Wattage and PRE
Not sure if I am jumping the gun a bit - my ride this morning felt moderately easy. Stayed within the wattage ranges easily - did not use HR, but my PRE was 6 - 6.5... maybe a 7. The "old school" in me wants to push the wattage - the newbie EN'er is wondering otherwise. Not 100% sure if I tested correctly (was having difficulty calibrating PM). Thoughts?
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could be a power meter thing or could be, like Anson said, you just didn't test well that day.
Not sure what your season looks like. But, it's a long year. Because of that, I would just stick to the plan. If you can 100% FTP on the intervals in the 6th and 7th week like you can now, then the next test should give you the bump that you're expecting.
Last year was my first OS. And I found that by the weeks 4,5,6.... the intervals that seemed easier earlier in the plan weren't so easy now.
Of course, an rpe of 6-7 for FTP work is awfully low. might be something else going on. Several possible factors for what your describing. hang in there.
Re: the bike workout today - As part of the main set, I had 2 x 8' at Z4. Based on first EN bike test, Z4 put me at 190-200 watts. I used a HR monitor this morning (which I did not use during the first bike test) - and during these 8' sessions, my HR was 143 (which seemed low) and my PRE was 6-7, at best. A year ago, at this time of year, I tested for a Computrainer Class, where we did a ramp test - started at a certain wattage and increased 10 -15 wats every minute until failure. My max wattage for last year's test was 270. My current fitness is lower than a year ago - but not significantly lower. I understand the testing is different and I may not be able to compare the two.
I am drinking the EN kool-aid :-) and hitting the numbers spot-on on each workout during the January OS. I understand, appreciate and respect that this program is very, very different than anything I have done in the past. I also understand that during OS, the intervals will get longer, etc...
That said, I am concerned that the first 8 weeks, the numbers might be low in the cycling arena. I don't want to "waste" this OS time - AND, at the same time, I do not want to burn out, from training too hard. I am a bit uncertain as to what I should do. Retest? Stick with the current numbers until the next test and hope I am not losing quality training time?
Chalk it up to the newbie learning curve - most of you have been there at one point or another. Continued thoughts/feedback would really be appreciated and thanks for your patience.
Thanks - in the meantime, have a GREAT Thursday!