320 20

I'm doing some tests this week so pushed myself on a 20 minute effort. Managed to break 320W which is pretty much what I expected given my lack of higher intensity efforts.

Will be interesting to see how this increases as I up the intensity in the next couple of months.

Feeling bad > riding good

Despite measuring everything and having oodles of data sometimes you just have to go with how you feel.

I did a ramp test Monday and can't admit to eating/drinking sensibly to recover afterwards. On the contrary Mrs M and I watched Bohemian Rhapsody  while consuming a bottle of wine.

So woke yesterday after a disturbed nights sleep with a slightly muzzy head. 

Despite that when it came to doing my workout I felt pretty good. So I switched my plan to do 4x16 but in a slightly different way.  I marked up 64 squares on my whiteboard and just rode in target zone marking off the squares in small chunks of 3-5 minutes. 

I really didn't have a clue about how far through I was or the length of individual interval. So instead of 4x16 I ended up doing more like 3x21. 

Best thing was that I felt great. 

4x16 II getting better

Second 4x16 yesterday and a noticeable improvement on the first.

I didn't feel too great in the morning. Brexit chaos the night before resulted in 1 too many DIPAs, the key cause, no doubt, of a poor HRV.

Still I decided not to wimp out and decided to take things carefully, starting less aggressively than last time,

Very pleased with result 286W>291W.>297W>296W. Last interval was actually the best as I pushed it a bit longer.

One aspect of the workout that went well was my mental focus. I broke each interval into 4 minute chunks and watched SF Angels over/under section. Increased power a bit on the overs and reduced a bit on the unders. 

Time whizzed by, especially after the first few minutes when my HR was up to speed.

On the subject of HR, remarkably low: peaks for the 4 were 150>151>155>158. This resulted in an EF for the work portion of 2.02, the highest for the season yet and maybe close to an ATB.

On my next L3 training session I'll investigate this further. Low HR for power can be good or bad news. It's one of the main training goals but also, for me at least, the most reliable indicator of plateauing, 

Still pretty happy and already looking forward to next weeks session <<<< which is probably the biggest win of all :)

Sweet sweetspot

Did my first true sweetspot session for a while yesterday. I tried doing it power blind just ramping up to RPE while watching a Sufferfest video.

End result was OK if not great, around 260W for 100 minutes, but a reminder of how much I like these workouts and I will start doing them once a week, which along with my 4x16 will be the "high" portion of my training this month.

One thing that definitely did not work was power blind. Next time I will set power targets and see how that goes.

4x16 3/4 2/3 aint bad

The main set each week for the next four will be 4x16@97% of FTP. 

I'm doing this as part of my polarised plan, following a study mentioned at the end of this presentation by Stephen Seiler 

https://quantifiedrowing.com/2015/09/27/from-polarized-to-optimized-new-lecture-from-prof-steven-seiler/

Yesterday was my first shot and I was a bit apprehensive. It certainly proved hard and I didn't quite hit target my numbers being 297W>290W.>287W>266W

Given my FTP is around 300W atm this makes 99%/97%/96%/89%

So a bit of a decline and last rep didn't quite hit the mark.

Still I'm more than happy with the result. Firstly it's a useful benchmark for the coming weeks.

More importantly though I want to get away from just focusing on power. I also want to work on my weight and mental toughness. 

Both of these were great. Following the workout I was under 150lbs for the first time in ages and approaching my long term target. 

But even better was my mental approach. For the final interval I didn't beat myself up for being low but just focused on form and getting through. I made it and in the process banked some very useful memories for the future.
 

How to lift a bull

There's a greek myth about a strongman who wanted to lift a bull over his shoulders.

He trained for this by finding a newly born bullock. Everyday he lifted it so, slowly but surely, eventually achieved his ambition.

The same thing works for me in training. Just pick a time*power and ride it easy. Then each repeat up it by a couple of watts or seconds. 

I've just started to do this for 20 minute efforts. I'll have 3 different targets reflecting RPE of riding in familiar and less familiar postions: On the hoods, on the drops and full TT.

February target 300W

Target for February is to hold 300W for a full 60 minutes.

