Those who have been around a few years will remember that we have gone through cycles of 30/30s up to roughly 2 minute VO2 sets. Perhaps there is intention in making that set a bit "easier" than it was in the past in order to make the overall plan more manageable. I just don't know. (And, I'll be honest, I didn't look to see what we are doing in 6 weeks, either.)
Business travel interrupting my Bike access...so after 3 days on the road and only running...I was happy to get outside today and did my Saturday ride today..no brick...Felt great and will do my long run tomorrow and then do either the Thursday or Tuesday workout on Sunday...That way even with business travel I only missed one M priority bike...Feeling great...and inspired by all the great work going on!
Today is the first time the new forum has loaded up for me. Everyone has been doing a great job. I did both the Tuesday & Thursday bike workouts. I am hitting all the zones but as everyone is experiencing it is not easy. I've been trying to push my suffer factor up over the past few weeks. https://www.strava.com/activities/843234123 https://www.strava.com/activities/845028485 Big work is coming tomorrow.
The first two bikes this week put me to the test. The 2x12 was just suffering--but good. Both efforts were at IF of 1.01. The 30-30 workout looks like most were at 1.2ish... Lets keep working.
@William Jenks: I too find the 30-30 work easier. The 2x12 kicked my butt. I also wonder if it is a function of how I do things. My swimming buddies keep telling me not to go out so fast because I then suffer at the end of a set. I think part of this is in my dna and the way I am built. And on the other hand it is about learning how to control my pace and effort.
3x8' and 2x6' set at 102% FTP. Took a bit more focus towards the end. Overall, averaged 5-7 watts above goal per interval. Quick transition into the run which was extremely solid closer to Z3 than Z2. Happy with the results! Have a great day team!!
Whoa ... been absent from posting to the thread for two weeks .... after week 1 bike test and workouts had major back spasms - I have never experienced anything like that before ... happy to say that is behind me due to my awesome Pilates/Kinesiology leader - she saved me! It is amazing what a good and skilled person can do with their craft when called upon!
Also, participating in Scott's Weight Loss Challenge with some pretty lofty goals ... happy to report I finally made it through a bike workout on trainer road just now pain free, have had to shut the last two down early due to back pain. Made a couple adjustments to bike which helped ... have been following you guys and gals and look forward to getting back into it fully next week!
My 2 cents - don't forget to cool down and stretch ... everyone can do more of that!
Bike this week has so-so; hard to hit the high numbers 100% solid. I've been focused on getting all the work in and getting my head around a quality workout (example: Tuesday was a bad day at work and home, so by the time I got on the trainer I was just zeroed out... pulled it a little short that day but got the Z4/Z5 sessions in). Gotta balance the fact that it's a loooooong and building outseason that leads to a loooooong and building HIM and IM! Keep yourself in the long game
Some good thoughts on V02 vs. FTP perceived difficulty.....
Right now, yes the FTP is harder because it is harder to focus for a longer period at 95-100% than for 30 seconds at 120%......as those Vo2 extend out, that could change.
Thursday I gave myself 5' V02 intervals @ 120% posted in my link above....just a very dark period and, in my view, they rank right up there with 20' FTP intervals in terms of the fun factor.......
@Shaughn Simmons - again, NYC visit & no coffee invite??? you get a pass for me being sick... @Gordon Cherwoniak - somewhere in the announcement of the OS the coaches stated why they went back to the 30/30s. I liked the longer 110% stuff mixed in as well. I remember a few years ago, they had it written as "accumulate 6' of Z5 time in whatever sized blocks worked for you" back when i had a "dumb" trainer i'd do 30/30 60/60 90/90, etc... I will say that the intervals seem like 27" with the ramp up / ramp down of the smart trainer and would like to see the Trainer road files written with the intervals being 32" on / 30" off... Might disengage the smart mode and work on doing some of these!
on a brighter note, I felt 100% after basically 3 days of rest, went out and did a good strong 8.5 mile run yesterday & followed up later on with a muted saturday wko approaching an "easier" wko Wko was to be 2x10 + 2x9, and 5'Z3 did the first 3 intervals and the Z3 interval. I have a new HR strap which shouldn't change things, but my HR was reading around 3-5 higher than usual.. .
@Scott Dinhofer - definitely haven't forgot about you my friend, those NYC trips are all business, very fast paced and just very hard to work in any other activity given I am required to race back to Dallas after the Board meetings and implement further actions.......
I little behind this week got in the 30/30's at the high z5 intensity (250 for me) also with a 60% on the rest 30". This felt like a much better workout for me. I may try 1' low z5 next week just to compare. It was a much better quality workout than week 2. I still have to squeeze in the final bike of the week today.
Wow...finished the week with my Thursday session outside...substituted Hill Repeats for the 30:30 ..did 8x1:00 (300W) ..a little over 1:00 flydown hill recoveries...and 2X1:40 (285ish) ...then 3mile steady but very easy Brick ...off to LA for two days of business....
Saturday ride on the trainer went really better than I expected. 4 x 12' seemed like a significant challenge on paper, but it went surprisingly good. I still kept it 2-3 W below the tested FTP to try to not have a burnout later in the season. I took it out to the proscribed time and found by the last five minutes or so i was going >90%. So I'm calling this a good one and hope that the run tomorrow doesn't suffer as badly as last week after a super hard Saturday.
I had to skip the brick run for time :-( First missed wko.
