Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[Norry1]

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.

Wow - 118 is some effort 👏

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Wow - 118 is some effort 👏

It was okay, but as I said above you can only maintain peak fitness and those kind of loads for so many weeks. It’s nice when you ease back, and regain the freshness. Trick is not to ease too far back!

 

[HLaB]

Jordan (the Trainer Road work out, not the other Jordon’s) was in my calendar today. Its still a little hot in my pain corridor and I needed the handling practice anyway so I took it outside. I followed one of my training routes. I started the warm up in the park to make sure I had time for it but on hindsight I could have started it after the park as my extended cool down was just over 20mins. My first set of was consistent rather than stepping down (in fact it might have stepped up) as I was fixated on another cyclist well down the straight Bullock Road. He eventually overtook me on my recovery interval and the next interval was up the Bullock Road Hill, so I drifted a bit above SS when I overtook. (I forgot to add the 3set started in the Glatton village I wasn’t going full gas down the twisty bit and the middle interval went over the Old A1 where you go down steeply to a near 180degC turn, hence the power drop). And when the warm down before the last set fell on a roundabout (traffic circle), I looped it a 4 or 5 times to make sure I finished the interval om the old A1. I probably could have got away with only going round it once

BTW according to intervals my CTL (or fitness) is 93, I'm not sleeping enough, down from 102 in July when I was sleeping enough




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Some post workout pics. What they don’t capture the windy freshness of the day 18-19deg C




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[Ming the Merciless]

I’ve never had the discipline to do structured workouts on the road - changes in road gradient just disrupt the efforts too much.

You just have to have different expectations and not expect to hold an exact power for a precise time. I always work within ranges when doing outdoor workouts. I might have a 20-30 watt range I’ll try and stay in for an outdoor interval. Helps to pick the most suitable roads, which won’t always be perfect, but that’s okay. The important thing is whichever allows you to be the most consistent at getting out and completing your workouts.

 

[IrishAl]

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.

This was me 7/8 months ago - roads round where I live are constant small ups and down, traffic lights and traffic when on the commute etc. But with some practice and learning I’ve been able to convert myself- combining my workouts with my commutes as well means I save so much time in general. As Ming says it’s far from perfect - I still hit traffic, have to ease off for a road junction etc but Ive learnt to live with that imperfection.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Smart trainers have a lot to answer for. They give the impression if you’re not hitting an exact wattage for a precise time then your workout isn’t effective. But that’s far from the truth.

 

[Norry1]

Smart trainers have a lot to answer for. They give the impression if you’re not hitting an exact wattage for a precise time then your workout isn’t effective. But that’s far from the truth.

It is much more true to life (captain obvious) but can get frustrating especially if you are aiming for new peaks in a particular interval and you get stopped near the end by some temporary traffic lights!

 

[Legs]

Much prefer to keep my outdoor rides relatively unstructured for socialising/exploring/enjoyment rather than trying to hit specific power. That, and not having a powermeter on my outdoor-going bikes.

 

[DittonBayesian]

Smart trainers have a lot to answer for. They give the impression if you’re not hitting an exact wattage for a precise time then your workout isn’t effective. But that’s far from the truth.

And the apps associated with them (and associated marketing) give the impression that a very precise structure to the workout is critical.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the marginal benefit of some very particular over/under threshold workout on the trainer vs just 4x10 outside with whatever random rest intervals fit the roads is going to be very small.

 

[Legs]

And the apps associated with them (and associated marketing) give the impression that a very precise structure to the workout is critical.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the marginal benefit of some very particular over/under threshold workout on the trainer vs just 4x10 outside with whatever random rest intervals fit the roads is going to be very small.

You could say that, but I’d argue that comparability of workouts is important for gauging progress. If, for example, I try to complete a Gorby workout (5x5 VO2) with the intervals at 340W, I know that I’ll be working right at the limit of my capability; to fail one week in the fourth interval, and go on to then succeed the next week, would be a sign of improvement and a significant psychological fillip to me.

That’s not to mention that I’m sometimes/often completely out of my tree when I finish a hard interval. Watching little numbers on my handlebars, trying to nudge them towards a particular value, while staying safe on the road… not for me, thanks. I’ll make use of the erg mode on my turbo for that.

 

[DittonBayesian]

You could say that, but I’d argue that comparability of workouts is important for gauging progress. If, for example, I try to complete a Gorby workout (5x5 VO2) with the intervals at 340W, I know that I’ll be working right at the limit of my capability; to fail one week in the fourth interval, and go on to then succeed the next week, would be a sign of improvement and a significant psychological fillip to me.

That’s not to mention that I’m sometimes/often completely out of my tree when I finish a hard interval. Watching little numbers on my handlebars, trying to nudge them towards a particular value, while staying safe on the road… not for me, thanks. I’ll make use of the erg mode on my turbo for that.

They are fair points and good reasons why inside might be preferred by many.

I just object to the impression given by some online platforms that achieving the same thing outside isn't even possible, even if I admit some things (like those you mentioned) are a little bit more difficult.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You could say that, but I’d argue that comparability of workouts is important for gauging progress. If, for example, I try to complete a Gorby workout (5x5 VO2) with the intervals at 340W, I know that I’ll be working right at the limit of my capability; to fail one week in the fourth interval, and go on to then succeed the next week, would be a sign of improvement and a significant psychological fillip to me.

You do need to be careful of taking that in isolation. How you perform during a VO2 max workout is related to all the workouts before it, how well you slept, stressors in your life. You may fail one week but succeed the next. It’s not necessarily that you’ve improved, just that those outside factors have changed.

I always look at progress over the long term many months, or looking back a year or more. My training needs to translate into performance improvements in my events. If it doesn’t translate, it doesn’t matter how much the numbers on an individual workout have changed.

 

[dunclane]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and just beginning my road cycling journey. I've signed up for a 52 mile local sportive on the 16th September and roped a couple of friends in. I've mountain biked for a good many years but not for a while but have been a regular gym goer and Peloton user.

I went on my first ever road bike ride on Monday and completed 16.5 miles in 1hr 21 and it felt good (good weather helped!), I also did a 10 mile flat ride with my son last night on canal paths. I'm thinking of doing another 20 mile ride on Saturday morning.

Is this too much?

View attachment 699464
What would a sensible approach to getting me to the 50+ mile mark?

Well I did it!
Really enjoyed it, even grinding out the last 5 miles.
I need to just get better on the hills as I lose so much speed but overall I'm really happy with my effort.

Onto the next one!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Set a personal best up a local hill today. It’s not steep, averaging 6.1%, max 11%, but I only managed to get under 4 mins in July, at 3 mins 54 seconds. Today I managed 3 mins 35 seconds. Pleased with that and a good VO2 max effort to keep my fitness ticking over. Repeated the hill three times but not surprisingly my first effort was the best time, though all ascents faster than my previous personal best.

 

[Norry1]

Set a personal best up a local hill today. It’s not steep, averaging 6.1%, max 11%, but I only managed to get under 4 mins in July, at 3 mins 54 seconds. Today I managed 3 mins 35 seconds. Pleased with that and a good VO2 max effort to keep my fitness ticking over. Repeated the hill three times but not surprisingly my first effort was the best time, though all ascents faster than my previous personal best.

View attachment 707095

Things like these PBs are what show the training is working. I'm off out shortly to have a bash at a couple of segments here in Cornwall.