JOS Bike Thread Week 2
So, Week 2 of the JOS is upon us! There was lots of great work done this past week. Let's take that excitement and use it to keep the momentum rolling for the upcoming weeks. Just like racing... don't burn all of your matches too early.
I would like to share a couple of things that I have found to be helpful in past Out Seasons
- Even though some of the workouts may look impossible before you start them, the coach wouldn't ask you to do it if it was not possible. Trust in yourself and your coach and give it a good effort. You may be surprised what you can do that you may not have realized.
- Consider testing your race nutrition on every ride. You don't really need Gatorade (or your potion of choice) for rides shorter than an hour but it never hurts if you are used to the stuff before race day.
- Keep your metrics. If you don't have a power meter at least use your speed and cadence to keep track of distance and HR (you are using a HR monitor, right). Comparing numbers from the beginning and end of the OS on a year to year basis is always a good reality check. Posting on Strava can be a good way to keep up with your team members epic exploits. The team Strava tracker on the dashboard shows who is really doing the work (I didn't even make the top 100 this past week).
- POST YOUR RESULTS in the weekly thread and let us know how it went. Part of the benefit of being with the team is to share the challenges and triumphs of our shared journey to better fitness.
- If this is your first OS with EN, do not be afraid to post questions if you do not understand what is going on. Some of us who have been around for a while tend to skimp on explanations of things that we are used to doing. If you have questions, ask them. Overall, this is a pretty helpful crowd.
- In the event that you miss a workout, don't panic! It is not usually good try to squeeze it in back to back because part of the magic of the OS is hard intervals with RECOVERY. Just do your other workouts as scheduled. as long as you are not missing multiple workouts every week, you will be OK. Also, if you get later in the JOS and feel like a recovery day is in order, listen to your body and take it. You want to be healthy at the end of this thing because you have a big season ahead.
- For fun, browse through the bike portion of the Wiki. There is lots of quality EN goodness in there. I learn something new every time I read through it.
The workouts for the week are as follows ( I am using Level 2 Bike Focused workouts)
Tues : 2 x 12 minute intervals at FTP
Thurs: 2 x 15 minute intervals at 90% FTP
Sat : 75 min at 85% FTP then 10 min at FTP followed by 20 min of 80% FTP
I expect to see some great results up in here this week.
Go Get 'em team!
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Planning to hit it early tomorrow for the main set only (45 min) then run in the evening. Golden Cheetah bumped my Critical Power estimate up after the Sunday Ride but I think I will stay where I am until a formal test a bit later.
While I'm not following the OS workouts, I am following the JOS group as I train for a May 3K/120K/30K race. I would note that the Saturday ride I will be leading on Zwift this week will be 1 hour and 40-45 minutes @ an IF of 0.8 ( I averaged 2.65 w/kg last weekend on the same ride), with 4 x 5-89 minutes climbing sections which can/should be done @ 0.95-1.0 of FTP.
IOW, consider this an invitation to all JOS folks to sign up for the Saturday EN "West Coast" CnC ride, starting @ 0655 PST/0955 EST. The ride is "culled", meaning you will only see the other riders in the group, not the 10,000 rilling Watopia @ that time. And, you can follow my yellow beacon. If you feel you can't keep up, well, just adjust your weight ahead of time so you will averaging 2.5-2.6 w/kg (of if you are faster, add weight to handicap yourself.)
Instead of the FTP workouts in my plan (which are a lot like the OS ones), I am doing Zwift races. E.g., this week on Wed, I will do either a 30' time trial or a shorter race for one 30' interval @ 0.95-1.0 of my 212 FTP.
@Al Truscott Thanks for the invite! I have been doing the East Coast team rides on Sat and Sun and have found them to be motivating as well as fun since the crowd is lively. I might have to ditch Patrick for a week and do the West Coast thing.
Tuesday AM Bike done: IF 1.06 and 0.99. Not as consistent as I might like but it is in the books. For reference, I did 45 min of the east coast Cruise and Crush Sunday and had an IF of 1.02 for the entire 45 minutes. That tells me both that I probably need to up my FTP and that the EN crowd is motivating.
Hey OS Peeps. I've had a change in my race plans for this year and am jumping into the JOS fun! I.m going to try and get home in time to to the Velocious SST Break and Finish group WKO on Zwift at 6:05 PM EST. It looks like it is pretty similar to the OS Tuesday WKO. If not, I will just do the WKO.
Agree 100% will @Al Truscott and @Ralph Moore. The team rides in Zwift on the weekend (Hang on, West Coast CnC on Saturday and East Coast CnC on Sunday) are great WKOs that will make you stronger and faster. I see @Ralph Moore sticking with the group longer and longer each week.
