Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[IrishAl]

I set up a new plan last night a general fitness one, as oppose to a TT plan which I’ve done for the last few years. I think it mixes more workouts instead of mainly VO2max and Threshold, well it gave me a SS workout and given I haven’t done one through TR in a while it was quite a low level (Jordan SS Lv 2.0). I felt about that or at least how I think a SS Level 2.0 workout should feel.



View attachment 746891
I maybe should have been more aggressive on my plan set up too as TR recommended but my new commute is on faster/ busier roads so I decided not to do a workout after that yesterday and set up back to back workouts for when I WFH, and I decided to be more conservative. My new plan is:
Sun - Group Ride 2-3h
Mon - Rest
Tues - Commute 110mins am, 105mins pm
Wed - TR Session (Used to be Tues)
Thu - TR Session
Fri - Commute 110mins am, 105mins pm
Sat - Group Ride 3-3.5h

That’s a tasty commute - I thought my commute an hour each way was plenty. Lots of volume in your plan - 15/16+ hours per week if I read it right?

I’ve hit a bit of a no-man’s land with regards training - no structured plan ahead and I’d like to do a Zwift race or two each week this winter. I’ve a winter holiday lined up for mid-January to Tenerife so I’ll likely build myself a 12 week plan that overlaps that holiday to make good use of the decent roads and warmer weather.

 

[HLaB]

That’s a tasty commute - I thought my commute an hour each way was plenty. Lots of volume in your plan - 15/16+ hours per week if I read it right?

I’ve hit a bit of a no-man’s land with regards training - no structured plan ahead and I’d like to do a Zwift race or two each week this winter. I’ve a winter holiday lined up for mid-January to Tenerife so I’ll likely build myself a 12 week plan that overlaps that holiday to make good use of the decent roads and warmer weather.

I only do the commute two days a week WfH the rest. 20 mins to the station, a 35mins train journey the 45-50mins cycle at the other end. The train journey used to be longer but the 45-50mins was more pleasant. The new 45-50mins bit of the commute is on roads where I can't really wind down before a workout and whilst I used to workout after my commute I've moved it to a WfH day instead. The down side is I'll have back to back HIIT workout days.

 

[HLaB]

I had Starlight -4 (a TR under over session) in my plan tonight and after the first two blocks I was going to rate it by the TR score as moderate but in the third block I wasn’t quite at it and the cadence fell into the high 70’s rpm for the overs and the low 80s for the under so I rated it as ‘Very Hard’





Its starting to cool down in the hall of pain!

 

[Legs]

I only do the commute two days a week WfH the rest. 20 mins to the station, a 35mins train journey the 45-50mins cycle at the other end. The train journey used to be longer but the 45-50mins was more pleasant. The new 45-50mins bit of the commute is on roads where I can't really wind down before a workout and whilst I used to workout after my commute I've moved it to a WfH day instead. The down side is I'll have back to back HIIT workout days.

I used to commute Dry Drayton to Ely (22 miles e/w) every day, and it just knackered me! Even when I moved office and started working in Brampton, I’d commute by bike three days a week, and it didn’t do my racing any good because I was always too tired to do any focussed training.

 

[HLaB]

I used to commute Dry Drayton to Ely (22 miles e/w) every day, and it just knackered me! Even when I moved office and started working in Brampton, I’d commute by bike three days a week, and it didn’t do my racing any good because I was always too tired to do any focussed training.

Most Ive done is St Ives to Cambridge everyday and workout, 13-15miles each way IIRC. But that route is easy with it being busway and you could go your own pace (especially on recovery days) and not lose much time. Before I moved jobs unknowingly I had a chronic iron deficiency so it was a good job the busway was easy!

 

[HLaB]

I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be cadence/power wise to night so I marked it as ‘All Out’ that triggered the struggle survey in trainer road and that adapted my next threshold workout down 0.01 of an IF. I put most of it down to Stress. We’ve changed the service provider contract at work (I provide part of the service and TUPEd) and its been a nightmare IT wise and in-between the frustration there’s been a lot to learn.



