@KMF man - thanks. It looks like you laid some five and dime yourself in your cage match today. Hope you kept your bread and butter down. Way to drop the hammer!
Week 2 check in for me. I really thought I had done a good test but am finding that it was weak at best. I tested to an FTP of 165. I bumped it to 175 for this week because the intervals seemed a little easy compared to last year. Today I loaded up the advanced wko. 3x8. Nailed it. 1.0, 1.0, 1.0. Might need to adjust again. Plan is to just keep pushing until I figure out where I need to be. Anyway, it feels good to be getting after it again.
I went of the OS reservation and did the Disney Goofy Race last weekend, so this is a recovery week for me. I'll do 2-3 recovery rides on the trainer at Z1-Z2. No hard efforts until next week, which is hard after seeing all the great work getting done.
So, I turned off my alarm at 4:15 this am and next thing I knew it was 5:45 and I was rushing to get out of the house in 30' for my 0700 OR start. Ironically, during those stolen 90' of sleep I was dreaming about showing up late to my IM-my subconscious obviously sending the message that oversleeping was not conducive to my goals! So I had to do the drainer after work (not my favorite time to bike) but got it done. And somehow, I keep finding the wrong wkos-i mistakenly picked up the advanced and did '3x8 instead of 3x4: 1.0, 1.01, 1.02, 42' total ride. (rule #5)
I wanted to get the run in so opted for 2 miles over the 20' endurance part of the ride. Either I estimated my FTP a little low or my LSP+ running at HR goal over TRP or faster is saving my legs for the bike-not feeling the fatigue yet
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period. Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing."
I have to agree with Betsy, Rule # 10 is my favorite. I do enjoy the cage match and it is always my goal to tire the Gorilla. I will say, that this group has made the Gorilla very strong and he doesn't tire easily. The impending cage match for tomorrow has me very excited today.
@Ed - you are motivating me to get out of bed earlier!
@Robert S - Excellent illustration of my opening post - GREAT work AND so glad you interjected the rules to this season. We will need to quote them much more!
@Shaughn S - great job always performing Rules #2 &3 to the fullest!
So, I'm going to throw it out there and admit I am winging/hacking/guessing on my Tues/Thurs bikes. I bike commute 10 miles each way and I don't have time in the winter for an outside ride and run and 45 min commute. I have a dumb trainer and haven't actually tried my tri bike on it yet to see what happens with the power meter. Anyway- my intervals are by the watch and Z4 is just go super hard for the specified time on the home commute (mostly uphill) with my 10 pound backpack on. It's hard. How hard? No clue! Consolation is I have no real racing planned for next year because I'm moving jobs in July and have no idea what my workload will look like. And I'm traveling 1-2 times per month until then. So I get to just have fun and goof off hard!
Also Hacking EVERY week due to travel, (this is normal for me). Yesterday was on the hotel recumbent bike to mimic the WO for Thursday, will do Tuesday WO when I get back on Thursday. Managed the testing last week and was down 26 watts from last year not unexpected since I haven't rode since July of last year. I think I could have gone harder, so looking forward to the next testing. Looking forward to some sufferfest this weekend!
Like some of the other vets, I'd like to offer some advice to the newbies on this:
1) It's possible that if you're new, you under-tested. But if it's your second time through, it's almost certainly not. 2) These workouts in the first few weeks should be hard/uncomfortable, but doable. And in all likelihood, exceed-able...
But the vast majority of us should not go too far on the over-achievement side of things. The buildup and consistency will provide plenty of fatigue in a few weeks. If you are supposed to be doing 3 x 8' at ~1.00 now, and you're doing them at 1.08, it's less likely that you under tested and more likely that your enthusiasm and lack of fatigue is letting you get away with it now. There will soon enough come a time where getting to the end of the intervals is really tough.
To the extent that you want to overachieve more than just the littlest bit or once in a while, use the first month to prove it and re-test at the beginning of week 5.
A lot of us end up being too enthusiastic and then having to take a week somewhere in the OS where we drop all the intensity and just do the time due to fatigue. (This is certainly better than driving yourself into a brick wall, but we'd like to avoid it!) I've been there myself.
cough was really acting up and running outside today never happened, so I got on the drainer and knocked out tomorrows 4x4s
1.104 22mph
1.09 24.6mph
1.08 29mph
1.11 22.4mph
6 mins@ .82
Note that in interval 3, I got up to a higher gear early and upshifted, thus a faster speed on that interval, which had me using the "free"momentum of the flywheel of the drainer and I actually tried to slow up and reestablish the eeffort, but the flywheel just didn't slow...
hoping to get out Ed Croucher style and get a long TRP run in tomorrow AM
Whew buddy! Zone 5 is no joke. Especially on tired legs. After the second set my legs were good to go, but that was a tough one. Gotta run tomorrow as I am not able to train Saturday. Going strong.