Thanks for the invite @Al Truscott . Roughly how long do the West Coast rides go? Similar to Sunday CnC rides -- ~1 hr 45min?
Got my Tues morning 60' min bike work done this morning, both intervals at FTP felt good.
Did the 2 x 12'. Didn't believe the FTP test from last week @ 204 when last year I could do 229. So I set for 229 in ERG mode and kept up the cadence to not get caught in the ERG trap. I knew that if the effort was too hard I could dial it back in the Companion app. The workout went as planned. Big win. Nailed it. Ran off the bike for an easy 28 minutes in the neighborhood. Breakfast and shower done before 10 (every day is Saturday).
Have a great day Team!
Thanks for the invite, @Al Truscott
Great work, @Pat Koss
________________________________
GOOD NEWS: I got into Leadville 100 MTB.
BAD NEWS: I got into Leadville 100 MTB. :-)
When I saw my name roll across the stream during the Facebook Live event, I was in shock. This will be a HUGE deal for me and the weight of it (mainly the elevation) is weighing heavy. I am stoked and a bit scared. 😐️
Now that the next 29 weeks of my life are mapped out, it's time to get busy.
L3 - 2x15'(5') completed but cracked during each 15' and had to dial down the IF to 90% in ERG. I finished but it was just one of those rides.
Ride on, everyone!
@John Stark , congrats on Leadville! Let us know how we can help.
@John Stark , congrats as well. I'm excited to follow your journey this year (training, bike set up, etc.). Leadville is a goal on my radar in the future.
Just checking in. Only got 2X rides last week, so need to step it up this week. Planning my ride for 8:30 this evening.
@John Stark Congrats on Leadville! I'm thinking about volunteering (since I'll have moved out that way by then), so I may see you there!
Did today's 2 x 12' within TdZ Stage 5 (Richmond). Couldn't help myself and did 3 of the sprints (2 at 700+ watts) within the intervals. Had a pretty good group to ride with most of the time.
Great work, all!
2x15’ @ 220w (IF=1.0) Just the main set today. @Al Truscott : 8:55 CST seems about right for a 100min at 2.5w/kg.
@John Stark : Out of my league ;-)
@Al Truscott , I’d love to join in on a Sat Zwift ride (esp at West Coast time!), but I’m out of town the next 2 weekends (will be getting my run on). Will keep an eye out for this.
Did the Tuesday ride today followed by Stage 5 of TdZ. I recall playing around with the calendar feature in FS and was moving workouts around and failed to put Tuesday back! So I did my Wed run yesterday. 😫
The 2x12' Z4 was a disaster. My legs were just not there and I wasn't into it mentally. I bagged it after about 45', regrouped, ate half a banana and 2 Clif shot blocks w/ caffeine then joined the Stage 5 ride. That went better although I didn't quite hit my numbers. I had a total of just over 17' in Z4 rather than the prescribed 24'. 177 Avg pwr, IF .89 and VI 1.02
Got the 2x12 done today on zwift erg. My FTP is set from a test last year that I think is a bit high for right now. Held on for the first 12, but lowered it to 95% a few minutes into the second 12. Overall solid workout and I did better than I thought I could.
Great work everyone, so inspiring to read all the mojo!
Sabra : Some days are like that, Kudos for not giving up. Therein lies mental toughness that will be invaluable on race day.
John Stark 2 words BAD ASS. having that race on the schedule will keep you honest for sure.
Pat Koss : JEALOUS! No fair rubbing it in about your leisure schedule (as I write this from work)
My work PC freaks out when I try to use the "at" symbol to tag someone so you can tell when I am posting from there.
Planning to ride this PM. further details will be forthcoming after the pain.
Thursday 2 x 15' done. Ran it in workout mode on Zwift and ERG mode...that keeps me honest to keep up a good cadence. Full day here so glad this workout is out of the way early.
Have a great day everyone.
Tried to do TdZ Stage 5 for my Tuesday FTP ride, 1st one went fine. The second one the family had a meltdown when the pizza arrived and no one could figure out whose pizza was whose, where the tip was, etc. So had to hop off the bike mid interval a few times trying to fix the issues while panting, so they ended up being more of sweet spot interval. I'll likely try to re-do the FTP part on Friday as part of a Zwift race.
Wednesday Ride (non-OS): Zwift NYC Non-ERG
Duration: 1:04
Distance: 15.3 miles
Elevation: 1,286
IF: .87
Need to get to level 12 in Zwift to unlock the big climbing WKO's.
Thursday Ride: L3 - Trainer Road 2x18'(5') with ERG
Felt really good and got the WORK done.
