Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[Norry1]

I also have NEO 2T and it works well.

TrainingPeaks Virtual (TPV) also has a feature you can select where it lets the Erg go if you get into the spiral of death, and will re-engage it when you get back to set power.

 

[Legs]

I'm doing the Zwift: Baseline series of workouts at the moment. This morning was the second, which consisted of three well-spaced 15s efforts. The workout was set to automatically turn erg mode off when the interval started. I let this happen on the first sprint, but realised that what that does is throw you straight into your sprint effort in whatever gear you're in; I'd had the foresight to switch up to the big ring but was still a bit undergeared, and the 13s 978W includes a bit of ramping up from 200W. For the second interval, I changed to sim mode in advance of the 15s sprint window, so I was already up to power as I passed under the arch. I didn't think I could beat either of those two 15s efforts, so for the third, I just went for a peak effort.

Next up is 60-180s efforts, which is going to hurt a lot more.

 

[IrishAl]

I'm doing the Zwift: Baseline series of workouts at the moment. This morning was the second, which consisted of three well-spaced 15s efforts. The workout was set to automatically turn erg mode off when the interval started. I let this happen on the first sprint, but realised that what that does is throw you straight into your sprint effort in whatever gear you're in; I'd had the foresight to switch up to the big ring but was still a bit undergeared, and the 13s 978W includes a bit of ramping up from 200W. For the second interval, I changed to sim mode in advance of the 15s sprint window, so I was already up to power as I passed under the arch. I didn't think I could beat either of those two 15s efforts, so for the third, I just went for a peak effort.

Next up is 60-180s efforts, which is going to hurt a lot more.
View attachment 754795

I Was reading about this workout in some Facebook posts where users managed to injure themselves due to sudden loss of resistance. I’d agree sprints always best done with the resistance of the road / machine rather than ERG.

I’m plodding away with my training routine. As the weather has been relatively favourable for commuting I haven’t been doing all the scheduled workouts (commute is now in the dark and not preferable nor ideal for the higher power efforts really. Also haven’t had time for a Zwift race either which I sort of miss.

 

[HLaB]

I Was reading about this workout in some Facebook posts where users managed to injure themselves due to sudden loss of resistance. I’d agree sprints always best done with the resistance of the road / machine rather than ERG.

I prefer 'resistance' mode for all work outs, I've done a similar injury in the past with Elite's ERG on Threshold workouts, also I've had annoyingly hang at a high resistance and not drop for a rest interval! I'd never dream of using Elite's ERG on a VO2max workout. Besides even if ERG works, it caps you at a certain power level where VO2max is a maximum oxygen intake based zone and not power.

 

[HLaB]

Feck me, I know Elite turbos don't have the best reputation, but that's dreadful. If it's still in warranty, I'd be sending that back because it's quite clearly not fit for purpose.

This is the kind of trace I get from using erg on my Tacx Neo 2T. Where there are step changes, the turbo locks into the required power within about 5 seconds and then the 3-second average power displayed only wavers by 2-3W, tops, unless you try rapidly changing your cadence. The little blip at 35 mins in was me standing up momentarily during the rest period. Definitely can't feel any change in power during the constant intervals.
View attachment 754787

I forget what age the Suito is now but I've had it a while (at least since pre lockdown). I'm using Elite's power match feature reading a single sided PM maybe that's the problem or just that I don't have enough power overall.

 

[HLaB]

With my group ride cancelled thanks to Storm Darragh I fired up TrainNow (TrainerRoad's ride selector, it supposed to be based on your training history) which was recommending an endurance ride I refreshed it a few times until I found a workout which looked interesting and that was Homers Nose - 1. That had lots of intervals at different cadences to break up the hour.




I also decided to run the session independent of my single sided power meter and just use the trainer to estimate power. It seemed to run smoother in ERG mode with me being more in control of my cadence, but then again it wasn’t a high power session.

 

[Norry1]

For indoor sessions like that I like to use the Pace Partners (used to be in Zwift, but now TVP) as it gives more interest but keeps you in the right zone, so long as you select the correct Pace Partner

 

[HLaB]

2nd day of storm Darragh so I fired up TrainNow (TrainerRoads workout selector) again and after a couple of refreshes I settled on:



My cadence didn’t half fall in that last interval so I toggled ERG off and on a few times.



After a break, I decided to fire up TN again which recommended this time an endurance workout based on my recent training history.



I had to jump off the trainer to plug the laptop in. I was running TrainingPeaks Velo in parallel and it used up the battery faster.

 

[BSRU]

No exercise for three weeks, lots of fitness lost . Initially I Think I had a cold that weakened my immune system allowing something far worse to get in🤒.
First day I felt ok although weak as kitten🐱, give it a couple of days before getting back to some light exercise.
Interesting to view my health tracker data for the past weeks to see if it shows anything useful.
Overnight HR normally mid 40's but been mid 50's, worst night it was 60.
Overnight HRV usually in the 60's but during this period in the 40's, sometimes even in the 30's, as low as 31 one night.
The stress measurement showing lots of stress even when sitting around doing nothing or sleeping.
SPO2 measurements all fine and generally sleep of good quality, but the tracker unable to detect afternoon naps.
Hopefully a nice zone 2 ride on Monday.

 

[Norry1]

That's a big change in RHR!

 

[BSRU]

Two 90 minutes zone 2 rides in two days, felt nice.
RHR back under 50 for first time for almost four weeks.
At last had the chance to try out my new "more perinium friendly" saddle I bought four weeks ago.

 

[Norry1]

Two 90 minutes zone 2 rides in two days, felt nice.
RHR back under 50 for first time for almost four weeks.
At last had the chance to try out my new "more perinium friendly" saddle I bought four weeks ago.

Think I need one of them on my turbo bike

 

[CXRAndy]

No exercise for three weeks, lots of fitness lost . Initially I Think I had a cold that weakened my immune system allowing something far worse to get in🤒.
First day I felt ok although weak as kitten🐱, give it a couple of days before getting back to some light exercise.
Interesting to view my health tracker data for the past weeks to see if it shows anything useful.
Overnight HR normally mid 40's but been mid 50's, worst night it was 60.
Overnight HRV usually in the 60's but during this period in the 40's, sometimes even in the 30's, as low as 31 one night.
The stress measurement showing lots of stress even when sitting around doing nothing or sleeping.
SPO2 measurements all fine and generally sleep of good quality, but the tracker unable to detect afternoon naps.
Hopefully a nice zone 2 ride on Monday.

If my RHR rises by 3-4 BPM I know there is something amiss , either fatigue or illness

 

[BSRU]

Think I need one of them on my turbo bike

Early stages but it does feel more comfortable during and after, also seems to be less desire to stop for a nature break.
I thought it was worth a punt since I tend to spend virtually all the time sitting when on the Neo 2.

 

[HLaB]

A Vo2max session for me today (Gendarme +3). I set up a temporary pain cave tonight , only to realise I’d left my fans behind. It was also my winter bike and the cleats for its pedals are multi release. I think that psychologically done me in as on review it was cooler than my usual pain cave and I only accidentally unclipped once. I done my typical on Vo2max workouts and hit them a bit too hard and when I got to the 18th interval and accidentally unclipped, the wheels came off!




As to RHR mine is up considerably this year and usually sits in the low 50s now, when I was fit and riding often it was in the low 40s. Then again garmin said my Vo2max at the time was 70-74 and now its 62. I think Garmin just makes these numbers up