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Race The Training Thread

Put my Zwift subscription on pause while my trainer was gone. I decided to give TrainerRoad a try for a while.

I set my FTP to about what I suspected my real FTP was (based on my power meter and not my old smart trainer). Did a workout, and it felt bang on in terms of difficulty.

Then yesterday I did a ramp test, hoping it would be at least 15 watts higher than what I had set my FTP to. Like usual I popped when I hit 180.

It was one watt lower.

I have mixed feelings about this. Hehehe.
 
I already did a one-month trial a while back but ended up only doing a ramp test on it.
 
Speaking of the ramp test. I did one on Monday and this time I kept a careful eye on my cadence so as not to go into the spiral of death too early. I lasted a bit longer and died a nasty death when the bell tolled for the next ramp step. So got a few more watts.
 
Speaking of the ramp test. I did one on Monday and this time I kept a careful eye on my cadence so as not to go into the spiral of death too early. I lasted a bit longer and died a nasty death when the bell tolled for the next ramp step. So got a few more watts.

Yeah, you can squeeze out a few more watts if you do that. This is because it's more cardiovascularly efficient (less o2 intake and lower HR) to use a higher cadence the higher the power you are trying to put out. It's actually a fairly linear relationship.

reference: https://www.semanticscholar.org/pap...elch/e70c30ca980634a9104d0d4ca1caeee5ca71d67c

If you extrapolate you would be doing something like 110 at 400 watts, which seems about right.

of course, the last 10 seconds or so is by far the hardest... especially if you truly bury yourself. I am fairly consistent of how I feel when I pop, so at the very least my tests will be repeatable.
 
Speaking of the ramp test. I did one on Monday and this time I kept a careful eye on my cadence so as not to go into the spiral of death too early. I lasted a bit longer and died a nasty death when the bell tolled for the next ramp step. So got a few more watts.

Now that I started using TrainerRoad and a Wahoo Kickr Core, I experienced the spiral of death for the first time. Holy hell, it's annoying. It sure explains why Zwift is so trigger-happy when it comes to turning ERG mode off.

You cannot afford to let your cadence drop at 120 watts, much less 380 watts.
 
I'm curious how that feels. But with my dumb trainer, I have a different set of trade-offs. E. g. I have to "invert" some of the cadence drills, where TrainerRoad lowers the power requirement and asks you to up the cadence. On a fluid trainer where resistance is solely due to wheel speed, that can't happen as easily. Yes, I can shift gears, but that often lands me outside of the power zone.
 
I'm curious how that feels. But with my dumb trainer, I have a different set of trade-offs. E. g. I have to "invert" some of the cadence drills, where TrainerRoad lowers the power requirement and asks you to up the cadence. On a fluid trainer where resistance is solely due to wheel speed, that can't happen as easily. Yes, I can shift gears, but that often lands me outside of the power zone.

Ignore cadence, power is always more important. You can do your cadence training on steep climbs and fast descents!

Basically the trainer cranks the resistance so high that it's impossible to turn the cranks without standing on them.
 
Looking forward to Niseko next weekend after missing it last year.

After two rides in the 140km road race, this year I'll do the 13km TT.

After last week's race, keeping form is a balancing act.

The usual weekly training blog below.

Cheers,

Andy

 
Niseko is the race I'd like to do someday, but hearing stories about epic 140-km training rides averaging 32 km/h in preparation for the event recently just tells me I'd never make the time cut past the first quarter of the race until I drop another 10+ kg.

Might have been a lack of carbs, but I couldn't keep the cadence out of the death-spiral zone on a hard SST/threshold workout today.

Have a 40ish mile ride planned for tomorrow and then an absurdly short race on Sunday. Forecast is rain, so I'll probably wear my cheaper bibs and an older jersey instead of my skin suit. The water will probably keep it from flapping, anyway...
 
I forgot my shoes at home.......... sigh.

my DNS/DFN to finish ratio is close to 2/1 at this point.
 
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Niseko is the race I'd like to do someday, but hearing stories about epic 140-km training rides averaging 32 km/h in preparation for the event recently just tells me I'd never make the time cut past the first quarter of the race until I drop another 10+ kg.
That seems brutal. Japan is really missing a race category below E3.
 
That seems brutal. Japan is really missing a race category below E3.

grand fondo races have people of all skill levels, but this particular group has people at the P/1 level in it capable of actually winning the event, so it's a slight exaggeration.

OTOH I did average 18 mph at the Nasu Longride (which I think included several stops at aid stations).... over 45 kilometers.... with only 490 meters of climbing.... before I ran into a guy who stopped suddenly and broke my collarbone.

If you take out all the aid station stops I think I averaged 276 watts for an hour and a half (different software reports power differently though). I was feeling really good until suddenly I didn't. Haha.
 
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TrainerRoad has been working its magic: over the course of the last 2 months, my FTP steadily increased from 277 W to 303 W, and that is despite two week-long breaks in training. Psychologically, I feel much stronger, too, I can easily hold 20-minute close-to-FTP efforts and 12-minute over-under intervals (2 minutes on, 1 minute off). More importantly, I really enjoy indoor training, so much so, that I haven't been riding outside for quite a while now. (Although that is also due to me traveling and rain.)
 
Nice. I hope to get mine over 300 with accurate power numbers this time as soon as I can get back on the trainer. I could physically do it now with the bars flipped around, but the girlfriend isn't having it and I need her help to get the clavicle brace back on afterwards.
 
Shoulder injuries royally suck. I have had two, although just distended/torn ligaments, but I'd just take it easy and invest in PT as soon as you can. In my experience PT was invaluable to preserve mobility.
 
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