What's new

Race The Training Thread

Flattery will get you everywhere!

Andy
Wish it did, it's much easier than commitment and effort.
Your average speeds recently are astounding! Staggering! Unfortunately, they're not surprising as I also watch keenly on how you get there. Lots and lots of hard work and effort.
 
The regular increase in volume over 3 weeks in a training block is always good. Maybe try to increase the training stress as a whole? Do you measure TSS or record a stress score in Strava?

If your 4th week is a rest week, I recommend emptying the tank as much as possible in the third week. Take the 4th week really easy and test FTP at the end.

Andy
That's the plan, the 2 hour weekly increments are the minimum are my goal, if the weather is good and I'm feeling strong, they might end up longer.

I do track TSS and all the related scores in trainingpeaks, here's what the next block will look like if everything goes according to plan.
1618393478690.png

You are right, he 4th week will be a rest week, I'm getting old and the rest will be needed.

Also to bump up the intensity I will be bumping up watts to get my HR in the right zone. I'm aiming for around 140-144bpm, it's the upper end of my Z2.

And yes, the plan is to take FTP test at the end, I will be doing polarized block after this one and I need to get more accurate number for vo2max workouts.
 
Looking good! The rest week is where adaptation occurs and where performance gains are made. So regardless of age it is important.

As I get older, the two things which become harder are recovery and weight loss.

If you are unsure of a target for VO2 max intervals, a good workout is 4 mins repeats with a 10% fail.

Do a hard 4 mins and record the average watts. Recover for 5 mins and then repeat. When you can't hit 90% of your original interval power pull the plug.

Eg. 250W first interval, below 225W to fail.

I find 8 or 9 reps is a good number. If you can do more, you didn't go hard enough on the first interval. If you can only do a few repeats (a common result first time) then you went too hard on the first interval.

A fun workout to try.

Andy
 
Wish it did, it's much easier than commitment and effort.
Your average speeds recently are astounding! Staggering! Unfortunately, they're not surprising as I also watch keenly on how you get there. Lots and lots of hard work and effort.

Cheers Roo! When I was focusing on time trialling, all I cared about was speed. These days not so much. But it's good to go out and hammer it door to door every once in a while!

Andy
 
Yesterday was the first time on the trainer in over three weeks and holy motherforking shirtballs am I out of shape. I've gained only about 1 kg, but my cardiovascular system was thoroughly confused and sluggish yesterday when I hopped on my biked and started turning the pedals.

Should I add 3-4 weeks of base training again, perhaps? Hmmm.
 
Concluded 4 week block of TR Traditional Base 1. I'm going to be repeating it, but adding 2 recovery rides on Wed and Fri + making the weekend rides longer. My goal is to do 12hr of riding in week 1, 14hr in week 2 and 16hr in week 3 (original is 11hr). I'm going to be in-between jobs and I've manage to negotiate few weeks break before starting new job. My plan is to do lots of outdoor riding, I hope the weather holds up.
That's quite ambitious.
I was supposed to do ramp test today, but since I had very patchy 4 hours of sleep,
Sleep is probably the most important factor besides nutrition for proper training. Doing 12 hours of training with too little sleep can burn you out real fast. Don't shy away from reducing your training volume in favor of adding more quality sleep.
 
Looking good! The rest week is where adaptation occurs and where performance gains are made. So regardless of age it is important.

As I get older, the two things which become harder are recovery and weight loss.

If you are unsure of a target for VO2 max intervals, a good workout is 4 mins repeats with a 10% fail.

Do a hard 4 mins and record the average watts. Recover for 5 mins and then repeat. When you can't hit 90% of your original interval power pull the plug.

Eg. 250W first interval, below 225W to fail.

I find 8 or 9 reps is a good number. If you can do more, you didn't go hard enough on the first interval. If you can only do a few repeats (a common result first time) then you went too hard on the first interval.

A fun workout to try.

Andy

I was planning to to start of with 4x4min and go from there, I will have to find my bearings first, hopefully I can do that in the first week. I'm planning to do ~3 x 4week blocks and build on previous one, it's first time I'm doing this, so I would say the first block might not be optimal.
 
