Did the Saturday WKO yesterday. TSS = 96.9, IF = 0.85. 146w (@FTP) for each of the 4 intervals. NOT EASY!!! If I had been on a dumb trainer, I'm pretty sure I would have slacked off.
I had planned to do an easy run in the evening, but that workout, plus a mentally challenging day at the office, made that a no-go. Probably should do those easy runs in the early morning to make sure they get done. Running is definitely my limiter, and I'm thinking I should prioritize even the easy runs. But we'll see.
I completed my FTP test yesterday afternoon and am happy to begin the JanOS with an FTP of 231. I'm satisfied with my test result and feel that I executed it about the best that I'm capable of.
I took the advice of going fairly conservative for the first five minutes before trying to increase and hang on for the final 15.
With my current weight of 146 I'm hoping to reach a 245 FTP (which would be an new high for me) by the end of OS.
Keep up the good work this week and thanks for the mojo!!
Well, I got the bike test done this morning:-) I debated actually doing it at all, but thought I'd swag some numbers and see what I could do. After Kona (Oct.), I took a month off. In Nov. and Dec., I've been doing mostly the Phil Maffetone method of low heart rate - trying to build an aerobic base. It has been very frustrating for me because of my "advanced age" and my typically high heart rate left me with a very low heart rate to try and stay under. Bottom line - I have barely gotten above Zone 1 on the bike so I knew that any type of testing would have to be at a pretty low number.
I guestimated at 20 watts lower than my last January bike test. The 5-min test was hard, but doable at 15 watts lower (172). For the 20-minute test, I broke that up into 5-min. intervals and tried to keep them 20 watts each less than last year, but gradually increasing. The first 2 intervals (10 mins) were right about 20 watts lower, but I was able to pick it up on the last 2 intervals at 14 and 11 watts under. In the end, my new FTP is 15 watts lower that last Jan. (157) and I was very pleased with that result. I don't think I could have gone any harder since I was totally spent at the end and thought my breakfast was gonna come up!
I sure am glad that is over! You all are killing it out there. It's gonna be a fun OutSeason:-)
I thought I was a decent cyclist... but reality sucks!
This is my first test ever with power and the FTP was 203.... it seems there is a lot of work to do.
For those experienced members I have a rookie question. The workout for Saturday is MS1: 2 x 9' (5') @ Zone 4, 5' Easy. MS2: 2 x 9' (5') @ Zone 4, 5' Easy . Could someone translate in plain English.
Jorge FTP is just a number and its your first run at it....don't sweat it.... you'll see great improvement!
re: workout ...warmup per protocol....then Main Set 1.....9min in Zone 4 power.. 5min easy spinning....9min in Zone4... 5min easy spinning followed by Main Set 2....9min in Z4....5min easy....9min in Z4....5min easy.... cool down ......Easy as pie
Jorge FTP is just a number and its your first run at it....don't sweat it.... you'll see great improvement!
re: workout ...warmup per protocol....then Main Set 1.....9min in Zone 4 power.. 5min easy spinning....9min in Zone4... 5min easy spinning followed by Main Set 2....9min in Z4....5min easy....9min in Z4....5min easy.... cool down ......Easy as pie
Really good stuff going on in here, Can't even comment on everyone's efforts. @ Ayun - see comments on page 1 regarding the Art of SWAGing your FTP... you will know if you are too EZ or too hard by the middle of your first workout on Saturday. @shaun - how'd much bloodier was the gorilla?
Hellooooo OutSeason! Good to be back. First official training session of 2017 done last night with a bike test. I still don't have power so I did the HR test. Avg HR was 178, maxed at 189. My resting has been around 54 or so lately. that was tough, but in all the best ways. Except, I generally listen to music on the trainer and at 8 minutes my headphones fell out and phone dropped to the ground. I could either stop and F up my test to grab it or keep going in silence. Silence won and I'm glad that's over with.
I thought I was a decent cyclist... but reality sucks!
This is my first test ever with power and the FTP was 203.... it seems there is a lot of work to do.
