Have I overdone it?

I went to bed last night feeling a bit 'throaty' and woke up feeling slightly worse. I'm fairly sure that this has something to do with the high training load of the last week or so, so I decided to have a look at the stats to see if I could gain any insight. After all, this experiment is a lot more useful if I can use it to determine what my training limit is (if there is one) so I can avoid it in the future.

Above is a selection from my Golden Cheetah Performance Manager chart. The red bars show individual training events, the higher the bar the greater the Bikescore (a nominal value based on average power and duration for each event). The blue line shows short term stress (the average of the last 7 days Bikescores), the green line shows long term stress (the last 6 weeks average Bkescore) and the black line shown Training Stress Balance (reflecting the balance of short term stress (fatigue) and long term stress (fitness)). Basically, the higher the black line the better your form (fitness-fatigue).

I have highlighted the 2 areas where my Training Stress Balance is at its lowest (and coinciding with a rise in training load). The first period relates to an October training camp, and the second covers the last 2 weeks. The October camp had fewer longer rides. At the end of the October camp I felt tired but well, whereas today I feel run down. So it may be that TSB is a poor indicator of overtraining, or that there were differences between the 2 periods that aren't obvious.

Maybe there's something else going on and I've just had a body shock from having to go to work. Maybe I've picked up a bug at work and it's nothing to do with the training. Hopefully I'll be back to normal again soon and back on the turbo.

Shorter Harder

Returning to work was a huge shock this morning, especially the getting up at 6am bit of it. The sitting at work bit was rubbish too.

Couldn't decide whether to do a workout or have a rest, but in the end I realised that I really should do one while I've got the chance because I don't know when work/home life may stop me. The longer version of Shorter Harder seemed to fit the bill, but the longer version with 5 extra intervals.

In the end I quite enjoyed it, with the 2011 Amstell Gold race on YouTube in the background the time seemed to go very quickly and by the end I'd almost forgotten about the sweaty pool on the floor and my 'gentleman's numbness'. After the last interval I ruined my cooldown by getting excited by the Amstell race finish and letting my power creep up and up.

It wasn't long ago that I found this workout difficult and now I can quite easily complete it even on the third day of a set. Despite the obvious fact that I need to increase the difficulty of my workouts, I just can't seem to get round to doing it. Maybe next time.....

Weekly Summary

I've had the luxury of a week off work to allow me to focus on getting some good training in and hopefully make some more progress towards my targets. I've even had the the opportunity to get out on the roads and do some normal cycling rather than the relative monotony of the turbo.

This week has been my biggest since the start of the experiment:

Time riding: 8 hrs 44 mins
Work done: 7700 kJ
Bikescore: 650

This is most obvious in the graph below showing time in power zones 3, 4 and 5. I've done more in each of these zones than in any previous week and at the end of it I still feel keen and strong; much better than I expected to. It will be interesting to see how going back to work will impact on my turbo workload.

I've also managed to reduce my weight to around 74.8 kgs (based on 3 days' measurements) so cutting alcohol and reducing chocolate seems to be doing some good. With the race season about 2 months away I'm not really that bothered about my weight yet, but I'd like to be a kilo lighter next month.

An easyish 50 minutes

I felt a little sore after yesterday's ride and run so I chose a simpler and easier workout today. I took ages to decide whether to do something easy or nothing at all, and in the end I went for the easy option because I knew I would hate myself if I did nothing.

After a warm up it was 4x10 at 272W, 288W, 272W then 288W with a short rest interval between them.

With an average power of 270W (86% FTP) it was a nice Zone 3-4 workout, but nothing too challenging and it was never going to hurt. I watched Stage 5 of the 2011 TdF as inspiration, the last 2 km of the race is just brilliant.

Road Hill Repeats

I woke up to a surprisingly mild Yorkshire day so I thought I'd make the most of it and get to a local hill for some intervals. I live about 8 miles from the lovely village of Crayke, which sits above the surrounding flat countryside like a beacon of pain. So my plan was to take a steady ride to the foot of Crayke mountain,completing smashing a Strava segment on the way there, and then do 6x5 minute hill repeats with a target power output of 330W (about 105% FTP), with roughly 4-5 minutes of downhill recovery between. I don't normally do this kind of specific training on the road, preferring to cover a variety of terrain over distance rather than turbo-style intervals.