Yesterday was the first time on the trainer in over three weeks and holy motherforking shirtballs am I out of shape. I've gained only about 1 kg, but my cardiovascular system was thoroughly confused and sluggish yesterday when I hopped on my biked and started turning the pedals.

Should I add 3-4 weeks of base training again, perhaps? Hmmm.
That's the issue with fitness/muscle, takes lots of hard work to get it, then it vanishes really quick.

You can join me in doing 4 weeks of base training.
 
That's quite ambitious.
It is, it's first week and I'm already feeling it, I'm thinking of reducing the intensity on Wednesday and Friday workouts from Z2 to Z1. My knee is complaining (lots of surgeries and not much knee left). I still want to keep the volume high.
Sleep is probably the most important factor besides nutrition for proper training. Doing 12 hours of training with too little sleep can burn you out real fast. Don't shy away from reducing your training volume in favor of adding more quality sleep.
Yeap, sleep and food (and hopefully outdoor rides, doing it on trainer is demotivating). It will not be a problem in couple of weeks, since I have few weeks off while I'm in between jobs and already my stress and workload is dropping = better sleep.
 
Hey Andy, you applied those stickers yourself, right? I noticed your early pics didn't have any stickers on them.
I will probably buy some deep dish rims as soon my Biden Bucks show up... which should have been months ago.

Previously I was having issues with fatigue and having a hard time bumping my numbers up, but now I have no problem doing 130+ kg rides and I think I am finally reasonably close to where I was at my peak last year.

I am five kilograms heavier, though... Basically where I was before I sacrificed my power to lose a few kgs. Woops.

I have managed to cut my alcohol consumption back to basically just the weekends and started counting calories and I could swear I am getting slimmer. I hope to reach 80 kg some time this year, I hope...

Anyway, I bought some TT bars and a TT helmet and I decided I will be focusing on TTs and pan-flat races at least during the first half of this year's season, since they're more fun for more. Well, that and XC mountain bike races. My first race was going to be next month, but it was cancelled, so I entered Katsurao instead. This time on the lowest category, so hopefully I will either have more fun or at least not have to suffer as long.
 
Yesterday was the first time on the trainer in over three weeks and holy motherforking shirtballs am I out of shape. I've gained only about 1 kg, but my cardiovascular system was thoroughly confused and sluggish yesterday when I hopped on my biked and started turning the pedals.

Should I add 3-4 weeks of base training again, perhaps? Hmmm.
A week of lots of volume, no intensity should get the engine going again!

Andy
 
I was planning to to start of with 4x4min and go from there, I will have to find my bearings first, hopefully I can do that in the first week. I'm planning to do ~3 x 4week blocks and build on previous one, it's first time I'm doing this, so I would say the first block might not be optimal.
Long intervals for FTP and short repeated intervals for VO2 max. The 4 minute length may be harder than the number of sets. Maybe go for 8 x 2mins or even 1 min? Then work on increasing the length of each interval gradually. Gradually reducing the length of the rest interval also has a training effect.

Andy
 
Hey Andy, you applied those stickers yourself, right? I noticed your early pics didn't have any stickers on them.
I will probably buy some deep dish rims as soon my Biden Bucks show up... which should have been months ago.

Previously I was having issues with fatigue and having a hard time bumping my numbers up, but now I have no problem doing 130+ kg rides and I think I am finally reasonably close to where I was at my peak last year.

I am five kilograms heavier, though... Basically where I was before I sacrificed my power to lose a few kgs. Woops.

I have managed to cut my alcohol consumption back to basically just the weekends and started counting calories and I could swear I am getting slimmer. I hope to reach 80 kg some time this year, I hope...

Anyway, I bought some TT bars and a TT helmet and I decided I will be focusing on TTs and pan-flat races at least during the first half of this year's season, since they're more fun for more. Well, that and XC mountain bike races. My first race was going to be next month, but it was cancelled, so I entered Katsurao instead. This time on the lowest category, so hopefully I will either have more fun or at least not have to suffer as long.

Yes I was keen to get the wheels rolling so I was using them before applying the stickers and Imezi skewers and brake pads. The pads slow the bike down, hopefully not so much the stickers.

What TT set up did you get?

I got a nice aero road helmet but it already feels too hot!