Jorge, one thing to realize is that with the work you put in now, you'll reap the rewards. How did you feel on your test? honestly, execution on a test is very hard to get right, and until you've had a number of tests under your belt, you'll still be working on getting it just right. The best advice I ever got (re testing) was from John Withrow - split the test into smaller chunks. The first five minutes, you're settling in to the test (based on where you think you are) and constantly re-assessing how you feel, knowing that there are still 15 more minutes. The 2nd 5 minutes, you should be pretty much locked on. From 10' on, you'll be trying to push just a little bit harder (RPE will likely equal flat watts). The last 5 minutes, you can treat them as 5 1' intervals, and just hang on for dear life. If at the end of the 20' test, you dont want to collapse on the floor or feel like you're going to puke, you probably could have pushed harder.
The mojo in here is nuts! Wow. Excited to see all the new peeps.
Since I tested last week, on the tail end of a cold, and wife's 40yo bday gifts to set up, and and and, I did half of Thursday's WKO tonight to get a taste of the 30"/30" intervals. Shorty interval are nice, but I am used to the old school longer stuff 8/12/8, 12/15/12 - this 30"/30" seems pretty easy in comparison. Is this going to work???
Checking in - test done. Can tell I took the entire month of December off. Good starting point. 181 is my adjusted FTP - Down 10 watts from last test prior to Arizona and UP 8lbs need to flip those changes for the next test. HR recovers fast...need more practice on the intervals. Time to get to work.
Bike Test in the books. FTP of 257. That's 4 watts down from the end of my season last year and 7 watts higher than the start of last year. I'm pleased. I have't been biking but three times a month over the last three months
Life stresses has my week jumbled....bike test last night ...was fugly but got it done....ftp=195...a few watts lower than start of 2016....am going to swag my run test as I'm traveling the balance of the week
The mojo in here is nuts! Wow. Excited to see all the new peeps.
I did half of Thursday's WKO tonight to get a taste of the 30"/30" intervals. Shorty interval are nice, but I am used to the old school longer stuff 8/12/8, 12/15/12 - this 30"/30" seems pretty easy in comparison. Is this going to work???
I think the longer sets you are referring to are FTP sets vs these VO2 sets. They shortened the VO2 as most of us had trouble with the longer ones last year (Thank you coaches!)
I've been previewing some of the WKOs in the last few weeks in my Pre-OS and watching people post on strava from NOS & DOS
to me, the FTP sets look much more brutal, 3x10 as the first one, lots of 1.5 - 2 hr saturday WKos coming in a few weeks on the advanced plan
I think you can feel safe that one of the coaches (probalby R) said, Geez P, let's unleash this on them.... I can see R sipping his quintuple shot espresso as he says it nonchalantly in the Tempe SBUX as they do their annual review and he's expect P to say "nah, that's a bit extreme." when in fact P shoots him a smile, and says "heck, I'm not training for a race this year, yeah let's see how this play's out!" and then orders a decaf cappuccino...
Good morning! For everyone who tested yesterday and is still a little dazed, today is Wednesday and your legs are supposed to feel like that. Since I tested last week, I did the Tuesday workout from next week. I have a difficult time determining which interval set takes me closer to the edge, the FTP intervals or the VO2 max efforts. The longer FTP intervals are loads of fun. The longer they get the more difficult it is to stay focused. I find that concentrating on my cadence is easier than trying to hold a power number. Then there are those VO2 max efforts. The balance here is hitting consistent watts from the first through the last. How hard is hard enough to be just short of too hard. If I get to that place where the last few seconds seem to take forever then I know I am doing them right. Enjoy the run today.
Good morning all!! I had to juggle around the schedule for this week a bit due to a darn stomach bug. I was able to complete the bike test last night. Here are my numbers!!
Avg HR: 165 FTP: 176
Since I'm an HR athlete (for now anyway), I did the OS HeartRate Test on TrainerRoad. I'm using VirtualPower to send power data back to my Garmin. Probably not the most accurate, but as long as I keep the setup the same, it should be good enough until I get a real power meter.
My current vDOT is 33. I'm planning on re-taking the Run Test tomorrow morning to see if I get consistent results.
I guess one good side effect of the stomach flu is, that I was finally able to push my weight below 215. I hit 213 this morning!! Probably not the best way to lose weight, but I'll take all the help I can get!
Time to rest the legs for the run! See (virtually) everyone tomorrow!!
