Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[Norry1]

Did a FTP test on Monday. I gained a whole watt, within margin of error of the power meter, but I’ll take it. Anyway I’m entering a maintenance period now, and will pick up training again in November. Been a good year, with some decent gains, going back 12 months. Hopefully maintenance will allow me to remain steady, whilst not losing too much fitness. Then I can build on it heading into next year.

Yep I'm doing very similar. 2 months layoff from structured training - then back to my coach in November.

Mp plan is to goof around going for KOMs, Power PBs, Zwift races and anything else that takes my fancy.

 

[HLaB]

A couple of outdoors work outs for me Thus&Fri but I think my legs were a bit worn out from the BH weekend and Wednesday group ride so Thursday Threshold work out was more Tempo. Todays short opener before my next TT went quite well.

I'm kinda looking forward for the temperature to drop so I can do some proper indoors workouts in the flat but I also don't want summer to end

 

[Legs]

Definitely one to add to the library of favourite workouts. It’s not so tough that it’s completely demoralising, but it keeps you on your toes with some ‘recovery at effort’ intervals.
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/le-col-training-with-legends/fabian-cancellara-cruise-control

 

[Legs]

This is a really fun workout from the Tri247 library. Starts nice and gently but by the end of the seventh 4-min interval it gets very grippy!
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/tri247com-pro-workouts/countdown-4321-

 

[Norry1]

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This is a really fun workout from the Tri247 library. Starts nice and gently but by the end of the seventh 4-min interval it gets very grippy!
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/tri247com-pro-workouts/countdown-4321-

Yep that looks like a grower!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Been on holiday but had a blast around lanes on Sunday. Nice when you don’t need to be disciplined for a while. Average speed looks to be one of my best for the particular loop, which is nice to see. Might have a play on some of the steeper hills today.

 

[Norry1]

Been on holiday but had a blast around lanes on Sunday. Nice when you don’t need to be disciplined for a while. Average speed looks to be one of my best for the particular loop, which is nice to see. Might have a play on some of the steeper hills today.

Yep, I'm using the time to have a go at some local segments and also power PBs. I'm setting 2023 bests but can't get to 2021 levels yet.

 

[HLaB]

I had an hour’s SS session in my Calendar tonight but I wanted to be free this evening to watch the Vuelta highlights and the Scotland game (I shouldn't have bothered, however I didn't get home till 7.45 which would have been too late to set everything up) so I used TainerRoad's Alternates feature and selected a 30min workout instead which I could do on my commute this morning using RPE. I waited until I was off the cycle network and started the workout in town which gave me plenty of time in the country side before getting to the other town at the far end. Despite setting PRs up the hill though it looks like from the post ride HR data I could have pressed a little harder though. The last interval at 85% MaxHR is about right but I think the first two intervals are too low.


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[CXRAndy]

Hopefully maintenance will allow me to remain steady, whilst not losing too much fitness. Then I can build on it heading into next year.

Interested to hear, from those who are a bit more dedicated to their training.

When do you know you have reached your limits of physical ability?

 

[Legs]

I had an hour’s SS session in my Calendar tonight but I wanted to be free this evening to watch the Vuelta highlights and the Scotland game (I shouldn't have bothered, however I didn't get home till 7.45 which would have been too late to set everything up) so I used TainerRoad's Alternates feature and selected a 30min workout instead which I could do on my commute this morning using RPE. I waited until I was off the cycle network and started the workout in town which gave me plenty of time in the country side before getting to the other town at the far end. Despite setting PRs up the hill though it looks like from the post ride HR data I could have pressed a little harder though. The last interval at 85% MaxHR is about right but I think the first two intervals are too low.



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I’ve never had the discipline to do structured workouts on the road - changes in road gradient just disrupt the efforts too much. Even when I lived in the flatlands of Cambridgeshire (Dry Drayton, near the start of the F2), I didn’t because most of my riding was commuting or club runs.

