JOS Bike Thread Wk 1 - "Like you have a gun to your head"

scott dinhofer

Welcome all to your JOS Bike Thread for week 1. I am your bike thread captain, so look for me to fire up a new thread every Sunday night.

Testing - for those of you that are new to this, getting a valid test can be a science & an art. Learning how to test well and know you gave it your all without blowing up comes with practice. As the thread title says, the testing protocol is to bike "like you have a gun to your head" at the end of your chosen testing protocol you should have weak legs, and the desire to puke!



Looking forward to seeing some great results and encouragement from the team.



Good luck in your tests, remember all of our downstream workouts are going to be dictated by how hard of an effort you give to this first wko!

Francis Picard

lol, did I miss a whole week ??????? arent we starting 1/09 ?

Terry Mulvey

Me too, starting 1/9/17...ran a 5 K this am!! 

Happy New Year!! Ready to be fit and confused, not always in that order all year!

Gordon Cherwoniak

I too was planning for January 9th and was worried I had messed up the dates so I went and looked it up. The official start is listed as next Monday.  I'm hoping to have my new head unit for my power meter by next week but most likely won't.  My plan is to do a 45-60 minute bike today anyway. It's not going to be test difficult for sure but I'll be out there.

scott dinhofer

I wasn't sure when we started, so I posted tonight.. glad to hear we start on 1/9 - another pre-OS big week coming... Will bump this up to the top next sunday night, if you want to stir the pot, feel free to post here this week & I'll create a new thread next week. Looks like we've got a good group shaping up, looking forward to the next 15 weeks with you all!

Paul Curtin

No worries Scott, thanks for being our bike captain! I'll be travelling for work Jan 9 so I'm planning for the bike test this week (and perhaps the run test as well)

Looking forward to the January OS!

Brenda Ross

Scott we start Jan 9. I will be creating all the threads tomorrow. Thanks being so excited but to avoid confusion and to be clear. Jan OS starts on the 9th

Douglas Sutherland

I remain excited yet conflicted! Yes, I am in for JanOS. But I have only logged two ski days this season, and plan for many more (maybe 15 I hope), and that will take a bite. I am also planning to continue MR's swim camp thingy. And, I am 13lbs over race weight - ugh. And it is so damn cold!

Marc Taylor

Confusion is real ... had a bunch of start up issues, travel, equipment, TrainerRoad, etc for DOS ... so I worked on body comp (diet) last 4 weeks and all systems are a go for JOS ... looking forward to it I think ... my first official EN OS. I'm sure I'll have many questions.

Happy New Year,
Marc

Joseph Lombardi

Brenda...thanks for clarifying the start date because rich said to load the plan beginning next week....and i was gettin confused...not hard for me though!

Steve boer

First time on the site in ages - came on with the intention of starting the JOS. I was thinking that my FTP test was scheduled for tomorrow, went ahead and did it today. Low and behold, the test is scheduled for Monday afterall - next monday. Anyway, for a very fat and out of shape self, FTP was just about where I expected it to be (although my run test will be a disaster). I haven't done any real training for the past year (except 12 ounce burger and beer curls). I did the NOS 2014 and started with 206/174 and ended with 271/229 for my 5' and 20' intervals. Todays intervals were 242/199 - 1.87w/kg using 189 watts as my ftp.

Douglas Sutherland

I like your style Boer - I did the same today, knocked it out watching the Trojans (very helpful). Just exiting run durability, lost some 30 FTP points from 10/16. Rest assured, team seems the bike fitness comes back fast.

Gordon Cherwoniak

Nice job on the early tests.  While I did get in 50' on the trainer with 10' hard.  I continue to await the arrival of my head unit which will hopefully arrive next week but not sure given it's free shipping and has to come across the border.

 

Paul Curtin

Did the bike test today on the trainer.  Data is here if you're interested:

https://www.strava.com/activities/820305200/overview

FTP is way down from last fall (over 35 points); but I've countered that with a huge spike in weight ; almost 10 kilograms actually.  Thankfully I gave up math as a New Year's resolution; that saves me from being disappointed from the watts/kg figure.

 

Chris Oubre

Great video on the bike drills. Rather abrupt ending though. Lol

Mark Hickman

Good luck JOS'ers! If this is your first, know that work works! In the NOS this year, but after last year's JOS, I was a beast (relatively) in early season tris competing against folks who were just getting back into it...best of luck and I look forward to seeing a ton of mojo coming out of the group! Mark

Brad Marcus

Uh-Oh...Dinhofer is Capt of this bike thread? Get ready to have that whip cracked!! Just kidding...we are in good hands

[Deleted User]

Did my FTP test yesterday. Weird scheduling for me this OS -- I'm either going to have to be 2/3 of a week ahead or 1/3 of a week behind everyone to avoid longer weekend workouts, and since I have a 1/2-marathon on the calendar a couple of weeks before the OS ends, I decided to work ahead!

