Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[Ming the Merciless]

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.

Good luck

 

[Norry1]

Good luck

Got a joint top 10 on this one https://www.strava.com/segments/3575888?filter=overall

 

[HLaB]

Apparently it was windy today for my commute but I never really noticed it. Maybe I was too busy watching the clock tick down on my workout Monitor -5 (4x6 SS intervals with 30sec recoveries). It had been an hour long workout that I'd have to do indoors but I’m listening to the Football (Soccer) and have some other things to do this morning so I used TrainerRoad's Alternates function to select a 30 minutes workout I could do on my commute (using RPE). I’m a bit dubious of doing a workout with the company laptop on my back but it seems secure on my back.

I didn’t plan to do anything other than a gentle recovery tonight but I got caught in the office and I was wanting back so that was a wee bit of a constant workout too. Then I remembered the ongoing gas works in a local village with 4 way traffic control. So I diverted up the hill into the headwind which kinda killed the speed.



I needn’t have rushed.



So I had a 40min wait for a rammed train! On the bright side I wouldn't have had time for that hour long workout anyway!

 

[HLaB]

Today was just a recovery commute but the last two days have saw me finally come in side for my workouts.
Wednesday
Its still a tad warm in the pain corridor but the RPE felt just about right for a low lever SS workout and on review my HR was about right too.

You’ll have to make do with Garmin’s output as the TR web app has been forced into a spin by the work out and was taking a ‘Nasty Spill’








On review though I need to work on getting my cadence back up!

Thursday

I did an under/ over workout on Thursday night. After the heat of last night I had planned on taking it outside but and I was about to get ready to go out but I figured by the time I got ready there’d be very little light left as I'd got too wrapped up in work instead of finishing sharp and it had rained a few times too so I set up the trainer instead.


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After I started the warm up I realised my H10 was dead so I jumped off for a new battery. I jumped of a second time in the warm up to fix something else. Apart from that it went mostly OK except my skewer came loose so I had to resist any urge to stand. The only annoying thing is my cadence is too d@mm low, Strava Sauce highlights how bad it was:


Oh and did I mention my pain corridor was still a little too hot:

Typically being a rest day its closer to a better workout temperature tonight.

 

[IrishAl]

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.

I came across this YouTuber/ cycling coach bemoaning the pre-loaded zwift workouts and training plans. Having started doing the FTP Builder plan I can now see his point. Zwift have some good workouts for sure but I found the FTP builder more geared up to a cycling beginner rather than allowing anyone no matter what your starting point is to build their power/fitness.


View: https://youtu.be/xmVZshpLaqs?si=Ib9FsA9m83ZJ4I5L

 

[HLaB]

I can’t remember what 1h SS session was in my training plan today but I swapped it with TrainerRoads 'Alternates' function for something I could do on the rural part of my commute. 2x12mins SS with a minutes rest between.

 

[HLaB]

It was forecasted to be 32mph gusts so I decided to forgo the group ride and do a TrainerRoad workout instead. Abbey was in my calendar tonight. Is basically 5x6mins at SS a varying power within the zone. Although I prefer using the turbore in resistance mode as oppose to using Elite's ERG mode so it wasn't a precise variation for me. I think it went OK I never had to dig deep and I was happier with my cadence at times although generally it still too low :-/ Typically when I got of the turbore and checked the met weather station the biggest gust recorded was only 21mph and the main storm never came until near 9pm.

 

[Norry1]

Looks like a good session.

Better safe than sorry.

I was in Cornwall last week and one day it was extremely windy. Like dickhead I decided to take the clifftop coast road. I was down to walking pace at times due to the crosswind coming in off the sea - I very nearly walked at one point for safety reasons. Luckily it was a bit better once I got off the coast road.

 

[HLaB]

A 90 minutes workout was in my calendar tonight but I wanted to give my self time to wind down before bed (Ive an early start) so I swapped it with Alternates for the hour long one (Kennedy -2).



I had to dig deep a few times but I was a little bit more satisfied with the cadence (its still too low though)


Oh and I made 2 mistakes, I forgot to put my old broken frame glasses and head band on and didn’t notice until the warm up and I had trapped my self in/ set up the pain corridor.

 

[Norry1]

Your cadence is pretty low innit. Has it always been that way?

 

[Legs]

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.

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You do need to be careful of taking that in isolation. How you perform during an on-road segment is related to wind intensity and direction, traffic levels, road surface conditions, the ride you've done up to that point, as well as all the workouts before it, how well you slept, stressors in your life. You may be slow one week but fast the next. It’s not necessarily that you’ve improved, just that those outside factors have changed.

Spoiler

Sounds good, though. Well done!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You do need to be careful of taking that in isolation. How you perform during an on-road segment is related to wind intensity and direction, traffic levels, road surface conditions, the ride you've done up to that point, as well as all the workouts before it, how well you slept, stressors in your life. You may be slow one week but fast the next. It’s not necessarily that you’ve improved, just that those outside factors have changed.

Spoiler

Sounds good, though. Well done!

Fortunately the only real variables before it are the workouts before. But they are fairly consistent between attempts. Plus the gap between old and new was significant enough to take notice.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Forget most of what you think you know about the effects of ageing

https://www.fasttalklabs.com/coaching/forget-most-of-what-youve-heard-about-the-effects-of-aging/

 

[HLaB]

Your cadence is pretty low innit. Has it always been that way?

Not until I got a smart trainer post cancer now anything above tempo is really low (below tempo it 95rpm). On a flat tt it tends to be 84-86rpm on a hilly tt it 70-75rpm and in general leisure rides its very variable out doors. Everything seemed to be a bit higher on the old fluid trainer :-/

 

[IrishAl]

Met these 3 girls in the middle of a set of 40seconds

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.

Met these 3 girls this morning in the middle of a set of 40seconds Z5 into 10 mins Z4. You don’t get that on your Zwift 😂😀