The ride out went well and I felt good about smashing my previous time on the Strava segment by 36 seconds, getting it down from 6:10 to 5:36 and taking a King of the Mountain in the process. It also served as a good warm-up interval averaging 360W (115% FTP). It felt really good to be out on the bike and getting all the benefit of air-cooling and not having to suffer a stream of sweat dripping off my nose.

After a brief recovery I was into the 6 Crayke intervals. Below is a close-up of the 6th Crayke interval (the grey background shows altitude, red=HR, black = power, green=cadence and blue=current FTP).The altitude profile starts off quite undulating for the first mile or so, gently climbing 100 feet in the first mile and then ramping up another 150 feet in the last half mile. So, it's not exactly steep, but sticking in the big ring at the front means I have to get out of the saddle for the end of each interval. At the end, HR is in the low 170s which, for me, means I'm working quite hard.

The whole ride looks like this (without cadence and altitude)

The 6 Crayke intervals were: 5:21 at 337W, 5:19 at 350W, 5:14 at 341W, 5:11 at 333W, 5:14 at 342W and 5:15 at 344W. So there's not a lot of correlation between average power and time, which I'll have to look into.

On the way home after the intervals I thought I'd throw in another 330W interval on the flat, but 30 seconds in I thought again and backed-off until I got home. The Crakye intervals had done their job and my legs were quite tired which probably shows the limited road mileage I have done over the last couple of months. It's all very good having good 5-8 minute power, but not if you can't finish the 2 hour race!

Looking at the power profile for the ride it's very obvious that there is a big difference between road and turbo sessions. Rather than specific peaks for targeted zones, there's a flatter look and even some Zone 7 in there too. I find it hard to get quality Z6 and Z7 time on the turbo because I'm always seated.

After the ride I went out for a very gentle 5.7 mile run.

Sufferfest: Local Hero

I really enjoy Local Hero. For me it has the right balance of achievable and challenging and it just keeps taking and taking until you're empty. The last 3 hard days combined with a poor night's sleep meant I was expecting it to be quite hard today and I wasn't sure if I could complete it.

Red = HR, black = power.

After a longish warm-up to clear the last 3 days I quickly settled into the first proper interval at around 30 minutes which felt very comfortable with a nicely settled HR. On the third interval I realised that I was sweating more than usual (although it was quite warm) and my HR was quite high and approaching my Lactic Threshold Heart Rate (purple line), which was annoying as it was about 10 bpm above my normal HR for this workout.

After the third big interval the shorter intervals kicked-in, and on each and every one I was suffering and determined that it would be my last; I'd think about finishing it and having a shower and a bun. But during each recovery interval I had second thoughts, I'd think I was doing OK again and get ready for the next interval. The workout was just hard enough that I hated each interval from about a minute in, but it never beat me so that I couldn't finish an interval or felt that I had to stop. I wanted to, but I didn't have to.

As a result I stayed on the turbo until the end but I was unable to complete the hardest part of the last 4 intervals which required 380W+ but I didn't have enough in my legs to get that power while seated. On the road this would be quite easy by standing, but seated it was beyond me.

In the last 4 days I have done just under 5 hours of workouts and I am feeling the effects of it now. I have tired legs and a slight niggle in my right knee so I am going to have a proper rest day tomorrow.

Hell of the North - as a recovery ride

I felt quite 'lactic' after yesterday's effort so I needed an active recovery day. After lunch I got ready to do a toned-down version of the Hell of the North workout that I love so much. I did the last 50 minutes using 300W (96% FTP) when Boonen was on screen and 260W (83%) when he wasn't.

power = black and HR = red.