Bike test done. Think I executed well (good to have 7 years under my belt of testing). Have been riding the last month at a guesstimated FTP. Came in 10 watts higher than that and 21 watts higher than last year at this time and I had a stellar year on the bike in 2016. Might this year be even betta? Time will tell. Holding off on run test until I speak with Patrick today (ie. snowshoe running goals).
Overall, it’s great variety for a 60-minute workout; it took a lot of concentration, so pump the music instead of watching TV
The 4 x 30/30 Spinups were interesting – initially I was wobbling all over the place but settled into it; was spinning about 130 RPM at very low wattage
Single-leg drills were excellent! The over-the-barrel and scrape-the-mud were too much to think about, so I did 2 over-the-barrel on each leg and 2 scrape-the-mud on each leg; wattage was pretty low; my right-side P1 pedal wasn’t registering any power – perhaps the battery is dead
The 10 x 30/30 sets were hard; 30 seconds on and 30 seconds rest wasn’t right for me; I did 35 seconds on since it took about 5 seconds to get the power and RPM to the right number; then I did 45 seconds rest to ensure the HR came back down into zone 2
The workout calls for zone 5 power, but I was able to push over that limit; at least for this workout; we’ll see if that trend continues as the fatigue builds throughout the OS
I may modify some of these workouts to do 1-minute bursts instead of 30 seconds; then take 2 minutes or so to recover
OK super dumb question here: What do the small diamond shaped red, green and yellow placards mean next to each workout? Intensity of some sorts I would imagine?
@David - they are "importance" markers. Red are the most key workouts. Obviously, the plan is built for you to do all of them, but they are telling you which are the key ones if time or travel or whatever force you to prioritize.
FWIW, when I start getting tired, I stop worrying entirely about run intensity in all brick runs or runs on days where the bike workout is the big thing. And my run is always my best leg. I tend to think all the run workouts except the one or two key ones are just there to prepare you for the key ones. :-)
@Paul - just a word of caution about overachieving, especially on the FTP intervals...
EVERY YEAR there is a falloff in people getting all the way through the OS. It's very very very common for people to have to take a week of zero intensity to recover in the middle too. (That has been me.) I think the single biggest reason for that is overachieving on the FTP intervals. The one time overachieving is probably reasonable is in the first ~3 weeks of the OS if and only if you are new to power-based training and are just learning what it means to go hard or you are experienced enough to know what your FTP "is supposed to be" and you have let yourself get a bit out of shape...and are thus quickly getting back into shape. Everyone else should beware of overdoing the FTP, especially by doing them at too high a power.
(For new folks, here's the good news: you're going to be the ones that make the biggest gains. 15% improvements in FTP in the first year of an OS are very common. The bad news is in subsequent years you have to be satisfied with smaller gains, typically.)
I'm a day a head as I started on Sunday with the bike test and got in 2X(6X30/30) today. Finished off with 2x7' zn3 HR to get the hour in.
I'm in the camp where I liked the longer Vo2 intervals particularly 1-1.5' but I'm hitting the plan as written. Plus I'm still working off HR and given my long layoff from cycling I'm not really sure I was pushing hard enough on all intervals. It felt like a pretty good workout. Hoping my new head unit show up for the next bike workout.
I've been previewing some of the WKOs in the last few weeks in my Pre-OS and watching people post on strava from NOS & DOS
to me, the FTP sets look much more brutal, 3x10 as the first one, lots of 1.5 - 2 hr saturday WKos coming in a few weeks on the advanced plan
I think you can feel safe that one of the coaches (probalby R) said, Geez P, let's unleash this on them.... I can see R sipping his quintuple shot espresso as he says it nonchalantly in the Tempe SBUX as they do their annual review and he's expect P to say "nah, that's a bit extreme." when in fact P shoots him a smile, and says "heck, I'm not training for a race this year, yeah let's see how this play's out!" and then orders a decaf cappuccino...
@Scott, I'm with you. The 4x9'@FTP as the Saturday Wk 1 INT WKO was surprisingly rough, esp compared to the VO2 intervals. I tend to have a higher VO2 relative to FTP, so that may be part of it. But if this was supposed to be an "easing in" to FTP work ... we're going to have a beat down this OS! Didn't kill me, but I'm thinking about bringing the percentage down to 95%, rather than have it sit at FTP. But then, I DID get the workout done, so is this a form of mental weakness?