 

[Norry1]

Interested to hear, from those who are a bit more dedicated to their training.

When do you know you have reached your limits of physical ability?

That is a question that I'm not sure anyone can answer except to say that the vast, vast majority of us never do so.

 

[CXRAndy]

That is a question that I'm not sure anyone can answer except to say that the vast, vast majority of us never do so.

I was just interested in what you thought were the results, performance that made you think, I'm putting in so much work, my results seem to have peaked. Or do you think that changing training, diets would result in further development

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Interested to hear, from those who are a bit more dedicated to their training.

When do you know you have reached your limits of physical ability?

I can’t say I’ve reached the limits of my physical ability. If I was a full time athlete dedicated to every aspect of performance then maybe.

I read somewhere that there’s a limit to the peak can reach each year. You are constrained each year by the level of the base you bring to the party. Thus the key to year on year gains is to minimise how much fitness you lose between each year’s peak and the commencement of next year’s training. You might argue, well just keep pushing beyond your peak, but that’s just a path of overtraining and injury. We all need downtime mentally as much as physically from training. Maintaining peak fitness year round just isn’t realistic

There’s also the decline in VO2 Max. But that’s the decline in the genetic potential of your VO2 max, not necessary a decline in the VO2 max you’ve achieved. You may still have room to increase your VO2 max as you age.

To summarise, I think there are limits to how much you can improve each year. But year on year you may still be able to improve. We all need down time, but don’t let your base fall below what it was 12 months ago.

There’s clearly going to be diminishing returns, and that’ll depend on how many hours a week you average for training. I’ve also seen improvements that aren’t linear. I may go for many months with not a lot happening. But then I seem to have breakthroughs and my fitness needle moves again.

I think Roger Bannister’s coach said that training is largely an act of faith. I’d agree. You have to believe and trust in the training you are doing. It takes time to see results, after initial beginner gains, and it can be easy to ease off or give up in periods when not a lot appears to be changing.

 

[Norry1]

I can’t say I’ve reached the limits of my physical ability. If I was a full time athlete dedicated to every aspect of performance then maybe.

I read somewhere that there’s a limit to the peak can reach each year. You are constrained each year by the level of the base you bring to the party. Thus the key to year on year gains is to minimise how much fitness you lose between each year’s peak and the commencement of next year’s training. You might argue, well just keep pushing beyond your peak, but that’s just a path of overtraining and injury. We all need downtime mentally as much as physically from training. Maintaining peak fitness year round just isn’t realistic

There’s also the decline in VO2 Max. But that’s the decline in the genetic potential of your VO2 max, not necessary a decline in the VO2 max you’ve achieved. You may still have room to increase your VO2 max as you age.

To summarise, I think there are limits to how much you can improve each year. But year on year you may still be able to improve. We all need down time, but don’t let your base fall below what it was 12 months ago.

There’s clearly going to be diminishing returns, and that’ll depend on how many hours a week you average for training. I’ve also seen improvements that aren’t linear. I may go for many months with not a lot happening. But then I seem to have breakthroughs and my fitness needle moves again.

I think Roger Bannister’s coach said that training is largely an act of faith. I’d agree. You have to believe and trust in the training you are doing. It takes time to see results, after initial beginner gains, and it can be easy to ease off or give up in periods when not a lot appears to be changing.

I agree with a lot of this.

Some physiological changes take years to occur - such as mitochondrial growth - so year on year, the density can increase.

I hope the point Ming made, about the starting base fitness, are correct because this time last year my CTL was 8! I plan for my CTL to be at a minimum of 70 when I return to coaching in November (it peaked at 93 at the end of July this year).

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My CTL is currently 97, having peaked at 118. I started at CTL of 40 for this year’s training cycle. I expect to start next year’s training cycle at about a CTL of 80. My main 2024 event I’ve identified as being as early July next year. I’ll need to peak a month earlier than this year.