didn't feel too bad at all. HR started to creep pretty high into the 180's toward the end of the first interval but RPE wise I was feeling good and legs didn't feel bad at all. I was actually really happy to see my HR up there because although my running intervals will get me into the high 180's, I rarely get beyond the low or mid 170's on the bike. In the last 10 mins in particular I bunped the lap average up by 2 watts and was pushing low 260's which was great.
I took the 2' recovery a bit easier than I should have (I know it counts in the total so usually try to keep z1 wattage at least).
The second interval started okay with power about where the average was of the first interval. However HR got back to 180 almost immediately and things started to get harder after just a few minutes. I was not in pain and surprisingly my legs were not burning or giving out on me. But my wattage was slipping and it was tough to elevate. Clearly this was the lack of endurance and longer intervals coming home to roost. I decided to just try and keep the average locked in at 253 – no lower allowed! – and then do a big push in the last 5 minutes. I honestly didn't feel in massive pain or like I was going all-out…just a nice hard RPE like a really hard training interval…but HR was now 10bpm above that and my wattage was really fading. At this point I decided "hey, you've done 30 minutes of this, don't waste that effort by bailing out now…hang on tight or that first 30' would be worthless!".
In the last 5 minutes I just tried to push as hard as I could but the watts just weren’t there. Man I was trying though! Finally in the last 2 mins I just went "all out" and even dropped into a higher gear for the last minute. When it was all over it was like the brutality of the test hit me all at once and I was totally bagged!! But I really didn't feel that way while it was happening.
FTP based on the 42' total was 253 watts. I'm running a few lb over where I'd usually be at this point in the season (hey, minimal workouts for 2 weeks plus clients will do that to you), so watts per kg is 3.93 (should be 4.04!!). Overall I can't complain about that at all.
By the numbers:
FTP (NP for 42' total): 253
First interval: NP 258 (5' segments 256, 257, 260, 261), avg/max HR 169/180, avg cadence 90
Second interval: NP 253 (5' segments 257, 254, 250, 252), avg/max HR 181/187, avg cadence 89
Last 2 minutes: NP 258
I'm happy with the number but more importantly with the effort during the test…no "blow up", felt hard but good, got through 2x20' with my prior biggest intervals this year being 2x12'.
Garmin link: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/704079046
Early Bike Test today.
Made the mistake of doing a sufferfest video Sat Am and crapped out after 30 min when I just couldn't keep up. Also, I got off cycle and tested on the bike only about 2-3 weeks ago with a significant bump in FTP so I wasn't expecting much today. I wanted to get back on schedule with the rest of the crew so I went for it anyway.
Vo2 interval IF 1.21 at 307 watts (3.26 w/kg)
FTP interval IF 1.07 at 273 watts for a new FTP of 259 up 5 watts (2.87 w/kg)
That hurt but I will take it. The last 3 minutes I was just thinking about my massage this afternoon....
All I can really say for this test is --- I am glad it is done.
I haven't gone back and counted the number of FTP tests I have done, but this one was the worst. 5min effort felt pretty good....gave it just about all I had. Then the 20minutes began. First 5 went well...holding right at last tests numbers...2nd 5min slight bump from the first 5....then the wheels fell off during minutes 11-15. I *really* struggled to keep any sort of power output. Then the last 5min ("Hey! Only 5min to go!!) I tried to get my power back up. Like always, the last minute and change I was able to really go all out to the point where I was *spent* when the timer went off.
By the numbers I saw an ever-so-slight improvement in FTP from Week1. The tale of the tape:
It is, as they say, what it is.
VO2 Max: 265 1.29 IF
FTP: 220 1.07 IF (2.75 W/kg.)
What I expected so pretty happy with it. Now to work those 15 pounds away by May!
http://www.supersquadra.com/Events/cucina-fresca-icebreaker-time-trial.aspx
I'll review the numbers - my inside/outside are usually pretty close. I am just curious
Week 1- HRT - 168, 17.3 mph, 84 rpm
Week 8 - HRT - 165, 17.0 mph, 90 rpm
My test went exactly as I planned, including the extrmeme suck at the end.
