2018 JOS Wk 6 Bike Thread - Digging in Deep

scott dinhofer

Now we've tested and all have shiny new FTP numbers to take out on the road. This is the week that we dig in deeper and build upon the solid gains we've been making thus far in the OS. 

For those that feel they've not been hitting it, a great week to dig in and get it done. For those that are feeling the accumulated fatigue, keep on it, great week to build the mental strength and really solidify your training.

I am looking forward to reading some great results, questions and the always lively discussion.

Gordon Cherwoniak

Seeing as I did not run on Sunday I'm getting an early start on this weeks first bike workout.  Legs were still feeling the new FTP work from Saturday.

3X12' @ 1.0, 1.01, 1.01. Then 15' @ .74 and I had to concentrate to keep the power at that level.  HR was very sticky in the 140's and maxed out at 160 but I know I was working harder than that.  I honestly did not want to be at my FTP for the final 10' of interval 3.  

So extra rest tonight and I should really start tracking my waking HR again. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/1404298520

Joe Hallatschek

Based on Patrick's podcast last week on Bike Testing, I was thinking about re-testing. 

However, since I hate testing, I'll just do like @Gordon Cherwoniak and do the specified workout and shoot for IF's at 1.0 or greater for all the 3x12'. 

  

Jeff Cornick

Late entry for the FTP as I was away all last week so I tested tonight.  Don't mean to derail the thread about this weeks stuff but I'm very happy with my gain.  278 to 291.  I was BEAT.

Gordon Cherwoniak

@Jeff Cornick  Nice work.  No derailment here this is a solid mojo boost for the start of the week.

Robert Sabo

Did a Zwift race with EN teammates this AM.  A bit over 40 minutes @ .93 IF.  Getting more comfortable with a higher heart rate while on the bike. 

Al Truscott

Yesterday evening, Zwift race of 30' @ 0.993, with 20' warm-up and 10' cool-down. No after effects this AM. Racing is so much more fun for FTP work than grinding away alone...

scott dinhofer

doing the ole fashioned intervals, and suffering through the third one
3x12'
245Watts/145AHR/154Max
251Watts/152AHR/161Max
254 Watts/158AHR/166Max

having issues with ERG mode and continually losing cadence and grinding more and more.. definitely tough intervals.. Need to get hustling on this. 

@"Joe Hallatschek" try playing around with the watts during the wko.. you should be able to find your FTP as I just did in my WKO, in hindsight, while i reallly suffered in Interval 3, I always think, i could have done that 1st interval at slightly higher watts/ HR.

Jonathan Brown

Bike is done done and done!  What do you all look at to view the workout from Zwift?  Its in a .fit format.  

Tonights ride ice took me up fox and Leigh hills.  Lots of elevation at very low speeds.

Jason Veith

Oops.. just realized I didn't post my bike workout for Tuesday.  Still trying to get my back to loosen up.  I think I pulled something when I was skiing last week (nothing to do with skiing though).  Never sneeze when bent over loading up firewood!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1405309175

Jeff Horn

FTP workout last night done.  Didn't race -- doing that every other week with prescription between.  Did 2x15'.  First set 0.93 / 240 HR avg 138, second 0.93 / 240 avg HR 145.  I was working hard, but HR seemed low to me.  Set the intervals up based on new FTP, and got ERG mode to work well after only 2 resets of the AppleTV.  Maybe I need to set ERG to 0.95 FTP for next wko to get HR up a bit?  

William Jenks

This week is nasty.  Not only do they increase the FTP but they keep up the longer FTP workouts!  Last night 2 x 15 was really pretty tough.  I tested up 10 W last week.  (Sorry I wasn't posting for a while).  I ended up going 15', 10' 5'...i.e., taking a short break at the 10 minute mark of the second 15.  Part of this was that I was having a bit of trouble riding my target of 220-225 W.  Just something about the gearing and cadence, and I was doing 230 instead.  So I didn't feel too guilty about taking the rest. :-) 

Onward and upward!

Bill Manard

FTP WKO last night was tough.  3 x 12' @ 230W, except for the tech fail at 4' of the third interval screwing things up.  I swear there was an EMP that knocked out everything, because even all of my ANT+ disconnected from my Fenix (not just the ATV Bluetooth issues...).  However, the end of the last interval was rough, so I must be doing something good...

Shaughn Simmons

From the posts above, I see gorilla cage fights everywhere!  Keep fighting!

Morning V02 work for me: https://www.strava.com/activities/1407092379

Beat the gorilla but not without getting a little bloody in the process.....

SS

Al Truscott

Lower HR a sign of increasing fitness. Even so, 0.93 is a bit low for FTP intervals; should be @ 0.95-1.0 for best benefit. If on Zwift, can tinker with the % adjustment tool (below interval report in upper left of screen) during intervals to fine tune while riding.

Jeff Horn

Thanks @Al Truscott just what I was thinking.  On training tab my workout says zone 4, so I just picked a number in the middle of that zone for ERG mode on wko when I was building it in TP.  

Joe Hallatschek

Mixed results from Tuesday's 3 X 12' (3'):

271 W/1.08 IF/Z3 AVHR: felt good and thought I could nail the next two!

266 W/1.07 IF/Z4 AVHR: thought, "OK, I'm not that good"

255 W/1.02 IF/Z4 AVHR: knew I was just having a really good day on the first interval

So, although my 249 FTP was a bit low from last week's test, I can still use it as a "measuring stick"  and work to improve! 

