2015/16 NOV OS bike: wk 14 You Made it!
This is it! The final week of the NOV Outseason. You have all worked really hard. Now it is time to test a final time to truly see your gains before heading on to your next training phase.
I wish you all strong test results.
I have not posted much because after agreeing to be the bike thread leader I was unable, for various reasons, to do much of the Outseason training. So, I apologize for not being a stronger presence in the forum. Thanks to all of you who did post. Keep it up this week. Let us all know how you did on your final test.
Good luck!
I wish you all strong test results.
I have not posted much because after agreeing to be the bike thread leader I was unable, for various reasons, to do much of the Outseason training. So, I apologize for not being a stronger presence in the forum. Thanks to all of you who did post. Keep it up this week. Let us all know how you did on your final test.
Good luck!
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Moved my bike test to this morning due to work issues later in the week. I always seem to under-perform for the 5 min vo2 test, but I think it is mental because of the pending 20 min of pain to follow. I snuck between 110% and 120%, but was not impressed with that result. I was able to recover and give all I had for the 20' FTP test. I was pleasantly surprised to crank out a 16 watt NP bump! I only hit a 2W bump at the week 8 test, so I was expecting very little change here. I tried one gear harder on the rear cassette, so maybe that made a difference. My body seems to settle into 85 cadence, no matter what the gearing, and my speed/power follow suit. Not sure on that front. I did fuel up with one hammer gel before the test, and one clif gel with caffeine in the 10 min rest before the 20' FTP. I usually workout on no calories each morning. The final numbers were 382W for the 5 min and 373NP for 20 mins. FTP settled out at 354NP (week 8 - 338, week 1 - 336) I would say this OS was a huge success for my bike improvement. These numbers are way above anything I have been able to hit in the past. Previous FTP max outside was 339np back in summer 2011. Work works!! Good luck with testing everyone!!
Wow! Nice effort!
Good luck everyone on their bike test!! Since I injured my calf last (2) weeks, I am not going to test as I am not running and taking it easy on the bike and mostly focusing on resting my calf so I can move forward. I started swim camp early and took a few total days off to get my head on straight! Good luck.. I will be motivated by you all
I just need to remind myself that I won't have wasted the last 12 weeks...
FTP increase
1st test : 227
2nd test 257
3nd test 269
lost 4 kg, now I am at 3,9W/kg !
Just closed on my house of 25 years and moving into the big, city tomorrow. Week 14 is a bust...but I knew it would be because of the final packing and move and now the unpacking! I am so pleased with my improvement and couldn't have done it without all the great mojo here! Will start swim camp next week and not sweat the testing, there is enough on my plate right now...hopefully it will all be reflected in my races this summer. All the best to everyone who posted and kept me feeling motivated in the dark hours of the early morning!
I started week one with an FTP of 230 and tested at 242 today. Positive....YES....but I'd like to have seen a bit more considering how hard I've worked. I think I should have taken completely off yesterday but instead I did the scheduled run.
Overall...it's been a GREAT OS and I'm happy to be near the end. I think I've only missed two wko's the entire season and should make the 78 run quota. That's A LOT of work!!!!
Thanks for all the support and kudos! It's been truly inspiring!!
Great Job Francis! I've been following you closely on Strava and am not surprised at all. It seems like you have been doing 4 rides instead of 3 per week and holding your FTP for some long sessions. Lot
Good Luck with the move Terry!
@Todd - I think you are taking the right approach.
I had a pretty big week (for me) last week and my legs are crushed. I started to test Tuesday (wanted to get it over with) and bailed after 20 minutes, because my legs were still shot. I went again last night and got a big cramp in my right calf about halfway though the 20 minute interval and bombed. I'm am going to give it a go next week.
Good luck everyone!
Ed and Francis, Awesome work and results. Now you have to live up to the numbers! Hah.
Todd, just keep building and working. It will pay off.
So this NOS has been a little distracted for me to say the least but I thought that from my last couple of bike workouts that I should be able to make some gains in this test. I was looking back over the bikes I've done since the last test and it really worked out to only two bikes per week, so I wondered how that would manifest itself today. On top of that, I did a 10.8 mile run on Sunday and my calf was barking from about mile 6 but by then I was at a place where I couldn't really cut the run short without calling my wife to come get me and I didn't have my phone with me. The pain wasn't too bad but I was aware of it. Monday I took off entirely and Tuesday I had a massage and when I got home from that my calf was even more sore. Yesterday I did a short easy run and I rode my bike to work yesterday and today. So I had a little bit of a taper.
As I was going through my recent rides I thought that I could probably do a 20 minute ride at 250 watts based on my recent Vo2 workouts where I was in the 260's for 20 minutes but with those long recoveries. so I planned out my FTP test to start at 240 watts for 2 minutes and then 250 for 12 minutes and at 15 minutes bump it up to to 260 for the last 5 minutes if I could. I set the smart pacer on the computrainer for 250 watts to keep me motivated. I warmed up for 20 minutes and then hit the Vo2. I had a slight bump in that from 274 to 279. Easy spin for 10 minutes and then zoom up to 240. At 90 seconds I was up to 250 watts and I was catching up to the pacer. At 2 minutes I passed it and kept going. Every time I would see the pacer catching up to me I would pick up the pace. At around 15 minutes the pacer passed me and I had a hard time getting back into the game but I did. I passed it again and held on. At 18 minutes I just opened it up to finish strong and leave it all out there. I finished the interval and collapsed on the aeropads. I ended up with a raw NP of 253 which translated to a 240 FTP. I was at 220 at the beginning of NOS and 226 in the middle so I'm really pleased with 240.
Last year at the end of NOS I was at 229 and ended up at the end of Get Faster at 250 so this is promising. I may have to really think about my training load and recovery based on these results. I've never been 59 before so maybe 2 intense bike workouts a week is better than 3 for this phase of training. I'm going to start a thread in the other forums to get some other opinions.
Onward and upward. Now I have to get used to new numbers.
Training Peaks file http://tpks.ws/w37fJ
Before I begin about me, let me say that it has been a pleasure to train with y'all this winter. You have been an encouragement to me and I thank you!
Failed on the FTP test on Thursday. I owned it...i knew what happened and had a plan to fix it. Retested today and went from 232 to 238 FTP. Very satisfied. After 9 months of hamstring tendonitis in 2015 and very little bike riding, I'm pretty happy to be back at this point. Here are the last 2 years on the Training Peaks Performance Management Chart. Started running again in August with some pain to get ready for a 200 mile relay in October. Then began the NOS with all of you. Peaked at 97, and that is just a few points shy of IM Boulder in 2014. Up from the 20's in summer 2015. Also dropped 7 lbs (so far) through the NOS. Not a bad start to the year!
Good training to everyone and I'll see you in the forums.
#workworks