Week 6 Saturday Bike: Did You Back Thursday UP?
So I went into today's ride with a little trepidation, but emerged with better numbers than Thursday. 2 x 12 as 318, 319, then 1x6 at 322. I am zero percent stronger, but I was waaaay better at keeping on the intervals this time around.
I am curious to hear how it played out for others. If you are still tired after a rest day, could be your Thurs taget was a bit high...but we'll know in Week 8! Remember, now, Tuesday 2x20 is at normal (read: current) FTP. If I am feeling good, I might try to push the second 20 mins at my target number, but no more than that!
Enjoy your weekend!
~P
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Got it done today wth another "could" ride backing up the numbers from Thursday. Wasn't sure it was going to happen when I woke up. Legs felt very heavy and fatigued but fortunately loosened up nicely and felt stronger after 10' warm up. I didn't give myself the option of not getting it done today as I set the ERG file for 12', 12', 6' @ 286 watts (same as Thursday) and held on just focussing on keeping the pedals turning over at good cadence. Managed to add in 2x15' @ 235 (88%) which admittedly was particularly tough the last 10'. Think I picked a sweet spot for this target.
Hey Coach, question...
u want me to crush it like Thursday? I'll be going into the cave tonight and I was expecting to fall back into the scheduled 'zones'. But, if coach says go harder than that, then that is what I'll do.
Also, is this how I should be handling ALL of these workouts? If zone 4 is 162-168, should I be continuing to hold 180 by the end of the workout? Is 162 the bare minimum for a workout, and everything above (and as far above AS POSSIBLE) is what makes me faster?
Thx,
C.
If I need to post this kind of thing elsewhere, I will.
I'm playing along in my own way this year. Instead, I did an early FTT, proved that I earned a new FTP and then I did both thursday and saturday at exactly those new watts. Just like on the run, my approach this year is that i am going to earn the right to push big watts. We'll see if it works any better or not.
12' @ 111% (239 watts)
12' @ 108% (232)
6' @ 111% (239)
15' @ 93% (201)
15' @ 94% (202)
Feeling pretty wiped. Looks like the "big" storm dumped about 10 inches on us, and my snowblower is still in the shop, so I'll be swapping out the brick run for at least an hour with a shovel. Good luck everyone!
12' @ 269W, IF: 1.185
12' @ 268W, IF: 1.177
Got rest of workout done and brick run... by no means a walk in the park, but not feeling too wrecked
I went into today giving myself permission to push, but I was a little more nervous about wailing on it too much. I soooo don't want to push too much at a "could" wattage during these workouts and end up getting so exhausted that I can't lay it down in the test in a few weeks. (I know, I probably need to let that go...but alas I haven't yet) Anyhoo...Thursday my intervals were at 106%, today I was at 103% and 104%. When I would see a 206 or a 211 show up I'd back it off. So dumb really because I had a 211 test last year! I guess, I wanna make sure I earn it back. You know...legit like.
(holy crap...on a side note, my compute just lit up like crazy saying I have a bunch of viruses. Yikes! Shutting down...abort! abort! abort!)
Crush it y'all!
Chris - I think you are using HR numbers, right? If so, I have the same question. Thanks for asking.
Joe
It's great to see everyone doing so well!
I am off the normal schedule as usual because of work (but I always get the workouts in each week), but I cheated last night and did a 15 mile time trial that's part of the winter race series our local tri center is having. Based on some of the times I'd already seen, I figured it would be around 40 minutes, and would be fun as well as give me an idea of where I am leading up to week 8's testing.
I went 36:42 for 15.22 miles with an average power on their Computrainer of 312. My PT said 298 but I'm not quite sure how to compare this to my EN FTP normalized PT power of 289 for the 2x20 with 2 minute rest protocol. Maybe someone can translate for me?
Anyway, I felt great and definitely feel more mentally prepared for the upcoming test.
I went into today's ride very sleep deprived having been at the ER with Clare from 3:45am-8:00. She fell out of her loft and broke her toe. Of course, my wife had a party last night and we all didn't get to bed until 11:30. I decided to caffeinate and ride instead of go back to sleep when I got home. I also decided to use ERG mode which I haven't been doing. I wrote the files as 245 watts (1.064) for the 2x12 and 1x6. Hit them at 100%. Also threw in 2x10 at 205 watts. I decided to run which didn't really work out too well. I was supposed to run 25 minutes hard (MP/HMP) and I ended up with 2 miles easy. I figure I'll have an opportunity to make up for it tomorrow with the insane 2x2 miles @ TP.
