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.

Recovery Day -

After a busy period I'm having a day off to let my body improve through recovery. However, I'm not enjoying it. I've been feeling frustrated and grumpy all day; full of energy and not able to do anything about it.

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)