2016/17 NOS Week 4 Bike Thread - Juggling the Schedule
Welcome to the November OS week 4 bike thread! It is a holiday week for most of us, so take a look at some of the alternative schedules Coach P published in the run thread.
The WKOs are pretty much the same as last week. It may be good to note how the efforts and heart rate compare to last week. I was looking in the wko notes and saw a topic that someone had asked about a couple of weeks ago. "Don't worry about high or low cadence on these sessions. Get the goal watts or heart rate you need at whatever cadence that happens to be at. PLENTY of time to work on ideal cadence later in the season."
I hope everyone will get some time to spend with family and friends! If your able to find unique ways to juggle the schedule, let us know.
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Is everyone doing these workouts in aero position?
Last fall, I used my road bike for all workouts from October to March, raised my FTP from 185 to 257, then got back on the tri-bike and lost 60 watts due to the closing of my hip angle. I couldn't believe it and was demotivated to say the least. I found out that some people can easily transfer power from one bike to the other. Not me. Lesson learned!
@Ashton, I tend to go back and forth between aero and sitting up. It's just whatever position I can get it done. That is quite a big difference between the road bike and tri bike power. Was it the same power meter for both? Do you need to change your tri bike position to open up the hip angle a little more?
I had a great FTP workout this morning...rather surprising. 3x11' Intervals: 1.02, 1.03, 1.08, then 1x8' at .85.
I'm also doing Thursday's bike tomorrow morning and hope to be recovered for a 5 mile turkey trot Thursday.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
@Derrek, thanks for the post link. My exact situation last year. Like you, I thought the same %FTP increase would be there on the tri-bike, even if it took a couple weeks to transition. When that didn't happen, my only conclusion was that I was using/developing specific muscles that only applied to the road bike. Once I transitioned to the the tri-bike, those muscles essentially atrophied and I was back to square one with my tri FTP. People are just built different, I guess. For all of you on the road bike, more power to you. Wish I could do it!
Good workout this morning completing the two sets of 30/30's. Had some energy left at the end, which was nice. Looking forward to my 10k tomorrow morning. Good luck to all of you racing tomorrow.
One more note, happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am thankful for all the support and guidance that I've received from you guys. I know for a fact that I would not be hitting 95% of the workouts if it were not for these forum posts, the strava kudos, and the awesome people that are on this team.
Hacked up week with today's FTP ride following 2 days of hard & steady running. I knew that today was going to be a hard one and it didn't disappoint. I even added some fuel to the fire.
60' on the trainer as:
3x9'@ 1.02, 1.04 & 1.05
Interesting discussion! I used to only have a TT bike. A couple of winters ago, I forced myself to do all my training rides in aero. I did a training plan on TrainerRoad (40K TT), and the instructions said to spend more and more time in aero as the plan progressed. I now find it very uncomfortable to not be in aero. I got a road bike last summer, and it took quite a bit of riding to feel good.
Yesterday's intervals were great. I was really struggling with the longer FTP intervals since we started, so I decided to back off a little last weekend. Yesterday I backed off a little less. I tapped the TrainerRoad number in the bottom left to 95% for the first, 97% for the second and 99% for the third. I did the Z3 at 101%. My plan is to keep ticking these up slightly each session. My results were:
@Brian, great job adjusting the percentage level in TR...very smart.
@Phil, I started with an entry-level road bike and bought a TT bike 5 years later in 2014. Now I want an upgraded road bike, but can't justify it to the wife, so I can relate.
I did my 30/30s workout on Wednesday. It was fun and not very challenging as compared to the FTP wko. All intervals were in the 1.30 - 1.33 range (using avg power/FTP). I skipped the brick run as I ran a 5 mile Turkey Trot today.
Question...and maybe this is for Coach R, can we do the 30/30s at higher than 120%, if we can consistently hold the higher power (I was at least 130% on all 24 intervals) or try to stay closer to 120% because that's where you get the best training effect?? I'm thinking about switching to the 4 or 5x4'@110% like last OS because that "felt" like a better workout.
Tuesday - 3 x 9' @ 0.99 (TR variability, not intentional), 1.03 (bumped up TR to make sure), 1.03 and 2 x 5' @ 0.91 and 0.87. Found the last Z4 interval to be tough but fair, meaning that I probably have a little room to push up this Saturday.
Thursday - agree with others above that prior year Z5 intervals seemed like more work, but I find myself able to maintain the 30/30s better. Not sure which I like more. I'm going to stick with Rich's guidance for now, but reserve the right to change as others discuss above. Got both sets of 30/30s done along with 8' of 0.83.
I'll try to get Saturday posted in a more timely fashion...
Back into the posting, to get the mojo rolling again. Did Bikes on Mon, Wed and Sat this week, due to family plans. Feeling good on the bike, and hitting and usually exceeding FTP numbers during the intervals.
Monday (tues wko) - Found that trainer road did not have a Tuesday WK4 OS Intermediate wko, so loaded up the advanced. Did 9'/10'/10'/8' Z4 intervals. No problems there. Plenty of sweat dripping after that one.
Wed (Thur wko) - Loaded up the advanced Trainer Road Z5 (low) 30/30's. Cranked out all 2 x 12 30/30's by exceeding the low Z5 numbers, but below top end Z5. Definitely felt those, as I had been doing the Intermediate and was only up to 2 x 8 30/30s previous week. I do notice I can handle 30 seconds of intense work much better than the 1'/1.5'/2' Z5 insanity of previous years. I will see how these do to raise the ceiling this year, but trust the coaches and will let the OS play out.
Sat wko - Had to shorten to 1hr 20 mins due to family responsibilities, but did Sat Intermediate 2x6' and 3x8' Z4 work. Some interruptions from my young sons during the last set, but was able to keep Z4 numbers (NP) by the end of each interval. Even hit a few 1.01 or 1.02 IF. Feeling good on the bike.
Busy weekend, so I have not had a chance to post for several days. I did the 30/30s on Thursday (Thanksgiving). They definitely are not too bad, but the Z3 has a little kick.
I did the 2 X (2 X 12') today, and I was able to hold all 4 intervals with TR set to 100%. I can definitely feel the progress after only 4 weeks!
I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Completed the 20 ea 30"/30" Vo2 sets on Thursday morning at 1.27 & 1.29 followed by a brick run to bank the calories for a day of eating that would follow.
@Derek - Each week I've been steadily increasing the intensity of all bike wko's. Kind of like adding an extra plate to the bar. I have also thought about switching to the 4x5' 1.10 sets from last OS, but have held off as I'm not sure how the additional fatigue will affect downstream wko's, specifically the added run volume. I remember being pretty spent after those 4x5' sets.
I was up late with the wife on Friday night and a 4 am wake up wasn't happening on Saturday morning. I was able to sneak in an afternoon wko, but had to cut the volume short. Thinking that I would only have an hour, I had to squeeze out a number of 5' rest periods and condensed the 5 intervals into 3.
67'
16'@ 1.04
12'@ 1.04
8'@ 1.07