After a 10 minute warm up I got into the 50 minute interval and felt very comfortable throughout. In fact, about 35 mins into it I realised I was ramping up my power above my target 300W and not letting it get down to my 260W recovery either. Once I'd flushed yesterday's tiredness from my legs I just felt stronger than I thought I would. In fact, my average power for the first 40 minutes (288W) was the same as the last time I did this workout (289W) but back then I was unable to continue and had to have a rest. Today I was just fresher and with a much lower HR.

Looking back at the period around 6-7 Dec I think I was either slightly ill or run down. I had several workouts where I seemed to lack power despite several periods of rest. I didn't have any obvious symptoms, just a general lethargy. Maybe having 2 weeks off work over Xmas is helping. Maybe I should go Pro!!! Maybe at 42 I'm past Pro.

60 minutes of New Year's Day hurt

Glossary

Today was a beautiful Yorkshire day with clear skies and a cheeky breeze; far too nice to be stuck in on the turbo. I was lucky enough to get the use of a local airfield to do some riding away from the roads with massive puddles hiding massive potholes so I decided to do a single 60 minute effort to see how close to my predicted FTP I could get. My predicted FTP is currently 314W based on my most recent 20 minute test but I knew that I was unlikely to achieve this theoretical figure due to the differences between a controlled turbo session and a road session with wind, gradient etc and wrapped up in warm winter clothing.

I started off well enough averaging 314W for the first 20 minutes, and maintaining it out to 30 minutes and then dropping slightly to 312W at the 40 minute mark. By this time I was hurting and regretting the bottle of wine I had last night and the workout I did yesterday afternoon. In the last 20 minutes I really suffered and was able to manage only 300W; every time I dug deep I was unable to maintain it for more than 30 secs or so. My 60 minute average power was 308W which is approximately 98% of my theoretical FTP. Interestingly, throughout the session my HR was a lot lower than I had expected, reaching a maximum of 168bpm and averaging only 160bpm. I would have expected it to be around 176 and 165 respectively.

Here's the plot of the ride, black = power, red = HR and blue = my theoretical 314W FTP

So, as I expected I was unable to match my theoretical FTP but I got very close. Looking at the data afterwards I realised that there was a lot of variation in my pedal force/cadence plot and it was nowhere near the tightly bunched grouping I'd strive for on a turbo session; but that's the difference of riding in real-world conditions.

This is also obvious in the power curve for the ride. Again, I'd prefer a peakier curve.

So overall I was very pleased with the ride and I was glad that I never gave in to a strong urge to quite after 33 minutes. It's my first 60 minute all-out effort and at the end of it I was having to stand to get decent power into the pedals and I had nothing left. Importantly, it has allowed me to validate my theoretical FTP of 314W. Had I been better rested and been better motivated (for example, being chased by a bear) I think I could achieve 314W for an hour.

At 308W using guideline figures for drag I would have achieved a 25 mile TT speed of 41.78kph (25.96mph) which is 57m 46s (assuming I could still put out 308W in a fully aero position on a fully aero bike).

Stats for the ride:

Relative Intensity - 1.002
Bikescore - 100
Ave cadence - 80rpm
Work done - 1110kJ (~1100 kCals burned)

L'Etape de la Defonce simulated race

After yesterday's run and a long winter walk today I was keen to get back on the turbo before I started drinking to celebrate the end of a good year. This year I entered some good races, including L'etape de la Defonce in South Wales. After the race I analysed my power output and made it into a work-out that I can do to replicate the first 68 minutes of the race.

I last tried this workout on 14 Dec but as I was suffering with a hangover I struggled with some of the intervals. Today, however, I was full of energy and I completed the whole session with bags of power to spare. My heart rate was a lot lower (162bpm compared to 172) and I was always ready for the next big effort; I even managed a 5 minute 330W interval at the end (peaking at 370W). I just goes to show what impact the 8 pint hangover had when I last tried this workout. As a result I will raise the power levels for future sessions to make sure I am completely exhausted at the end.

I'll analyse the differences between the workout and the race later (link to follow), but I am quite surprised how closely the workout and actual race match.

Oh, Happy New Year.