Run Test complete. vDOT of 32. Previous vDOT was 33, but that was for just a 2 mile run because I burned out at the end. I'll work with these numbers as a start, but plan on greatly improving.
Run Pace Zones Run +/- 5" Zone 1 / LRP / Easy 12:04 TRP / Run Durability 11:16 Zone 2 / MP / Steady 10:29 Zone 3 / HMP / ModHard 10:12 Zone 4 / TP / Hard 9:47 Zone 5 / IP / Very Hard 9:22
@Paul - just a word of caution about overachieving, especially on the FTP intervals...
EVERY YEAR there is a falloff in people getting all the way through the OS. It's very very very common for people to have to take a week of zero intensity to recover in the middle too. (That has been me.) I think the single biggest reason for that is overachieving on the FTP intervals. The one time overachieving is probably reasonable is in the first ~3 weeks of the OS if and only if you are new to power-based training and are just learning what it means to go hard or you are experienced enough to know what your FTP "is supposed to be" and you have let yourself get a bit out of shape...and are thus quickly getting back into shape. Everyone else should beware of overdoing the FTP, especially by doing them at too high a power.
(For new folks, here's the good news: you're going to be the ones that make the biggest gains. 15% improvements in FTP in the first year of an OS are very common. The bad news is in subsequent years you have to be satisfied with smaller gains, typically.)
Take heed folks, this is gospel. I was one of the OS drops in 2016. Dont know if it was the bike, or run, or combo. Warm up! and dont be a hero on the first interval!
Run tested last week, VDOT 54 they say, on the TM tho. Did 'TRP' yesterday, felt like Z3!
This morning tested out the 3x10' at FTP set. HR cruising past 175. Yikes
Today is my last Tri WKO of the week. Off to Salt Lake to tear up the slopes.
Great Job Jason! You may want to share this on the Week one run thread as well. You will most definitely improve! I've no doubt! Please read what Willam posted above. He has great advice for new comers to EN. It is hard to hold back, but trust me when I say the fatigue is coming and you want to stay consistant, uninjured and not sick!
Comments
Did the Saturday WKO yesterday. TSS = 96.9, IF = 0.85. 146w (@FTP) for each of the 4 intervals. NOT EASY!!! If I had been on a dumb trainer, I'm pretty sure I would have slacked off.
I had planned to do an easy run in the evening, but that workout, plus a mentally challenging day at the office, made that a no-go. Probably should do those easy runs in the early morning to make sure they get done. Running is definitely my limiter, and I'm thinking I should prioritize even the easy runs. But we'll see.
Looking forward to reading those FTP test as they come in this week!
I am on a little different schedule than most as I have recently tested. Felt like I had a gun to my head this morning.
My gorilla was nasty to me this morning. I escaped but left the cage limping: https://www.strava.com/activities/827273481
Have a great week all!
SS
I took the advice of going fairly conservative for the first five minutes before trying to increase and hang on for the final 15.
With my current weight of 146 I'm hoping to reach a 245 FTP (which would be an new high for me) by the end of OS.
Keep up the good work this week and thanks for the mojo!!
Todd
Well, I got the bike test done this morning:-) I debated actually doing it at all, but thought I'd swag some numbers and see what I could do. After Kona (Oct.), I took a month off. In Nov. and Dec., I've been doing mostly the Phil Maffetone method of low heart rate - trying to build an aerobic base. It has been very frustrating for me because of my "advanced age"
and my typically high heart rate left me with a very low heart rate to try and stay under. Bottom line - I have barely gotten above Zone 1 on the bike so I knew that any type of testing would have to be at a pretty low number.
I guestimated at 20 watts lower than my last January bike test. The 5-min test was hard, but doable at 15 watts lower (172). For the 20-minute test, I broke that up into 5-min. intervals and tried to keep them 20 watts each less than last year, but gradually increasing. The first 2 intervals (10 mins) were right about 20 watts lower, but I was able to pick it up on the last 2 intervals at 14 and 11 watts under. In the end, my new FTP is 15 watts lower that last Jan. (157) and I was very pleased with that result. I don't think I could have gone any harder since I was totally spent at the end and thought my breakfast was gonna come up!