I like the standard Trainer Road FTP test, and it's the one I've used over the past few years, so I did that one, rather than the TR OS FTP test. Pretty similar, though I think the OS FTP test doesn't include the 3 over-FTP spin-ups before the VO2 max interval. Six of one ...

So ... VO2 NP = 184w, FTP = 147w. Lower by 10 watts from my max going into IMTX last year. And I haven't been on the bike since October, so I'm pretty happy with the results. Testing gets more familiar, but never easier!

scott dinhofer

nice work getting done here
@ Catherine - great job on the test. I'm personally a fan of the ole 2x20(2) method if you are familiar.. I just don't have the legs after a big Vo2 interval
@Boer - better get serious this year, next time I see you out for dinner, I'm making sure you are eating salad!
@Brad - I will be personally coming your way to crack the whip in person!

[Deleted User]

@Scott -- Ugh!  I'm VERY familiar with that test!  I was never a fan -- I know it produces (probably) the most accurate results, but I found that I either crushed the test or flamed out pretty quickly into the second 20'.  It was probably more mental than anything, but I was extremely inconsistent with testing.  When that test was the gold standard, I ended up just bumping up my FTP a few watts every few weeks, rather than do the test.  And I never thought the 8-min test gave great results, either.  

Joseph Lombardi

Ok I should probably know this but....I haven't been on my bike since early October...and was in pretty decent shape fthen...however...today I attempted Sufferfest Rubberglove on Trainer Road as my FTP test...and it was to say the least a disaster...I couldn't really settle my heart rate back down before the start of the test (dehydrated/tired? I swam and short run yesterday...) any way it was a crash and burn- DNF...I was just plain uncomfortable not having ridden for a while ....Now I am a week ahead because I am traveling much of next week on business and wanted to get on the bike...

So the question is....when should I attempt a retest? or should I estimate an FTP for now?...

Thanks

Paul Curtin

Joseph - last year I failed three of those tests and only passed two - it's frustrating. If you did an FTP test last fall, you could take 90% of that as a new estimated FTP. But since we don't test again until week 8, you might consider a retest in Week 2 - perhaps in place of the Tuesday bike workout.

David Glenn

HI gang,

I'm fresh meat to EN which makes this my first OS. I'm excited to get started. Planning on bike test tomorrow to get fresh numbers. Just wondering if anyone has feedback about trainer road virtual power. Dont have a PM yet so I plan on using TR's magic virtual numbers. Anybody use? Thanks, and happy testing!

Joseph Lombardi

I used virtual power my second year after a year using HR; any repeatable metric works. I highly recommend it.

Jason Veith

Posted By David Glenn on 06 Jan 2017 05:06 PM


HI gang,

I'm fresh meat to EN which makes this my first OS. I'm excited to get started. Planning on bike test tomorrow to get fresh numbers. Just wondering if anyone has feedback about trainer road virtual power. Dont have a PM yet so I plan on using TR's magic virtual numbers. Anybody use? Thanks, and happy testing!

Great question.  I would like to know the answer to this as well.  I currently don't have a power meter (still trying to talk the wife into letting me get PowerTap P1s (left side only) pedals).

Gordon Cherwoniak

There are quite a few who use Trainer Road with EN, not me personally.  We do have a wiki page with some information.  There is a private EN group and I believe the OS workouts are already created within.  I won't say much more as I don't use it other than if you are going to do most of your riding indoors it is a cheap option to getting power for the OS.

http://members.endurancenation.us/R...ng+Started

David Glenn

THanks. I found the link and got permission. Was able to find all of the OS workouts. Pretty cool stuff!

Joe Matchette

Bike test done this morning since work will preclude it tomorrow....

First bike ride in a long while.  Definitely not the way to prep for an OS, but it was what it was.

Execution was fairly decent...about what I expected and maybe a little better given the circumstances.

Nowhere to go but UP:

• 5min 'VO2' - 256
• 20min FTP - 219, so 209w

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1516247111

https://www.strava.com/activities/825542839

 

Paul Curtin

Looks like a good ride Joe -- nice work!

Jon Bergmann

Well, that hurt!  Also looking to see if I calculated everything correctly: I did the warm up and then 5 min maximal effort and then a cool down and then 20 min as hard as I could

VO2 Max test: 5 min at max:  260 Watts

FTP Test:  20 min at max:  Average Watts 231 *0.95= 219 Watts for FTP.

Link to activity: 
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1516571009

Am I correct for the FTP of 219?

John Culberson

Played on the trainer today. I've been disabled with a back issue, and while I am still pretty uncomfortable walking around, the flexed position on the trainer is pain free. Amazing how 4 weeks of sitting in a chair resulted in Zone 4 HR at what felt like IM power. Seems like my best bet is to pass on formal testing this week and use HR to guide my intervals, see how things progress, gradually approaching previous OS FTP starts and testing in 4-8 weeks.