Andy
20210402_054930.jpg
 
Another week of training done.

The usual blog link and cut and paste below.

Cheers, Andy



「into narnia!」

last week's training blog
先週のトレーニングブログです
変な日本語すみません!

in early spring
make the shift to riding in the hills
including sunday, I did the loop 3 days in a row
春先に
トレーニングは海から山へシフトする
日曜日も含めて3日間に高柳ループをしました

without thinking of a training menu
if you did loop every day you would become strong
トレーニングメニューを考えずに
毎日ループすれば
強くなるでしょう

on thursday and friday I ventured into Narnia!
deep in snow country
R353 is all up and down
a loop nets 1,250m elevation gain
木曜日と金曜日にナルニアへ!
雪の中のR353はすべて上下
ループでネット1,250mの高度ゲイン

・monday: the loop 90km, 500m
・tuesday: the loop 75km, 500m
・wednesday: rest
・thursday: 353 loop 85km, 1,250m
・friday: seaside loop / mountain loop 135km, 1,250m
・saturday: rest
・sunday: race

a second rest today
race tomorrow
looks like a storm is coming!
here we go!
今日はもう一日レストをして
明日はレースです
嵐が来ているようですね!
がんばりましょう!

#imezi #imezi167 #167grv #imezisealant #プロジェクト167
 
Ugh, luck isn't on my side it seems, I am getting sick, my three-year-old did not just give me love with all her hugs, but also her bugs ;)😅
 
Pez often has good articles about training.

Here is one about hayfever.

Of these strategies I'm using

♤Nasal rinsing/irrigation
◇Nose sprays
♧Anti-histamines

As with anything medical, it's about trial and error, and finding out what works best for you.

Andy

 
Yes I was keen to get the wheels rolling so I was using them before applying the stickers and Imezi skewers and brake pads. The pads slow the bike down, hopefully not so much the stickers.

What TT set up did you get?

I got a nice aero road helmet but it already feels too hot!

Andy
View attachment 30297
A Poc Cerebel, since it was half price! I am sure I will roast in it. The bars are from Token. Took about 10-20 minutes to be confident riding in them, though. Was a bit spooky at first.
 
A Poc Cerebel, since it was half price! I am sure I will roast in it. The bars are from Token. Took about 10-20 minutes to be confident riding in them, though. Was a bit spooky at first.
Mine too was half price. I went in the shop and he was like "buy this as it won't fit on anybody else's head!" Hard to say no as they always take good care of me.

Aerobars are like good slippers, once you get used to them, you'll never want to take them off!

Andy
 
@andywood you are a machine, that's a lot of kms and ascent.

I did 12:30hr of riding this week, with total TSS of 529.

My power meter decided to play up today and half way through my ride I was trying to fix that thing, since it was giving me insane numbers.
Thanks to it I ended up with massive TSS and IF also thankfully it seems intervals.icu was able to clean up all the spikes and it shows some plausible numbers.

One thing I can say, after the FTP bump, my heart is doing fine, but my legs are struggling on my 3hr weekend rides, the 2:15min rides during the weekdays are manageable. Next week I'm aiming for total of 14 hours of riding and hopefully I can sort out this power meter.

IMG_0142.PNG
 
@andywood you are a machine, that's a lot of kms and ascent.

I did 12:30hr of riding this week, with total TSS of 529.

My power meter decided to play up today and half way through my ride I was trying to fix that thing, since it was giving me insane numbers.
Thanks to it I ended up with massive TSS and IF also thankfully it seems intervals.icu was able to clean up all the spikes and it shows some plausible numbers.

One thing I can say, after the FTP bump, my heart is doing fine, but my legs are struggling on my 3hr weekend rides, the 2:15min rides during the weekdays are manageable. Next week I'm aiming for total of 14 hours of riding and hopefully I can sort out this power meter.

View attachment 30364

Cheers, I plan to switch to gravel riding tomorrow in preparation for a couple of gravel races coming up.

In training we will build to big off road rides of 150km / 4,000m elevation gain. Just need the snow to shift!

For your power meter it is a good idea to calibrate it before each ride. Even mid ride if there is a significant change in temperature during your 2, 3h rides.

Hope you sort it out.

Andy
 
Back
Top Bottom