Body and legs didn't feel like hard push this morning but once I got going it wasn't too bad and the 4 minutes didn't seem like forever. It's mostly just a mental thing and once you are over that then the body follows usually.
Posted By William Jenks on 13 Jan 2016 12:38 PM A lot of us end up being too enthusiastic and then having to take a week somewhere in the OS where we drop all the intensity and just do the time due to fatigue. (This is certainly better than driving yourself into a brick wall, but we'd like to avoid it!) I've been there myself.
It's true...you get JUST AS MUCH benefit from intervals @ 0.95IF as you do, say, @ 1.02. But, you get a lot less impact on your ability to consistently hit those downstream run an bike workouts in the coming weeks. TSS is about being tired, as much as it is about getting fit. Dont dig a hole you wont like crawling out of.
The only times I smile during the brutal 4x4'@Z5 sessions are (a) when it's over and (b) when I remind myself that 99% of my competition isn't doing this.
4 x4' with 6' rest done-1.1x2, 1.1+1watt x2. Last 6' rest I did at .5 and finally got HR down to 126. Last interval this 60yo heart hit 175-major adrenal stress! But this was easier than last thurs when I did the 2015 wko. (Rule 5)
Somehow the strava post is failing-it acknowledged I did something but 'no data'. Not sure what my linkage problem is but run yesterday didn't sync at all
@Betsy - BAM! Huge work there - guys work with me here......she's leaving us no excuses!
Some BIG wisdom in the below thread reminding us to "Stay in the Box" follow the plan, be very careful in Week 2 about over delivering.
I run all my stuff through training peaks and monitor my TSS/TSB daily. I run between -11 and -20 for a few weeks at a time then allow myself to come somewhere above 10+ to allow time to absorb that work and fitness gains to happen. Everyone, based on experience, will have different thresholds but, a very good place to start is to follow your plan as closely as possible.
Man those 4 x 4' intervals were tough this morning - seemed much harder than last week for me. Had to bail on the last one about halfway through - just did not have it today. Seemed harder than it should have. Is it possible to over-acheive on a power test? Planning on the run after work.
Jim... I'd say the only way would be if you really sandbagged the 5 minute VO2 work... Or took too much in between the 5/20. Maybe just a little fatigue setting in. Do your best... There are only a select few who can really bring it every single day. I've seen a lot of big names miss a set here or there due to fatigue. Just get mad at the next one that's scheduled and take your revenge!
I second what EE advises......listen to your body, follow the advice in Al's post below. Day by day.....
Below you can see a mathematical expression of my work mid week in Week 6 using accurate baselines and including swims. Note -20 TSB.....at this point both the math and my fatigue level have caught my attention and I am now in "Mgmt" mode being very careful to walk that thin line as I move forward before implementing a rest week.....
@SS - You sir have set the bar high, and for that I thank you.
Based on my experience from the past 3 weeks, my legs need more recovery time after the Wednesday long TRP run. VO2's on tap for tomorrow morning.
I will third what EE & SS had to say about -TSB. I completed weeks 1-8 keeping TSB's under -20 with manageable fatigue. I'm sitting in the middle of week 12 with a -13TSB and am just hammered. Hence the light day today. Live to fight another day.
Good afternoo everyone. Today is a later workout for me. I had an important responsibility to take care of this morning before I could get tomy bike. Today,I took my youngest to his Driver's License test. I am proud to say he passed the test and is a licensed driver now!!!. The celebration was a little reserved because he had to return to school. More will follow tonight. So, after he drove me back home and he went to School it was time for me to get to the cave. First, I checked to see what our team members had already accomplished. I saw some crank bending work by Shaughn, I Mike R. pushing up the bar. It was clear a mediocre ride would not be acceptable. So, I tightened up my bike shoes and got to it. I tested out my legs during interval # 1 and hit 296W for the 4 minutes. #2 came and I pushed a little harder and finished that interval at 299W. #3 came and was a brain malfunction. As the RI expired and I hit the button to start the lap, I closed my eyes and started pushing. I was planning on making this a 5 minute interval. During these VO2 intervals I usually just close my eyes and ride the first minute by feel. Well, when I opened my eyes, I realized that I did not hit the lap button. I hit the stop button and had 1 minute at +300W for no score. I settled down and started again. The best I got for the next 4 minutes was 299W, which was right at 1.196 IF. #4 & #5 I did as 5 minute intervals. I was able to ride at 286W & 285W respectively. My 1:08:31 ride earned me 100.9 Tss points. I averaged 236W (0.943 IF). I jumped on the TM to finish the WKO and my electronic issues continued. I started running and checked my watch. It was running and showed my pace. When the TM showed I was near the end of the first mile, I looked at my watch and it had turned off. So, I turned it on and kept going. By the time I was at 3 miles,(really 4) I had lost my motivation to be on the mill. Anyway, I have some celebrating to do.
