2016/17 NOS Week 6 Bike Thread - Raising the Roof
Welcome to the week 6 bike thread! This weeks bike WKOs look pretty much the same as last week. You should notice the efforts getting more manageable (but definitely not easy). I saw a number of you have posted that you've bumped up the watts a bit. This is great as long as you don't go from hero to zero. Coach Rich addressed that subject and others in last week's webinar, "Build Your FAST Bike in the Outseason".
It is located at here:
Coach Rich talks about a number of things including the concept of using the Tuesday and Saturday FTP intervals to raise your bike fitness ceiling. He also explains how we use the Thursday Vo2 Max intervals to raise the roof to make more room to raise the ceiling higher. He also addresses a lot of questions we've been asking and discussing here in the forum.
I loved all the gorilla fighting analogies in last weeks posts. Let's keep up the fight! Also, Phil made some awesome comments on fatigue in the run forum. The same applies to the bike.
Comments
Have fun everyone!
I managed the 2' rest interval much better this week and hit the intervals at 1.0, 1.02 & 1.02. I created a custom warm-up to include a couple of 1' spin ups on 1' rest. I find these help me prepare for the work better than the warm up the coaches have pre-loaded into Trainer Road.
@ Patrick - I normally have a coffee and take a gel prior to the work. I can't seem to manage solid food for whatever reason and find my body responds better with this recipe. I do however try to eat a pretty decent breakfast afterwards (eggs, oatmeal, fruit) and take in more sports drink to prepare myself for the days second session.
Keep up the solid work everyone!!
I completed the bike and will do the run at lunch today. It was a tough bike workout, in a good way.
@Patrick - assuming you don't do a hard late night training session with no recovery meal, your muscles should be fully charged (muscle glycogen topped off) to get a good solid 60-90min workout. I don't usually eat anything before my early sessions. I'll drink something - water or a little Gatorade. While on the bike I will have a gel after 15min if the session is 60'+. Any hunger pains usually go away within the first 10min. If you had a hard brick session last workout, try a different fuel plan half way into the bike - up the calories, eat something solid, or try all liquid. Or maybe not change a thing, one off session could be due to issues unrelated to nutrition (accumulated fatigue, sleep, stress...). I wouldn't change what normally works based on one off-workout. Give it one more shot, then adjust.
I switched from my road bike to riding my tri bike 4 workouts ago, which I hadn't ridden for over a year.
my power dropped off 30-40 watts immediately, my quads and back were sore in the new position - I just couldn't push the power up.
since my vo2max workout watts were high and rising, i hoped my ftp watts would come back with time
today, I knew I was on within 10 seconds of starting the first interval - high watts and good legs - I just felt fast
today - 2x20' @ 262w/267w x .95 = 254w ftp
started riding on 8/28 @ 190w ftp, week 1 of OS was 220w, now 254w, + 15% in OS
Can anyone advise how to remove myself from this thread? I don't have an unsubscribe button. Thanks...
3x13' at 1.10, 1.10, 1.06 with 27' brick run for 3.5 miles; i'm definitely expecting a nice FTP bump in week 8
work holiday party tonight (bowling), so another opportunity for core work..lol
Great to see everyone doing so great!
@Patrick - I don't eat anything for a 60-75 min workout. If I have a brick, I will eat a gel before the end of the bike for a boost. Most of the time just water to drink, but if it's testing days, I will eat gels before, and during the workouts to maximize potential - maybe just mental though.
Got the 3x10' z4 work done with some fatigue noticed. 1.02, 1,02, 1.02 Wanted to try to reach a little higher today to get ready for a little bump in the next test. Hopefully not too much over-cooking going on. :-)
I did some Z4 work this morning: https://www.strava.com/activities/795973874
6:12 a.m., no calories prior but 24 ounces of water, 16 ounces of gatorade and 1 cup of coffee during.
Afterwards, shower, oatmeal, protein powder, blueberries, banana, etc.....then starving for a snack by 10 a.m........
I weigh 178 lbs...
SS
50' time, 3x10' @ 1.02, 1.03 & 1.06
@Arnold, congrats on the new FTP...Good stuff
I learned two lessons from Tuesday's workout. 1. Just because you completed 4x13' on Saturday does NOT mean 3x13' will be easier. 2. Eating a few cookies and two pieces of cake (but a healthy lunch) is absolutely the wrong things to eat when you have an evening FTP workout. Parties are evil. Due to 1 and 2, this was the hardest workout, for me, of the OS so far. I completed the workout at my self-adjusted FTP, but my legs were screaming at me during all 3 intervals. I hope I ready for the 30/30s.
The 2x 14 - 30/30s definitely felt harder this week. I know the legs are starting to get a bit tired for sure. I pushed toward high end Z5 instead of low Z5, but maybe that is taking it's toll. I felt pretty tired when starting the brick run on the treadmill, but got over the mental side of that and pushed through.
One problem comes with a weekend trip coming this weekend, so I may have to put the Saturday bike workout tomorrow without a day of Friday rest. May have to fuel up better before workouts to see if that helps a little. Maybe even some magnesium oil spray on the legs before working out. I know it has helped with recovery before.
@Derrek - I think the same thing! Raising the roof with these. I don't mind them - you can do anything for 30 seconds. By the second set, numbers 8,9 &10 do start to get a bit tiring
Got in both sets, no problem. Averaged 1.33 over the two sets. With the cold temps in the garage, the trainer ramped up the resistance by 10 watts starting into the 2nd set. Had to manage the resistance manually before it stabilized.