SBR Utopia ---- Permanently OPEN!!

I like the adjustment to the title name. 

I hope everyone enjoys the next week with family and friends.  Don't eat too much and be safe. 

I'm trying to see if I can complete the Strava Festive 500 challenge....500km from 12/24 to 12/31.

That's a lot of riding Jason!  Are you going to do any big monster days or just steady throughout?

Assuming he'll be back in the discussion...a question for Marc.

I know in thread in TT you posted your PMC showing fitness rising and droping.  I was thinking about posting this question in the power group thread, but I didn't want to jump ahead on topics you plan to cover later.

Assuming you don't test that often year round, do you "prorate" the decline or rise in your FTP between tests?  For example, if over the course of 2-3 months you realize your FTP has dropped 30 watts.  Do you go back in WKO and spread that FTP drop over those 2-3 months...or do you simply just enter in the new FTP, and WKO will assume on one day your FTP was X, and the next day your FTP was X - 30?  I ask because this would impact your IF and TSS calculations...and thus your PMC chart.

My guess is that most people are pretty lazy about entering in their proper FTP and keeping it up to date.  Maybe not a big deal if you don't want to use the PMC, but for me riding full time, it's becoming something I'm trying to rely heavily on.

Thoughts?

I'm currently around 250ish mpw.  The challenge is 8 days long, so really just one extra day of 60 miles required.  I'm off on Thursday, so planning around a 60-70 miler that day.  My Saturday group ride is also kicking up from 50 to 60 miles this weekend, so I'll see a little bump there as well. 

Thanks for starting the group again -- looking forward to continuing the interesting discussions.

I'm visiting my family in Socal for the holidays; just got back from an amazing run!  It's sunny and 70 degrees, a bit of a breeze....one of those runs where you just don't want it to end.  But I'm trying to be smart, so I kept it to just over four miles.  Marc convinced me to join ST's 100 runs in 100 days challenge.  I don't have any intention of running 100 runs, but aiming for somewhere in the 70-80 range and coming out a better runner on the other end.  Really been enjoying running lately

Fred - thanks for restarting.  This is a great group!

Jason, I'm no Marc, so grains of salt a-plenty.  I do actually apply a mental fudge factor for my FTP (at least when I go from knowing it at the start of and then near the end of a training block when I subsequently slack off - not worth even going through how I do that, as it's mostly guesswork anyway).  What has been interesting to me is looking at the Strava estimated FTP.  

Not entirely sure how they calculate it, and I haven't retested recently enough to know how it stacks up, but I can say that it matches what I would expect my FTP to be given recent riding (as in, what I see I can hold for different intervals and such).  

Kinda depressing when it starts to really plummet, but seems to be at least close (which is all I'm looking for, unless I really need to know it for more focused training - but that's when I retest, anyway).

Looking forward to more informed answers or approaches!

Also, got a nice run in today.  Sunny and cold (three below F with the light breeze), but felt great in my new running gear (merry christmas to me!).

Happy holidays all!

Matt

That's a lot of yards.  For real...

Matt

Glad to hear you finally shook it off Fred, that's a long time to have that hang around.

No swim for me today, the pool is still closed.  VO2max fun on the trainer instead!    Also going to get a run in and maybe some snowshoeing.

Last week was my pool downtime.  Two swims cancelled due to snowstorms.  It's looking like tomorrow morning's swim may get canned due to weather as well.

I use a cadence sensor on my shoe (most of the time - now more for data post than during, as I've got my spm feel pretty well dialed in over the last year).

My slow/easy runs are 89-92 spm, tempo is ~91-94, 5k or 10k race is ~95-96 (up to 100 for either a wicked hill or passing on flats) and oddly back down to 93-95 for a finish line kick (lengthen the stride and power along), HM race in the low to mid 90's (91 up to 95-96).

I've very recently been trying to keep my cadence closer to 91-94 for all those paces/distances (speed up on the slow runs and more power on the fast ones, so not just windmilling).  I've found that 93 is sort of a sweet spot, although I will creep up or down depending on fatigue and pace (down in a slower average pace race, like a HM, and up for a faster pace, like a 5K, when I get tired). 

Being able to look at the watch and check is nice during a run, though, and while using the footpod puts the onus on me to set my spm, it also allows me to vary it by segment of the run (w/u, main sets, c/d, etc.).  Is it easy to change the cadence in a metronome during a run?

I do find that the spm will vary juuuuuust a bit by music selection, too, so it's clearly not foolproof - unless you pick perfect music (and there are sites that will select songs based on cadence - but I'm not that wound up with it… the pod gets me close enough).

These cadences are higher than I historically ran by about 5-7 spm, and it seems to help with both form (not overstriding) and comfort (if such a word can be applied to turning oneself inside out!).

Now, I just need to get my swim cadence right.  So, after this too-long post, a question for the group:

What cadence do you use for swimming (spm)?  Do you vary it by speed, or do you hold the same spm but vary the power of the stroke?

Matt

ETA:  Hello Rusty!  

Hey you guys! Howzit?

Curious, do any of you have a recommendation for a mentor/group that has a lot of running knowledge/experience?

I know ... it's kind of faux pas to ask about a mentor group in a mentor group. But, I figure you guys would understand! 

I will probably still pop in here every now and again, so I suppose I should post some info. I'm just so run-xclusive now, I feel a bit out of place! Don't make me to go letsrun! They will eat me aliiiive!