As planned, I attacked the z5 interval day with a hack that goes by the name of "The McCarthy Special". A workout the 2010 inductee into the US Cycling Hall Fame wrote. It is a 10' warm-up through the full range of z1 followed by 3 brutal sets of a progress triad interval: 3x (3'@305W ~IF 0.99 right into 3'@340W ~ IF 1.10 and still no rest 3'@380W ~IF 1.23) with 9' recovery at top end of z1. If one really maxed out setting their FTP, I would be really impressed with the athlete that successfully completes all of these goals. My legs failed before my heart and lungs: 1st interval (0.98/1.03/1.06) 2nd (the closest that I came to success) (0.98/1.10/1.14) and 3rd (0.98/1.11/0.99). According to TPS somewhere in there I maxed out at 1,219W but clearly not long enough to show up on the graph. My legs are toast. http://tpks.ws/pQFtS
Word of warning. There is a method to the madness of putting those V02 sets on Thursday and NOT Tuesday!
I made the mistake on Tuesday of thinking they were VO2 sets, and did them as such. Without a rest day to recover from those- I was pretty trashed by Thursday and had to skip the workout. Got the "Tuesday" FTP intervals (and Brick run) done this morning without too much trouble, but you better believe I won't make that mistake again!!!
Comments
My check in...FTP wkos going good. On GF plan but lurking in the OS Mojo Tank.
Running is very short/consistent runs.
Healthy & strong at this point.
One workout, one sweat, at a time.
@SS-rule #10 is my favorite!
So, I turned off my alarm at 4:15 this am and next thing I knew it was 5:45 and I was rushing to get out of the house in 30' for my 0700 OR start. Ironically, during those stolen 90' of sleep I was dreaming about showing up late to my IM-my subconscious obviously sending the message that oversleeping was not conducive to my goals! So I had to do the drainer after work (not my favorite time to bike) but got it done. And somehow, I keep finding the wrong wkos-i mistakenly picked up the advanced and did '3x8 instead of 3x4: 1.0, 1.01, 1.02, 42' total ride. (rule #5)
I wanted to get the run in so opted for 2 miles over the 20' endurance part of the ride. Either I estimated my FTP a little low or my LSP+ running at HR goal over TRP or faster is saving my legs for the bike-not feeling the fatigue yet
Wowzee, had a 1 day trip to Atlanta from NY and read most of this thread on the plane home last night...
just reading all of the great wko's wore me out
@John Culberson/Mark Lane - monitor your effort, if it remains "easy" in your mind, consider swagging your FTP up a couple of watts
@trent - thinking same for you, monster effort!!
@Mike R - nothing to be said, Just STRONG! great share of the effort! nice Pain Cave - need a fan like that floor one!
@Randy - Hardcore! you define da Rulz!
@Ed - you are motivating me to get out of bed earlier!
@Robert S - Excellent illustration of my opening post - GREAT work AND so glad you interjected the rules to this season. We will need to quote them much more!
@Shaughn S - great job always performing Rules #2 &3 to the fullest!
@AL T - A very wise quote!
gotta get back to my day job.. TRP run at some point today and looking forward to tomorrow's 110% Intervals!
btw, need a new profile pic as for the winter I am in violation of rule #50, thinking I will change my name to Marco come spring time.
Like some of the other vets, I'd like to offer some advice to the newbies on this:
1) It's possible that if you're new, you under-tested. But if it's your second time through, it's almost certainly not.
2) These workouts in the first few weeks should be hard/uncomfortable, but doable. And in all likelihood, exceed-able...
But the vast majority of us should not go too far on the over-achievement side of things. The buildup and consistency will provide plenty of fatigue in a few weeks. If you are supposed to be doing 3 x 8' at ~1.00 now, and you're doing them at 1.08, it's less likely that you under tested and more likely that your enthusiasm and lack of fatigue is letting you get away with it now. There will soon enough come a time where getting to the end of the intervals is really tough.
To the extent that you want to overachieve more than just the littlest bit or once in a while, use the first month to prove it and re-test at the beginning of week 5.