Joe Hallatschek

Got an invite today from a co-worker to ride at 0630 tomorrow morning on Fort Bragg with a group of Roadies on a route that is supposed to be like right outside my building! Since it will be 55 degrees then according to Weather.com at 0630hrs and that is warm around here, I'm going to switch Saturday's bike ride for Thursday since it is supposed to rain all weekend! 

The trainer is great, but sometimes you just gotta get out!

Jacklyn Moore

Been under the weather for the last 5 days. Finally felt goo denough today to do something. Ran for 45 minutes on the TM. Let my HR be the guide for pace. HR was pretty high for the effort. More healing today.
Will attempt the THursday ride tomorrow. We'll see. Probably going to be nasty. #CPR#PUSH

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

scott dinhofer

@Jonathan Brown - i have Zwift feeding to both strava & training peaks, look at it just like my road rides. 

Mark Stahlkopf

Not feeling well lately so opted to push Tuesdays 3x12 ride to today. Actually went better than expected & hit my numbers on all three sets.

Derrek Sanks

I woke up early Tuesday torn between 3x12 FTP workout or a Zwift race. Glad I chose to race as racing is a lot more fun and engaging. Based on Tuesday's race results, 46 mins at 1.03 IF, I'm thinking I didn't' have a great/accurate FTP test last week.

Jason Veith

Well, that caught me by surprise.  Woke up this morning and loaded up the workout in Zwift.. and BAM.. 60/60's  Oops. .wasn't mentally ready for that!!  Just put the music on LOUD and put my head down and got it done!!  

https://www.strava.com/activities/1408389479

Leslie Sedlak

OK, officially frustrated with my power (new power tap p1 pedals) and zwift.  About to throw in the towel on both.  I have my hubs Garmin 610xt watch.  Did my bike last week and 20 min power put my z5 max at 184.  Today I did my 60/60 set around 270.  Yes, 270 - not a typo.  My garmin asks every time I turn it on if I want to calibrate - I answer yes - and it has only been successful a few times.  Do i need to calibrate every time?  And Zwift.....I finally got my computer to read my pedals and my speed sensor last night, but I can't figure out how to change my jersey to the EN jersey (I know, important stuff) and I downloaded the EN workouts, only to try to open them in zwift and got the response that Zwift can't read that type of file.  

Other than that.  Felt pretty good during the 60/60 set (meaning my legs were like bricks after the set) - and had a great TRP 20' run brick after.

Any suggestions or fellow frustrated power/zwift users welcome

Jason Veith

For the Zwift workouts..  did you unzip the ZIP file and copy the individual workouts into the folder?   Zwift won't be able to open the ZIP file.  You need to extract the files from the ZIP.

As for calibration of your P1 pedals.   Make sure you're not on the bike while doing this. It's kinda strange why your Garmin would be asking to calibrate them each time.  It should save the # after the first successful calibration.  Hopefully a smarter member has more advice.

To change your Jersey, you need to be "in game".  From there you can go into the Menu.
https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/articles/205585535-Rider-Customization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdEy9yGn11w

Hope that helps!

Good luck!

Carole Harbison

I'll take the easy ones:

The jersey. You need to be at level 3 to see the Basic 5 jersey, then from
me menu there's the customization button on the right. Changing jerseys and
socks and stuff is in there.

To get the workouts into zwift you can't directly open the file, you have
to drop them into the documents/zwift/workouts and then when you open zwift
on the main screen you can choose the workout from there--it'll show up in
the list with all the preprogrammed zwift workouts.

scott dinhofer

@Carole Harbison - yes, i believe you are supposed to calibrate every time. I often skip it, the factors are insignificantly different and the bike is supposed to be stopped and pedals not moving, on a level surface. I have been riding zwift and having my pedals connected to my computer, no garmin and thus have not calibrated all winter, I am quite certain my numbers are good despite this. 

Shaughn Simmons

Feet got cold on the way up to the radio tower this morning............

Mark Lane

Still working my way back into this after being sick a couple of weeks.
Tues: 2X12(4) at .98 & .97 kicked my butt pretty good.
Thurs: 2X5X1(1) not too bad, short brick run after.
Thought I'd bounce back faster, HR really high on bike wko's.

Edwin Croucher

Everyone seems to be doing fantastic. I am having a broken week. It started well on Monday and I had a great swim. Unfortunately for me Tuesday was not a great day. The combination of work and attending to my son with the flu eat up any possibility of even a small run. Yesterday a strange yellow orb appeared in the sky and the temperature was very nice so I did the long run outside. Today, I looked at the two key bike workouts for the week. It is very difficult to determine which workout has more bang. I chose the Tuesday FTP work. My reasoning was the longer time in the hard work zone is a bigger mental benefit. So, today I rode 3 X 12' recording 261W, 263W & 265W. That was a big success on heavy legs after the long run yesterday.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1408845871
I finished with a 10K brick
https://www.strava.com/activities/1408981400
Rock on everyone!

Al Truscott

For today's OS bike hack, I did a Zwift race - four laps on the Watopia Hilly Loop, each at about 15.6 minutes. TSS for the 1 hour 3 minutes was 101, @ 0.96 IF, with a VI of 1.02. Avg HR was 133, cadence of 82, and pedal balance of L/R 52/48 (a focus of mine, as it's never 50/50...)

For the record, I am about the slowest of the B's, and thus came in 2nd to last; mid pack for the whole field, and the only 60+ racer there. I should have done a sweat test, has to wring out my headband and wrist band afterwards, along with drippy handlebar towels, etc. And this was sitting half in half out on my deck in 31F temps!