Sufferfest: The Hunted

After yesterday's shortish session I decided that Sufferfest's The Hunted would be interesting and challenging, but also achievable with my slightly tired legs from yesterday. I last did this on 20 Dec and struggled at the end of the 20 minute interval that makes up the middle of the work out. During that workout I just ran out of energy and I backed-off. I did exactly the same again today but ran out of energy slightly earlier today. Both times my Heart Rate was at 172 BPM (near my lactic threshold) and my legs were burning so, I don't know why, but this workout is a lot harder than it looks. As a result, it's something I'm determined to master.

After a decent warm-up the first interval was quite straightforward. The second (25-45 mins) went well until I struggled at around 42 mins and then the last interval (50-62 mins) was fine. I even had enough energy for an all-out blast after the last interval, but I wasn't able to sustain the 400W+ for long.

So, after 5 days off for Christmas I've managed to squeeze in 3 hours on the turbo into the last 3 days. The attrocious Yorkshire weather is starting to get me down and I don't even feel like going out on the MTB because it is just so wet everywhere.

30 minutes of fun

28 Dec. After a morning on the ski slopes of Xscape at Castleford, I didn't really feel up to doing much on the turbo but I guilted myself into it. By the time I finally got everything set up I was running a bit short of time so I planned a single 30 minute interval at 300W (roughly 95% FTP) while watching a repeat of the 4th Stage of the 2011 Tour De France. It's the one where Roy goes on a solo break and is slowly chased down (I won't ruin the end for you but it's a good stage).

I was doing well for the first 15 minutes, averaging a healthy 309W, but I though this would be difficult to maintain for the next 15 so I dropped it down to 300W. At 23 minutes I had a strange wobble where I felt like stopping, so I backed off for about a minute and then got back on the power and finished with an average of 304W (96% FTP) for the 30 minutes.

 

This is actully quite a good workout and the 23 minute wobble shows me that it is probably an area that I need to be working on and trying to extend my duration at higher power. So, more of this or 2x20 I think. It's just a shame they hurt so much!

Post Christmas Intervals

After 5 very enjoyable days of eating and drinking I needed to get back on the turbo today to start a prolonged period of training. I'm aiming for 3 weeks of 3 days on then a day off for recovery but still keeping at the same power zone 4-5 intervals I've been doing up to now. The last 2-3 weeks have been very disrupted by the usual effects of Christmas; lots of driving, beer and chocolate and too little turbo time.

Today was a repeat of the Shorter Harder intervals I last did on 19 December. Although I felt a bit weak on a couple of the 3-4 minute ones I never really felt like I wouldn't be able to complete the whole set so I need to bump up the intensity if I'm going to continue to get as much training benefit from it as I have been; I like to feel that I have only just been able to complete a workout.

Today's trace is very similar to the last time but with a little lower intensity on intervals 18 and 19 (HR = red and power = black):

Back in the game!

I've been under the weather for the last 2 days, generally feeling listless but not actually ill, no cold-like symptoms despite being close to people with colds. I haven't had a proper cold for 2 years and I seem to get run down rather than properly ill. After my average performance 2 days ago and a night on the sofa yesterday I wasn't expecting much from tonight's turbo session. I planned a longer version of Shorter Harder where I add repeat intervals (in reverse) at the end of the main set. This would allow me to stop if I needed to. But, I didn't need to......

Heart rate (red) was under control throughout, power (black) was always what I needed to do or more and I got to the end of the 90 minute session feeling quite good. Stats: 90 mins (32 in Zone 4) and approx 1250 kCals.

So again I am a little confused how my performance seems to vary so much from day-to-day, but it probably helps to explain why my race results can also be very variable. It's only when you see variable performance in a controlled environment that you can start to work out just how much performance varies.

December's 20 minute power test - weighed and measured!

After 4 weeks of turbo time it was eventually time to complete another 20 minute power test to see if I had made any improvement. I tried to control as many variables as possible; so I used the same bike and powertap on the same turbo, with the same pre-ride calibration and I even used the same kitchen.

Before I started I didn't feel very motivated but I know that it's pointless doing interval sessions to improve power unless I test myself regularly to see if they're actually working. If they aren't I need to know so that I can change my routine.