I sure am glad that is over! You all are killing it out there. It's gonna be a fun OutSeason:-)
This is my first test ever with power and the FTP was 203.... it seems there is a lot of work to do.
For those experienced members I have a rookie question. The workout for Saturday is MS1: 2 x 9' (5') @ Zone 4, 5' Easy. MS2: 2 x 9' (5') @ Zone 4, 5' Easy . Could someone translate in plain English.
Thanks
Jorge FTP is just a number and its your first run at it....don't sweat it.... you'll see great improvement!
re: workout ...warmup per protocol....then Main Set 1.....9min in Zone 4 power.. 5min easy spinning....9min in Zone4... 5min easy spinning followed by Main Set 2....9min in Z4....5min easy....9min in Z4....5min easy.... cool down ......Easy as pie
Jorge FTP is just a number and its your first run at it....don't sweat it.... you'll see great improvement!
re: workout ...warmup per protocol....then Main Set 1.....9min in Zone 4 power.. 5min easy spinning....9min in Zone4... 5min easy spinning followed by Main Set 2....9min in Z4....5min easy....9min in Z4....5min easy.... cool down ......Easy as pie
your main set is two intervals of 9' each at 95-100% of FTP (193-203) with a 5 minute easy spin after each interval
then you will do another easy 5 minutes
Then repeat the workout above
so, you will do a 12-15' warmup(read wiki on standard warm up, or should be in training plan instructions)
9 minutes at Z4
5 minutes EZ
9 minutes at Z4
5 minutes EZ
another 5 minutes EZ
9 minutes at Z4
5 minutes EZ
9 minutes at Z4
5 minutes EZ
@ Ayun - see comments on page 1 regarding the Art of SWAGing your FTP... you will know if you are too EZ or too hard by the middle of your first workout on Saturday.
@shaun - how'd much bloodier was the gorilla?
Jorge, one thing to realize is that with the work you put in now, you'll reap the rewards. How did you feel on your test? honestly, execution on a test is very hard to get right, and until you've had a number of tests under your belt, you'll still be working on getting it just right. The best advice I ever got (re testing) was from John Withrow - split the test into smaller chunks. The first five minutes, you're settling in to the test (based on where you think you are) and constantly re-assessing how you feel, knowing that there are still 15 more minutes. The 2nd 5 minutes, you should be pretty much locked on. From 10' on, you'll be trying to push just a little bit harder (RPE will likely equal flat watts). The last 5 minutes, you can treat them as 5 1' intervals, and just hang on for dear life. If at the end of the 20' test, you dont want to collapse on the floor or feel like you're going to puke, you probably could have pushed harder.
Here's my test from this year https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1507438667
and my first test from 13-14 OS https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/396676527
JORGE! Welcome to the jungle baby! The FTP test is pure evil and pain. Never gets fun, but I know you, your FTP will shoot up, no doubt! Congrats!
Since I tested last week, on the tail end of a cold, and wife's 40yo bday gifts to set up, and and and, I did half of Thursday's WKO tonight to get a taste of the 30"/30" intervals. Shorty interval are nice, but I am used to the old school longer stuff 8/12/8, 12/15/12 - this 30"/30" seems pretty easy in comparison. Is this going to work???
DS
Bike Test in the books. FTP of 257. That's 4 watts down from the end of my season last year and 7 watts higher than the start of last year. I'm pleased. I have't been biking but three times a month over the last three months
I think the longer sets you are referring to are FTP sets vs these VO2 sets. They shortened the VO2 as most of us had trouble with the longer ones last year (Thank you coaches!
)
I've been previewing some of the WKOs in the last few weeks in my Pre-OS and watching people post on strava from NOS & DOS
to me, the FTP sets look much more brutal, 3x10 as the first one, lots of 1.5 - 2 hr saturday WKos coming in a few weeks on the advanced plan
I think you can feel safe that one of the coaches (probalby R) said, Geez P, let's unleash this on them.... I can see R sipping his quintuple shot espresso as he says it nonchalantly in the Tempe SBUX as they do their annual review and he's expect P to say "nah, that's a bit extreme." when in fact P shoots him a smile, and says "heck, I'm not training for a race this year, yeah let's see how this play's out!
" and then orders a decaf cappuccino...