Ideally I'd like to do this on one of the new AR routes on Rouvy as chasing another rider, even if it's not real is way more motivating than riding solo.

Weekly Focus

Another new thing I am trying out this year is to have a weekly focus. This will be one of 4 things: weight, power, recovery or race.

The last 2 are usual in any plan but the first 2 are not. 

They are nothing complicated, all it means is that during weight weeks I will be especially trying to burn fat mainly through skipping lunch. As a result I will just be looking to maintain power rather than build it. 

During power weeks I will eat plenty of carbs prior to and during rides, aiming to hit season power PBs. 

Polarised Training

The main change in terms of training approach this year will be to use a polarised training plan.

I heard an interview with Stephen Seiler on the Velonews podcast and later was lucky enough to have a chat with Trevor Connor who is a fan of this approach (and a role model for those of us aiming to stay fit despite father time)

Aspects of this approach resonated with me as I think, just by chance, I have sort of been doing this for much of of my time riding. 

My initial Tour de France is a pretty extreme version of doing lots and lots and lots of low intensity riding.

The hardest thing about this training is keeping the low days low and I already sense myself trying too hard. Still I will keep at and be interested to see how it turns out.

 

Racing Rouvy

I've tried a variety of indoor training products, including Zwift where I was part of the beta. It's not a surprise to me that these have become so popular. I like riding bikes but really, now, only under a blue sky and up mountains and I'm clearly not alone.

My first indoor software came with a Powertap trainer I bought over 5 years ago now. It's since morphed into Rouvy. This is one of the lesser known products but it's my firm favourite.

The reason for this is that it allows me to do what I like doing most...as above riding up big mountains under a blue sky.

Coupled with a smart trainer the experience is astonishingly real. 

Last year I tried Trainerroad and, while the plans/workouts are good, the presentation is not my cup of tea so I cancelled my sub and this year its back to Rouvy.

Luckily they have introduced a really nice upgrade, so called "Augmented Reality" or AR. Basically this just allows you to select a previous ride(s) (yours or others) and an avatar will repeat this on the course. (If anyone else happens to be riding the same course at the same time you also see them)

So I can race which is great motivation. 

What's especially good is that it means I can train to power targets without actually needing to constantly check my garmin. I can just select a rider at the target w/kg for the training zone and so long as I stay ahead of them it's job done.

Intervals are similarly easy. Just do one ride using a power to set zone/duration and then reride, just tracking the avatar.

 

Training with power without power

I'm trying out a couple of new things for my workouts this year.

One of them is to stop looking at power numbers.

I've been training with a power meter for over 10 years now. While it has been a great aid I am concerned that it may also be a limiter.

I have developed a Pavlovian reaction to seeing certain numbers on my Garmin..

2xx is easy
3xx is hard
4xx is painful

It may be that my body really does change dramatically when I hit 300W but I don't really think it does. Rather I think it's my mind that's the issue.

The single biggest piece of evidence for this is a 20 minute test I did a couple of years ago.

I recorded an ATB of 346W but the key thing was the way I did this. I did a Sufferfest workout (Hell hath no fury) and set my "FTP" to 500W or so. I then set the workout level to around 65% and nudged this up by 1% several times through the workout if I felt OK.

So I ended up riding power blind. My eyes were seeing numbers that it associated with long steady workouts so my brain didn't get stressed out by seeing numbers it associated with VO2 efforts.

I didn't really build on this experience last year but plan to this. 

I'll be using Connect IQ to display power level data in a new, neutral way so I never see the raw numbers and have to ride more on RPE.





 

Xmas feel good

Over Xmas week I just aimed to do shortish sweetspot workouts each day.

I didn't hold back on the indulgence so expected these to be a bit tough. To the contrary they felt remarkably good.

The power numbers were OK but the key thing was RPE. Even with a bit of a hangover felt fine, indeed much better after than before.

Garmin VO2 nudged up to 66.

Squaring the Triangle

This years require squaring a triangle of goals that can be contradictory.

I want to

• Maintain/improve my FTP and cycling stamina
• Lose weight
• Start doing strength training regularly

I have an approach that I think will work towards managing to balance these, time will tell if it works.