Anyway, the headline is that my 20 minute power is 331W today compared to 322W 4 weeks ago. This 9W equates to a rise of roughly 2.8% which is well above what I had expected. I was hoping for a 1% improvement per month which would get me to my 345W target by May 2013. This equates to a 14 sec improvement over a 10 mile TT.

Here's the plot from today's power test (Red = HR, Black = power):

After a decent warm-up including a 320W power test to make sure everything was OK, I had a poor start and went off too hard and had to wind myself back, but I was settled in after a minute or so. I noticed that I was continually nudging above my 325W target and after 10 minutes I had averaged 328W. The last 10 minutes were hard and sweaty with a couple of weak periods but not the big crash I had previously experienced around 17 minutes.

Below is a comparison of the 2 power tests showing December's test (Red line) compared to November's (Blue). The obvious differences are the stronger start and the improved performance towards the end when I didn't crash in the Dec version. Dec looks much more under control.

Comparing HR across the 2 sessions looks like this:

The difference between HRs at the start of the session is due to slightly different warm-ups and is maintained until around 12 minutes, but at the end the HR traces are almost identical. This is interesting because I use power to pace myself during 20 minute tests but my limit seems to be HR-related. Without a powermeter I'd certainly start too hard and achieve a lower average power over the 20 min test. Average cadence for the 2 sessions is very similar too at 84 rpm for Nov and 86 rpm for Dec.

So what have I learned?

• At the moment I haven't learned anything. 2 data points are not conclusive but I did feel a lot better on today's test so I'm assuming that the power improvement is genuine; I just need more data to prove it. I have seen how my performance can vary from day to day so it may just be that I was weak on the last test and strong today but that I haven't made any actual improvement. Time will tell.
• My work-outs over the last 4 weeks have targetted power Zones 4 and 5 so I would expect to see some improvement in a Zone 5 power test (which is what a 20 minute test is) and I have purposely avoided harder intervals. However, this doesn't mean that these were the best intervals; I may have showed a higher 20 minute power increase just riding for an hour at 90%FTP for 2 hours a day.
• I will need to increase my work-outs to reflect the increased FTP and to continue to provide an impetus for my body to adapt to the increased stress. Again, this is the reason regular testing is essential.

Back in the saddle

After a frustrating 5 days off I was back in the saddle and on the turbo again this afternoon. I've been working away from home and remembered to take everything I needed to for some hard turbo sessions except my shoes. Last night I had 8 pints at the office Christmas party so I wasn't expecting to achieve much today and I was right.

I'm working on a work-out video that takes real race data from a race I have completed and trying to replicate the effort while watching the video. Here's a still from the video showing a figure relating to the required power output/intensity level:

For me, level 7 equates to 270W and each interval lasts 30 seconds, ranging from 3 (150W) to 10 (360W) according to what happened in the real race. I've used intensity rather than a specified power output so that other riders can use it, even those without a power meter. Below is the plot from today's session showing the short warm-up and then the intervals starting. The dark section is where I was unable to complete the intervals and had to back off and recover (I'm blaming the hangover) before I did some more and then the quits kicked in and I stopped (again, the hangover).

I need to do a bit of tweeking to the video to make it work well and I'm planning to upload it to YouTube once complete in case anybody else wants to use it.

Back on the turbo again tomorrow for a decent session and then a 20 minute power test next week. I'm glad I didn't do a test today, I had considered it on my way home but I now know I would have been very very ill had I tried to go all-out for 20 minutes.

Sufferfest: Local Hero

When I last did Local Hero it was after a rest period and I thought it was relatively easy, so I was interested in repeating it following 2 days on the turbo to see if it was still achievable. I felt fine for the first 30 minutes or so and then I started to get the quits after 50 minutes and I was trying to convince myself that stopping at 60 minutes would be fine and that I had done all that I needed to. In my head I was doing worse than the last attempt and I was happily making excuses to stop and hating myself for making them.