This am's bike was tough. I did 60 minutes instead of 75' but got my HR up. I hit my numbers on my run. I don't have power meter so I only use HR. I'm hoping I have enough in the tank for tomorrow's run. My body is feeling beat up. anyone else experiencing this?
good work outs you guys.
The Nov OS is crushing it. I went into today's ride with trepidation and fear. Would I get light-headed and crash? Would I bonk and end up on the side of the road disoriented? Wed, Thu, and Fri were spent mostly in bed with a short visit to the doc and the pharmacy for meds. I am still tired and sick but recovering and no longer contagious. So I skipped the run but did the bike ...
2x12' at 1.045 and 0.996 with a total ride of 70 minutes at 0.81...
Now, time to shower and get back to bed!
Keep rocking it, Team EN!
p.s. I am glad that I rode.
Bike
2x12' @ IF 0.99/0.95
2x15' @ IF 0.79/0.89
Total bike 87min 20miles TSS 105 IF 0.85
Run
25min rTSS 43 IF 0.99
12 min 257
12 min 253 - got distracted for 30 sec by "emergency" in the house... couldn't get it back up for a while.
6 min 256
15 min 212
15 min 214
Goal is to test 250 in week 8. Looking plausible.
There was ice on the ground, so I had to go over to the gym to run on the track today. Took me a while to figure out something was bad with my calibration on the footpod, so I ended up running much too fast. Thought I might be energy bonking (no gatorade or whatever), but it was just doing sub-threshold running at the end of this stupid bike ride!
That second 12 minute interval was pretty tough, but not quite as miserable as the second 15 from Tuesday.
I had high hopes of crushing it Thursday... didn't happen. FTP 210, thought I'd do first one at 220 and then hoped to bump it up a little for the second. After 3' I was dying and knew I had some major fatigue in my legs. Ended up going about 190 for the rest of it and RPE was way up there, breathing was almost out of control, but HR was 5-8 bpm lower than when I'm normally riding at FTP (even though it felt significantly harder than a normal FTP ride). Not an expert here, but I think that's a sign I need to back off just a bit.
That's what I did this morning. Backed off just a bit (rode FTP intervals around 200) because I'm also testing next week per coach R's suggestion because my week 8 will be really messed up around the holidays and I won't be able to test then. I didn't want to go into the test week fried.
Looking forward to seeing what happens next week!
Thursday 3x10's @ 218/217/220
Today:
2x12's @ 224/221; IF 1.119/1.104
1x30 @ 185; IF 0.923
total 76 minutes @ 190; IF 0.949
run 23:08 for 3 miles @ 7:43 (7:45/7:38/7:20)
Awesome workout! gimme more of that good stuff!!
After 3 hours sleep last night and then reffing 3 basketball games this morning was not expecting alot from todays bike. Warm up confrimed legs were not feeling great , but then the intervals came and was pleasantly surprised.
1) 1 X 12' 252w 2) 1 X 12' 256 w 3) 1 X6' 276w 4) 1 X 15' 218w 5) 1 X 15' 221w
Did not want to ride at all today, but so very glad I did. Good confidence builder that I can still push the intervals when the legs are pretty beat and really just did not want to ride.
Even better than Thursday. Thursday I was testing the waters. Today I was crushing my legs.
Thurs 1.08 & 1.06 for 2x10.
Sat 1.09 & 1.07 for 2x12.
Feeling great, feeling good, how bout you?
Done!
RUN:
connect.garmin.com/activity/59477083
2x12s @ 1.044 and 1.048
1x6 @ 1.125
2x15 @ 0.929 and 0.947
Did I back Thursday's effort up with today's effort? Yep. No power numbers but RPE and HR agree.
283, 275, 289. Starting to see 300 on the dial for short periods
Thanks for doing this Coach P, et al. A little pushing and guidance are good.
Anywho, reading this has been a bit of an eye opener because I've always sort of treated my workouts with the perception that my FTP is not my FTP. Ok, by that I mean, my "FTP", especially indoor, is a reflection of both my objective fitness (what I'm trying to measure), but also a strong reflection of just how well I am feeling on a given day, dependent on diet, work, stress, sleep, etc. This is no shocking revelation as it is the same for everyone. However, I find it to be a much greater factor during the indoor season.
I had a particularly poor FTT for the OS start and if I had been sticking to those zones I'd have been sandbagging it for the last 6 weeks. Instead, to put it bluntly I just ride all of my hard intervals as hard as I can, within reason. I rarely view my FTP as s static measure but rather as a figure that grows with me day to day, pushing harder each day rather than waiting until the next FTT to reset the bar. I know there is certain risk to this, as you can really cook yourself in the process. Again, appreciate the insight Coach P, something I'll take into consideration.