2X14' @ .99 and 1.02 Followed that up with 3X6' with two at .85 and one .86.
Overall ride 75' @.86 with 91.5 TSS. This felt like a solid effort. I need to watch my nutrition which was off the rails later this week, not just for weight loss but energy and recovery for the workouts.
Things got a bit weird with my workout schedule this week due to changes in work schedule. for the next several weeks i've got to cover saturdays, which isnt 100% conducive to the saturday/sunday key sessions, so i've pushed them to sunday/monday. On the bright side, the one extra rest day (saturday) allowed for a couple of pesky saddle sores to quiet down a lot. Saturdays bike workout was solid, and i'm really starting to dig the smart trainer. I think it was in wk1 that scott made a comment along the lines of "ride like you've got a gun to your head" - knowing that a drop in cadence will only bring a rise in resistance is nothing short of staring down a double barrel to keep you honest. Looking forward to my sunday run tomorrow already.
Got all my bike work in, but due to travel had to stack Weds and Thursday bikes (had no issues) and tech issues had me dealing with drop outs in the first TH set Saturday, rebooting everything to get the rest of the ride. Mentally I thought the last 2x6' intervals were tempo and had to fight to get the first one at TH! I won't be making that mistake again!
Getting a great massage on Friday meant my legs were ready for the weekend. I even ran my brick hot. Z3 vs Z2 for the first half until I realized I looked at the wrong speed setting on my cheat sheet I keep at my mill.
Next week I leave for FL again on Thursday, but have made arrangements to ride Saturday and hopefully can do the same on Tuesday. The work will not be as written, but should be good for some shorter sets I hope.
Comments
Those who have been around a few years will remember that we have gone through cycles of 30/30s up to roughly 2 minute VO2 sets. Perhaps there is intention in making that set a bit "easier" than it was in the past in order to make the overall plan more manageable. I just don't know. (And, I'll be honest, I didn't look to see what we are doing in 6 weeks, either.)
https://www.strava.com/activities/846108418
https://www.strava.com/activities/843234123
https://www.strava.com/activities/845028485
Big work is coming tomorrow.
Lets keep working.
Any thoughts?
Also, participating in Scott's Weight Loss Challenge with some pretty lofty goals ... happy to report I finally made it through a bike workout on trainer road just now pain free, have had to shut the last two down early due to back pain. Made a couple adjustments to bike which helped ... have been following you guys and gals and look forward to getting back into it fully next week!
My 2 cents - don't forget to cool down and stretch ... everyone can do more of that!
Marc
Some good thoughts on V02 vs. FTP perceived difficulty.....
Right now, yes the FTP is harder because it is harder to focus for a longer period at 95-100% than for 30 seconds at 120%......as those Vo2 extend out, that could change.
Thursday I gave myself 5' V02 intervals @ 120% posted in my link above....just a very dark period and, in my view, they rank right up there with 20' FTP intervals in terms of the fun factor.......
Yesterday limited for time in between 4 conference calls, I squeezed in a 3X16' FTP set: https://www.strava.com/activities/847473637
Glad to get that checked off for the day.....
SS
@Gordon Cherwoniak - somewhere in the announcement of the OS the coaches stated why they went back to the 30/30s. I liked the longer 110% stuff mixed in as well. I remember a few years ago, they had it written as "accumulate 6' of Z5 time in whatever sized blocks worked for you"
back when i had a "dumb" trainer i'd do 30/30 60/60 90/90, etc... I will say that the intervals seem like 27" with the ramp up / ramp down of the smart trainer and would like to see the Trainer road files written with the intervals being 32" on / 30" off... Might disengage the smart mode and work on doing some of these!
on a brighter note, I felt 100% after basically 3 days of rest, went out and did a good strong 8.5 mile run yesterday & followed up later on with a muted saturday wko approaching an "easier" wko Wko was to be 2x10 + 2x9, and 5'Z3
did the first 3 intervals and the Z3 interval.
I have a new HR strap which shouldn't change things, but my HR was reading around 3-5 higher than usual.. .
Hoping to chase your wheel in Aspen??
SS
I little behind this week got in the 30/30's at the high z5 intensity (250 for me) also with a 60% on the rest 30". This felt like a much better workout for me. I may try 1' low z5 next week just to compare. It was a much better quality workout than week 2. I still have to squeeze in the final bike of the week today.
I had to skip the brick run for time :-( First missed wko.
2X14' @ .99 and 1.02 Followed that up with 3X6' with two at .85 and one .86.
Overall ride 75' @.86 with 91.5 TSS. This felt like a solid effort. I need to watch my nutrition which was off the rails later this week, not just for weight loss but energy and recovery for the workouts.
Saturdays bike workout was solid, and i'm really starting to dig the smart trainer. I think it was in wk1 that scott made a comment along the lines of "ride like you've got a gun to your head" - knowing that a drop in cadence will only bring a rise in resistance is nothing short of staring down a double barrel to keep you honest. Looking forward to my sunday run tomorrow already.
Getting a great massage on Friday meant my legs were ready for the weekend. I even ran my brick hot. Z3 vs Z2 for the first half until I realized I looked at the wrong speed setting on my cheat sheet I keep at my mill.
Next week I leave for FL again on Thursday, but have made arrangements to ride Saturday and hopefully can do the same on Tuesday. The work will not be as written, but should be good for some shorter sets I hope.
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