Good morning! For everyone who tested yesterday and is still a little dazed, today is Wednesday and your legs are supposed to feel like that. Since I tested last week, I did the Tuesday workout from next week. I have a difficult time determining which interval set takes me closer to the edge, the FTP intervals or the VO2 max efforts. The longer FTP intervals are loads of fun. The longer they get the more difficult it is to stay focused. I find that concentrating on my cadence is easier than trying to hold a power number. Then there are those VO2 max efforts. The balance here is hitting consistent watts from the first through the last. How hard is hard enough to be just short of too hard. If I get to that place where the last few seconds seem to take forever then I know I am doing them right. Enjoy the run today.
https://www.strava.com/activities/827914603
Avg HR: 165
FTP: 176
Since I'm an HR athlete (for now anyway), I did the OS HeartRate Test on TrainerRoad. I'm using VirtualPower to send power data back to my Garmin. Probably not the most accurate, but as long as I keep the setup the same, it should be good enough until I get a real power meter.
My current vDOT is 33. I'm planning on re-taking the Run Test tomorrow morning to see if I get consistent results.
I guess one good side effect of the stomach flu is, that I was finally able to push my weight below 215. I hit 213 this morning!! Probably not the best way to lose weight, but I'll take all the help I can get!
Time to rest the legs for the run! See (virtually) everyone tomorrow!!
I already did the Week 1 Thursday bike workout (2 x 10 x 30/30). Here’s the Strava file and some thoughts on the WKO:
https://www.strava.com/activities/822487262/overview
OK super dumb question here: What do the small diamond shaped red, green and yellow placards mean next to each workout? Intensity of some sorts I would imagine?
Thanks!
FWIW, when I start getting tired, I stop worrying entirely about run intensity in all brick runs or runs on days where the bike workout is the big thing. And my run is always my best leg. I tend to think all the run workouts except the one or two key ones are just there to prepare you for the key ones. :-)
EVERY YEAR there is a falloff in people getting all the way through the OS. It's very very very common for people to have to take a week of zero intensity to recover in the middle too. (That has been me.) I think the single biggest reason for that is overachieving on the FTP intervals. The one time overachieving is probably reasonable is in the first ~3 weeks of the OS if and only if you are new to power-based training and are just learning what it means to go hard or you are experienced enough to know what your FTP "is supposed to be" and you have let yourself get a bit out of shape...and are thus quickly getting back into shape. Everyone else should beware of overdoing the FTP, especially by doing them at too high a power.
(For new folks, here's the good news: you're going to be the ones that make the biggest gains. 15% improvements in FTP in the first year of an OS are very common. The bad news is in subsequent years you have to be satisfied with smaller gains, typically.)
I'm a day a head as I started on Sunday with the bike test and got in 2X(6X30/30) today. Finished off with 2x7' zn3 HR to get the hour in.
I'm in the camp where I liked the longer Vo2 intervals particularly 1-1.5' but I'm hitting the plan as written. Plus I'm still working off HR and given my long layoff from cycling I'm not really sure I was pushing hard enough on all intervals. It felt like a pretty good workout. Hoping my new head unit show up for the next bike workout.
@Scott, I'm with you. The 4x9'@FTP as the Saturday Wk 1 INT WKO was surprisingly rough, esp compared to the VO2 intervals. I tend to have a higher VO2 relative to FTP, so that may be part of it. But if this was supposed to be an "easing in" to FTP work ... we're going to have a beat down this OS! Didn't kill me, but I'm thinking about bringing the percentage down to 95%, rather than have it sit at FTP. But then, I DID get the workout done, so is this a form of mental weakness?
Run Pace Zones
Run +/- 5"
Zone 1 / LRP / Easy 12:04
TRP / Run Durability 11:16
Zone 2 / MP / Steady 10:29
Zone 3 / HMP / ModHard 10:12
Zone 4 / TP / Hard 9:47
Zone 5 / IP / Very Hard 9:22
Take heed folks, this is gospel. I was one of the OS drops in 2016. Dont know if it was the bike, or run, or combo. Warm up! and dont be a hero on the first interval!
Run tested last week, VDOT 54 they say, on the TM tho. Did 'TRP' yesterday, felt like Z3!
This morning tested out the 3x10' at FTP set. HR cruising past 175. Yikes
Today is my last Tri WKO of the week. Off to Salt Lake to tear up the slopes.