I then took the rest of the session an interval at a time and each interval minute-by-minute until I got to the end at 80 minutes. But, I got to the end and that's what really matters. The 400W peaks in the last 4 intervals really started to hurt but were short enough to endure the lactic fire and hang on for the recovery.

The stats are very similar to the last attempt and any variation is probably down to the recovery intervals rather than the work intervals.

The Hell of the North: revisited

I thought I'd revisit my The Hell of the North workout today but with a few minor tweeks to make it a bit more fun. Rather than 3 different intensities I did it with just 2. If Boonen was on screen I went for 307W (100% FTP) and if he wasn't I got a nice rest at 275W (90% FTP). This means there is less gear changing and a higher average power.

After a 10 minute warm-up I got started on the session. The first 30 minutes of the session was quite enjoyable but 30-40 minutes got a bit challenging (you can see the power output start to drop off in the graph above), so I had a 5 minute rest at 50% FTP before a 5 minute interval, then another 5 minute rest at 50% FTP and another 5 interval, then a 2 minute rest, then 2 minutes flat out coinciding with Boonen crossing the line. This was much better than the first attempt at the session and I felt quite happy that I had achieved a good workout at the end of it. Most importantly, there was a large pool of sweat under the bike so I must have been doing something right.

In 75 minutes I used 1140 kCals and achieved a Bikescore (TSS) of 97.

Weekly Summary

At the end of the second week I have achieved: 

Rides: 5 - all turbo sessions totalling 5 hrs 50 mins.

Total Bikescore (TSS): 456 (last week 390)

I had planned a TSS of around 430 for the week so I was pleased to exceed this, but I have less and less confidence in TSS as a useful metric. Having reviewed some long road rides I realise that I can regularly achieve a TSS of 300 for an 85 miler and still be able to ride again the next day. This week's TSS 456 was very challenging and regularly left me unable to anything other that just sit on the bike and recover. I need to do some thinking about what TSS is trying to tell me and how I can make it useful.

Total time in Zone 3: 57:10 (last week 0:30:00)
Total time in Zone 4: 2:17:34 (1:54:00)
Total time in Zone 5: 0:38:23 (0:38:01)
Total time in Zone 6: 0:03:37 (0:03:34)
Total time in Zone 7: 8 seconds (12 seconds)

kCals burned (incl warm-ups and cooldowns); 5391 (4430)

So it seems I have done more this week but most of that was in Zones 3 and 4 rather than an even balance across all Zones. In the future I need to do more in Zone 5 and 6 if I am going to improve my 20 minute power.

My weight is down to around 74.8 so there's steady progress in that direction, but still a long way to go to get to the 72kg target.

I will be away from the turbo for the next 3 days so I'll take it as a useful recovery period and look to beast myself again on Thursday and Friday.

Turbo Session

Today was a Real Rides Race Day workout on the turbo. Info here, nothing to do with me!

The workout is taken from an actual race and on-screen instructions let you know how hard you should be working on a scale of 1 to 10. I currently do it with 10 being 360W and subtracting 30W for each step down. It's quite engaging and tries to recreate the surges and recoveries you get in a criterium-type race and it's nice to see the HR trace gently increase over the whole workout. Its a shame it's a bit short at just under 39 mins, another 10 mins would be good. For the 38:36 workout I averaged 296W (298W xPower, 685kJ) of which 14 mins is in Zone 5 (VO2 Max), 9 mins in Z4 and 9 mins in Z3.

Today's trace looks like this (Black line = power. Red line = HR):

 Next time I think I'll add 10W to each of these levels.

Set-up

Mid-session data view.

I use Golden Cheetah v3 when I'm doing my workouts giving a live readout of key parameters. It's completely customisable and is great for post-session analysis too. Here's a screenprint taken at the end of today's session, showing the HR, power, cadence and speed traces in the main graph, short-term power and HR in the smaller graph, as well as target power, instantaneous power, cadence, HR and elapsed time in the smaller windows. The data is gathered from a Garmin HR strap (£32) and a Powertap G2 Pro+ hub (£loads). This data is recorded on the Garmin 800 (£250 ish) as well as straight onto my laptop via a Garmin ANT+ dongle (£25).