IF .82
Rode while Facetiming with @Tom Glynn who now lives 900 miles away. We do a weekly trainer ride together. My hard work days are his recovery days so he does a lot of the chatting. :-)
If you're looking for some company on your Saturday ABP ride (with extra 5 & 8 minute pops up the hills), join the EN Cruise and Crush on Zwift @ 6:55 AM PST (1455 UTC, 0955 EST), on Watopia's Reverse Figure 8 x 2. Takes about 1:45. Follow that with Stage 6 of the Tour de Zwift, up the Alpe. Sign up on Zwift companion app for both. You'll see only the other riders in the group, and get a great draft.
Got Thursday's Sweet Spot ride done this morning. I had written a question on GroupMe about which workout I should do today as I was a little under the weather on Wed/ Thurs. @Ralph Moore I tend to agree with your sentiments about not making up lost workouts. I wasn't that ill this week and heavily debated working out those two days, but elected to let my body rest.
Today's ride felt really, really good. No problem holding the intervals for the 2 x 15' blocks.
So, Thursday's intervals went pretty well even though I just hit the main set. I usually do those rides up the first part of the Alpe Du Zwift and I get a little farther each time.
Today I rode the Hang on Ride with the big boys. I hung with the pack for about 32 min then fell off the back with a smaller group who stayed together till the end. It was certainly an ABP ride as my NP for the 1:45 ride was 2 points higher than my FTP and my average power for the ride was less than 10 points under my FTP.
East Coast Cruise and crush tomorrow. Sorry @Al Truscott I would love to join my west coast teammates but that time doesn't translate well to East Coast time for me.
Rode the 7am CT Tour de Zwift. Today's ride was THE best climb in Watopia, the Alpe de Zwift. Had a blast!! Managed zones and interval offline to Zwift with my bike computer in front of me, so I got the times/zones. I did my own crush intervals on some of the sectors of the climb to get the Z4 time. 4,000' feet overall.
Then screamed down the hill with a group of riders at 50+.
Did this on my own (as regards the EN crew) since our CT timezone and commitments for today didn't fit with either the east or west coast EN rides on Zwift.
HAGD everyone!
Plenty of time in Zn4 with 30’ above FTP during CnC West this am. Really not comfortable with the weight doping, but was able to stay with the group. As @Coach Patrick noted on Group Me, “It’s the TSS baby.” Biggest day since early Sept. Still capping at 90’ as I try to control TSB.
@John Culberson IMO, weight doping is no different than drafting IRL. About ten years ago, I trained regularly with a group of triathletes on Sat AM. We had two KQers in the group, me @ 55-59, and another guy @ 35-39. I could sit on his wheel all morning, and at the end of the ride, we each would have about the same TSS/IF, meaning we both got the workout we needed, me pushing him and him pulling me. Couldn't have done it without the other/peer motivation. I felt no shame...
My point is, if you do better training work amongst others rather than on your own, and fiddling with your weight in Zwift or drafting on the road allows you to do that, it's the work that counts, not "playing by the rules". The Real Rule is: Work Works, any way you get it.
Neither the East Coast or West Coast CnC scheduled rides work for me this weekend so I got the ABP workout done this morning. 2 hr 15 min, 0.81 IF, 148 TSS, NP of 180 watts. Over 2 hours in aero on the TT bike.
Similar nutrition to last weekend: 2.5 bottles water, 3 gels, 1 bottle electrolyte.
Thanks @Al Truscott : I had a great WKO and a great time this am. I’m just building into my bike fitness right now... I’ll lower the doping dose as I approach my in-season w/kg.
Got all of the bike workouts in last week and this week. Missed some runs last week and just let them go. Got all my runs in this week. Feeling the work but not so much as to feel like I am over doing it. Looking forward to next week.
SATURDAY: ABP Ride - Fail.
Tried to do the ABP ride but mentally was not having it. So I made it a 1:15 SST ride @ .80 IF.
SUNDAY: ABP Ride - Success
Decided I needed a new strategy to deal with a longer drainer ride so I went back to OG EN circa 2009 and pulled out the Garmin 1030 (2009 it was a little yellow CPU) and set it up to display NP, NP Lap, HR, etc. Focus was to get to the target NP for the interval and hold it disregarding real-time watts on Zwift and the like. I also set the Garmin to auto-lap every 20 minutes during the 80' Z3 interval. Was great mentally to break that up and only focus on the NP for the whole ride.
15' wu // 80' @ Z3 IF=.82 // 15' @ Z4 IF = .86
Overall: 2:02 @ .80 IF and 119 TSS. VI = 1.01
I cracked a bit during the Z4 and dropped 5 NP watts total at the end. But got it done.
WEEK OVERALL
5 drainer rides and 419 TSS. 3rd week around 400 TSS so planning on upping the TSS number next week. Should be able to MTB outside so that will help with extra saddle time and some real climbing.
Ride on, everyone.
@John Stark You are inspiring me to get my data geek hat back on. I need to keep a closer watch on my TSS.