As I mentioned in my Saturday post, I was able to hold 147 watts throughout so I based off that:
My FTP out of JOS last two years has been 150(3 w/kg)
My test wk 1 was VERY low as I wasn't recovered from the flu. I tested at 120 but couldn't bare to have it lower than 20% drop so set FTP at 124. Also Vo2 was low ans i never achieved much if a HR spike. I started at 124 but the Last several weeks I have consistently been 1.05 or better so I knew FTP was at least 130. Based on Saturday I felt I could do at least 140, and hoped for 142 as I love round numbers and that would be .95 of my high. So plan was low 140s first 5', cad 90, high 140s next two 5' with lower cad, then whatever I had last 5'.
Results:
vO2 161-went all out
20': 140 (cad 90)
147 (cad low 80s)
148. (Cad low 80s)
154-HR 176, cad 84, ready to Puke and pass out at end!
FTP-139, almost as predicted. But knowing me, and my need for round numbers and that 95%, I will probably set manually at 142.
Bike Test done and gains were much better than expected. I started the JOS having never trained with power with an estimated FTP of 200...over the last several weeks that number seemed about right. The coaches gave me a goal of 220 so that was my target for this test.
And the Results:
VO2 Max: 272
FTP: 229
Work, works. And the proper technique/cadence absolutely contributed to the gains
OS week 1 test done on trainer w road bike (tri bike is at calfee getting repaired)
VO2 was 270w 20min FTP interval was a blow up. I shot for 240 and got about 5 minutes in before i had to back off and ended up with avg power of 221 and NP of 227.
Wk8 same bike same trainer
VO2 was 278 20min ftp was 239. The 20min test got ugly towards the end. My cadence started to drop a bit but i got it done.
I had set my powerbeam for 285/245 but my quark measeured 278/239 and since I will ride by that I will use those numbers.
This gives me an ftp of 227 which is the highest number I have ever put out. I need to transition over to an HIM plan soo for galveston at the end of April but I really wish that I could stick this OS out all the way through. I'd like to shoot for 235!
Good solid work by everyone is now paying dividends.
Ok, week 8 test results are in the books - I am really pleased with my improvements.
I really need to focus on my nutrition and get my weight down - haven't moved a needle on my weight...grrr. Oh well, one step at a time - I am looking forward to the next 4 weeks!
Since I just tested recently and just got back from a mini-work / vaca combo trip, I'm loading up last week and hitting it. I'll jump back on plan next week with everyone. This morning's 2x18 were tough. Got it done @ 0.99 / 0.98. Will hit the run this afternoon.
Keep after it everyone and keep those posts coming! Work Works.
VO2
Week 1 326 => Week 8 334
NP
Week 1 277 (FTP 263 or 3.09 W/Kg) Week 8 287 (FTP 273 or 3.28 W/Kg)
Definitely need to work on the pacing but still happy with the 10 Watt bump
http://tpks.ws/qaD2
Trying to keep this straight in my head: For a HR athlete (like I am), a drop in HR from week 1's test to today's is a good thing b/c it shows the body is able to handle the work with less stress, right?
Congrats to everyone on gutting out the test. Not sure if its me, but there is something magical about hitting the 15 min mark, and knowing you are going to make it through.
I tested a few days after the ToS two weeks ago and before then at the start of the tour. Started at 180 vo2 and 179 FTP. Now at 206 vo2 and 185 FTP. I've always wanted to reach a 200w FTP - so will keep working on it but it's a huge jump up. Continuing with sufferfest knighthood quest training so serious work on the bike may pay off in a month with higher numbers.
Great job everyone! You are getting me fired up to test tomorrow!
I had one of those emotionally draining/frustrating days you can't control and I am planning (after a good nights rest) to take it out on the pedals tomorrow. Just hope I can sleep well (which has been an issue of late).
Bring it on!