Lol I think the name of the workout also jinxed me, Wheel -4. I only had 2 to start with and I took one off for the smart trainer. So to lose 4 I was feic’d from the start

 

[HLaB]

I got wrapped up in work and forgot my 2-1h pre ride banana sandwich and whether that was the reason or the slight stomach strain yesterday evening or something else the cadence just wasn’t there, the effort felt about right though. Annoyingly I had read my estimated lap top battery as 2h5min remaining and thought I had plenty of time but had done so before I started IndieVelo and TR and had to jump off mid interval to get a charger. The low battery warning popped up with nearly 7mins to go and I decided it might not wait till the recovery, a better place to stop.

 

[HLaB]

Still not where I wanted to be cadence wise on tonight’s threshold session so I marked it as all out which triggered a struggle survey in TrainerRoad's Adaptive Training. My cadence was spot on a few weeks back but its mostly been like this for a while was it the switch to the Suito trainer or the bowel cancer op about the same time (5 years ago), I used to be reasonably spinny in training

 

[HLaB]

I had Altair (a recovery ride) in my calendar for tonight but from low’s of 4deg C last week it was high of 21deg C today and I changed it to an outside workout, and did a Holme loop after dark. I stopped at the lake and took some pics and tried a few different modes and the conclusion is I need a better phone camera

 

[HLaB]

Sat a bit too long in my bib longs after work yesterday; too busy pulling information together for my tax return. I had Monitor -1 (SS) in my calendar tonight and whilst the legs felt great I could feel a sore developing, Despite that I was nearly where I want to be cadence wise until the last 6min block, its a bit low there. Perhaps the sore was a bit too sore there.

 

[CXRAndy]

Still not where I wanted to be cadence wise on tonight’s threshold session so I marked it as all out which triggered a struggle survey in TrainerRoad's Adaptive Training. My cadence was spot on a few weeks back but its mostly been like this for a while was it the switch to the Suito trainer or the bowel cancer op about the same time (5 years ago), I used to be reasonably spinny in training

View attachment 748690

View attachment 748691

That cadence will always drag you down in performance 👍

 

[Legs]

Do you use erg mode for your workouts, @HLaB ? I find it really useful for workouts; it takes all of the trouble out of changing gear to match cadence and power, and lets you focus on just turning the legs around as quickly and smoothly as you need to.

This one has intervals of 90rpm, 100rpm and 110rpm:

I would only do really spiky workouts without erg mode:

 

[HLaB]

Do you use erg mode for your workouts, @HLaB ? I find it really useful for workouts; it takes all of the trouble out of changing gear to match cadence and power, and lets you focus on just turning the legs around as quickly and smoothly as you need to.

This one has intervals of 90rpm, 100rpm and 110rpm:
View attachment 750450

I would only do really spiky workouts without erg mode:
View attachment 750449

I've an Elite Suito and whilst being good for compactness/ foldability/ portability it's terrible for power management in ERG (its erratic and non smooth) so I tend to use resistance mode and record of my power meter. I was actually more happy with my cadence when I used a dumb fluid trainer but that was also pre my bowel cancer op 5 years ago and physically I might have changed.

There some good stuff on it but coaches generally seem to reccomend what suits you for most zones but for VO2max stuff they recommend switching off ERG, as it's too restrictive and stops you pushing to your true oxygen based maximum oxygen zone.

 

[Legs]

coaches generally seem to reccomend what suits you for most zones but for VO2max stuff they recommend switching off ERG, as it's too restrictive and stops you pushing to your true oxygen based maximum oxygen zone.

Sure, a tightly-managed 5min 110% interval (like Gorby intervals) might not put you right at the limit of what you're capable of for 5 minutes, but it'll also save you from overstretching and being unable to do more in the set. If I wanted to do one effort in isolation, I'd be pushing towards 130%, and, again, I could do that with erg. Power is power. Mix in the ability to be able to deliver that power at a variety of cadences, and you're golden!

 

[Norry1]

I tend to use resistance for shorter intervals - say 30 secs or less but Erg for anything over that.