A lot of us end up being too enthusiastic and then having to take a week somewhere in the OS where we drop all the intensity and just do the time due to fatigue. (This is certainly better than driving yourself into a brick wall, but we'd like to avoid it!) I've been there myself.
1.104 22mph
1.09 24.6mph
1.08 29mph
1.11 22.4mph
6 mins@ .82
Note that in interval 3, I got up to a higher gear early and upshifted, thus a faster speed on that interval, which had me using the "free"momentum of the flywheel of the drainer and I actually tried to slow up and reestablish the eeffort, but the flywheel just didn't slow...
hoping to get out Ed Croucher style and get a long TRP run in tomorrow AMGet it done everyone!
Run to follow tonight
@Scott, Thanks-I'd planned on overachieving some, my week 1 test was a little low.
Zn 5 efforts done, did a lot better executing this week, last week I hero'ed and zero'ed.
4 X 4' @ 1.11, 1.10, 1.11, 1.11 These are hard!
Got the run in as a brick.
The only times I smile during the brutal 4x4'@Z5 sessions are (a) when it's over and (b) when I remind myself that 99% of my competition isn't doing this.
Somehow the strava post is failing-it acknowledged I did something but 'no data'. Not sure what my linkage problem is but run yesterday didn't sync at all
@Betsy - BAM! Huge work there - guys work with me here......she's leaving us no excuses!
Some BIG wisdom in the below thread reminding us to "Stay in the Box" follow the plan, be very careful in Week 2 about over delivering.
I run all my stuff through training peaks and monitor my TSS/TSB daily. I run between -11 and -20 for a few weeks at a time then allow myself to come somewhere above 10+ to allow time to absorb that work and fitness gains to happen. Everyone, based on experience, will have different thresholds but, a very good place to start is to follow your plan as closely as possible.
Week 6 VO2 work this morning: https://www.strava.com/activities/470158709
More coffee please..............
I second what EE advises......listen to your body, follow the advice in Al's post below. Day by day.....
Below you can see a mathematical expression of my work mid week in Week 6 using accurate baselines and including swims. Note -20 TSB.....at this point both the math and my fatigue level have caught my attention and I am now in "Mgmt" mode being very careful to walk that thin line as I move forward before implementing a rest week.....
Based on my experience from the past 3 weeks, my legs need more recovery time after the Wednesday long TRP run. VO2's on tap for tomorrow morning.
I will third what EE & SS had to say about -TSB. I completed weeks 1-8 keeping TSB's under -20 with manageable fatigue. I'm sitting in the middle of week 12 with a -13TSB and am just hammered. Hence the light day today. Live to fight another day.
Good afternoo everyone. Today is a later workout for me. I had an important responsibility to take care of this morning before I could get tomy bike. Today,I took my youngest to his Driver's License test. I am proud to say he passed the test and is a licensed driver now!!!.
The celebration was a little reserved because he had to return to school. More will follow tonight. So, after he drove me back home and he went to School it was time for me to get to the cave. First, I checked to see what our team members had already accomplished. I saw some crank bending work by Shaughn, I Mike R. pushing up the bar. It was clear a mediocre ride would not be acceptable. So, I tightened up my bike shoes and got to it. I tested out my legs during interval # 1 and hit 296W for the 4 minutes. #2 came and I pushed a little harder and finished that interval at 299W. #3 came and was a brain malfunction. As the RI expired and I hit the button to start the lap, I closed my eyes and started pushing. I was planning on making this a 5 minute interval. During these VO2 intervals I usually just close my eyes and ride the first minute by feel. Well, when I opened my eyes, I realized that I did not hit the lap button. I hit the stop button and had 1 minute at +300W for no score. I settled down and started again. The best I got for the next 4 minutes was 299W, which was right at 1.196 IF. #4 & #5 I did as 5 minute intervals. I was able to ride at 286W & 285W respectively. My 1:08:31 ride earned me 100.9 Tss points. I averaged 236W (0.943 IF). I jumped on the TM to finish the WKO and my electronic issues continued. I started running and checked my watch. It was running and showed my pace. When the TM showed I was near the end of the first mile, I looked at my watch and it had turned off. So, I turned it on and kept going. By the time I was at 3 miles,(really 4) I had lost my motivation to be on the mill. Anyway, I have some celebrating to do.
http://tpks.ws/pQFtS
I made the mistake on Tuesday of thinking they were VO2 sets, and did them as such. Without a rest day to recover from those- I was pretty trashed by Thursday and had to skip the workout. Got the "Tuesday" FTP intervals (and Brick run) done this morning without too much trouble, but you better believe I won't make that mistake again!!!