Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[CXRAndy]

Ming your fitness is phenomenal- well at least compared to mine.

Only started using Intervals recently
I peaked at 38 in May, been busy since then, fitness has tailed away.

My HRV has been in the red zone for nearly 2 weeks, last night was the first night I saw any marked improvement to lift the low average off the deck. suffering with poor sleep and fatigue overall. Im going to have full further week to help me get back upto -normal for me

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Ming your fitness is phenomenal- well at least compared to mine.

Mostly down to consistency over the past year. Plus having an AI manage my training plan. Seems to be working, I’m enjoying the process. The latter is important, as you have to play the long game, once you’ve got past any initial gains, further gains take time and patience. If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, you’ll give up on it.

 

[Legs]

Blimey, I've been using intervals.icu (measuring the TL of indoor rides with power and outdoor rides with HR) for 2.5 years and this is my fitness graph:

I've never been into the high risk zone, but then, working five days a week and having a young family means I don't get the opportunity for the long rides I did in my carefree twenties. Pretty sure I could get out and smash out a 100-mile road ride today if the opportunity arose, despite not having ridden that far in a day for 15 years (though the Jan 22 spike was a 180km Zwift ride).

Doing massive rides as preparation for massive events is overrated IME. I don't like to think of my outdoor rides as 'training', but rather as an enjoyable experience in their own right.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Blimey, I've been using intervals.icu (measuring the TL of indoor rides with power and outdoor rides with HR) for 2.5 years and this is my fitness graph:
View attachment 694668

I've never been into the high risk zone, but then, working five days a week and having a young family means I don't get the opportunity for the long rides I did in my carefree twenties. Pretty sure I could get out and smash out a 100-mile road ride today if the opportunity arose, despite not having ridden that far in a day for 15 years (though the Jan 22 spike was a 180km Zwift ride).

Doing massive rides as preparation for massive events is overrated IME. I don't like to think of my outdoor rides as 'training', but rather as an enjoyable experience in their own right.

Depends on perspective; my 5 hours Z2 rides are not massive, when my main event in August is max 90 hours elapsed, with perhaps 50-60 hours riding. But I don’t just do the long Z2 ride, there’s VO2 max, threshold, low cadence, tempo sessions etc. Besides it’s not a 5 hour Z2 every weekend, the following weekend it might be 3 hours whilst I’ve done more high intensity etc.

All my training is outdoors apart from VO2 max, which I do on my smart trainer. I enjoy the mix, and prefer outdoors when possible.

 

[Legs]

Yeah, Audax is a lifestyle, and I've only dabbled with 200s and 400s. Massive respect to anyone who takes on PBP or LEL.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yeah, Audax is a lifestyle, and I've only dabbled with 200s and 400s. Massive respect to anyone who takes on PBP or LEL.

I don’t like using the word extreme, it’s over used. But yeah, audax challenges you in so many ways. Fitness it just one aspect, with many components to work on. I let it slide in recent years, and it’s good to see some of my old capability back, despite being a few years older. I’m not one of those people who can seemingly do barely any riding or training , then smash it out the park. I need to work on it.

 

[UphillSlowly]

Blimey, I've been using intervals.icu (measuring the TL of indoor rides with power and outdoor rides with HR) for 2.5 years and this is my fitness graph:
View attachment 694668

I've never been into the high risk zone, but then, working five days a week and having a young family means I don't get the opportunity for the long rides I did in my carefree twenties. Pretty sure I could get out and smash out a 100-mile road ride today if the opportunity arose, despite not having ridden that far in a day for 15 years (though the Jan 22 spike was a 180km Zwift ride).

Doing massive rides as preparation for massive events is overrated IME. I don't like to think of my outdoor rides as 'training', but rather as an enjoyable experience in their own right.

Yes - You have got to have fun too! Accidentally ticked some classic climbs in Wales on my endurance "training rides"

 

[Legs]

Hope you have great fun doing the Maratona!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yes - You have got to have fun too! Accidentally ticked some classic climbs in Wales on my endurance "training rides"

Just be careful all your training doesn’t tend towards the middle ground, neither super hard, nor super easy; whilst having fun.😁

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Big gear, low cadence work over lunch time. Average cadence was 59 rpm but as low as 45 rpm in places. Deliberately mid day to help acclimatise to the heat. Tempting to ride faster, but kept in planned power ranges to avoid too much strain on the legs. Session went well. I might finally get better at riding in the heat.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Some Z2 and heat acclimatisation today

 

[nagden]

3hr 10 min steady ride today. It was off the back of a late night and felt a bit tired to start but actually felt stronger at the end. Average speed up compared to last trip on similar route. Really pleased with my progress. A 200km brevet next year seems possible hopefully more. I wished I had adopted the ride slow to get fast system years ago.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Completed two hours of threshold intervals today. Heat didn’t seem to bother me, so perhaps something in this acclimatisation? Took 3 bottles of water just in case, but didn’t get through it all, which is good. Had some shortbread fingers after every 6th interval or so.

 

[bobinski]

I am coming to the end of a challenging weeks cycle camp in Majorca. Back issues from day 2 day really hit my ability to put down power for extended periods on climbs. Something never felt quite right about the hire bike despite being set up using a jig to replicate my bike fit. 34/28 also a bit of a challenge for this spinner and masked ny initial concerns- perhaps the back was caused by the lower cadence. Transpires they forgot to account for my use of 165 mm cranks back in UK. I was assured it had been taken into account but a check on the jig on day 4 confirmed I was right.So saddle 10mm too high. Lowered 5 because I feared a 10 mm drop would be too much too fast. Huge improvement and ftp boost day 5 but hit hard again today after 16 min of solid 255ish watts up Sa Calobra. I had to get off the bike before getting back on and completing the ride. Frustrating but nice to be getting a fitness and endurance boost before the RP even if the distance and elevation Dailey is half what we will have to contend with.

 

[<Tommy>]

I am coming to the end of a challenging weeks cycle camp in Majorca. Back issues from day 2 day really hit my ability to put down power for extended periods on climbs. Something never felt quite right about the hire bike despite being set up using a jig to replicate my bike fit. 34/28 also a bit of a challenge for this spinner and masked ny initial concerns- perhaps the back was caused by the lower cadence. Transpires they forgot to account for my use of 165 mm cranks back in UK. I was assured it had been taken into account but a check on the jig on day 4 confirmed I was right.So saddle 10mm too high. Lowered 5 because I feared a 10 mm drop would be too much too fast. Huge improvement and ftp boost day 5 but hit hard again today after 16 min of solid 255ish watts up Sa Calobra. I had to get off the bike before getting back on and completing the ride. Frustrating but nice to be getting a fitness and endurance boost before the RP even if the distance and elevation Dailey is half what we will have to contend with.

View attachment 695073

Good work amigo 👌