Winter Cycling Plan Official Thread (Page 14)

WK4 Q1 redone...well almost stopped at 40 minutes, the fishsticks and noodles stopped hanging out in my stomach at 32 minutes.

Today's nutrution log, fishsticks and noodles bad pre-bike food.

option b!

LTHR will remain around the same, it might increase a bit if you are in better shape or it might be lower if you test on different conditions. That's why if you take care of the details and set up your trainer in the same way as always (read my post on testing) then you can use mph as a rough estimate of your fitness improvements. Still the best way for you to know how fitter you are will be when you can go faster at the same LTHR.

To improve just be consistent and follow the plan

that is odd, maybe the knob to tight up the tire is not working properly anymore? check with your trainer's manufacturer maybe they can give you some tips or ideas.

I read the plan for week 2 day 1 and it said to test.  So I did.  My numbers are much lower than I had hoped but it is what it is.  Then I read thru the notes and Jorge says to test after week 2.   So I guess I'll test next week too.

I'm a week behind at this point, and did Week 5 Q1 last night.  I knew this was going to be tough as soon as I saw that my HR was 15 beats above normal during the warmup.  By the time I got to the 5th interval my HR peaked at 181, and I struggled to hang on to the low end of the power numbers I was aiming for.

Usually riding in the evening I feel stronger and the HR is lower than when I do a morning workout - certainly not the case last night.

Week 6 Q1 done.

30 TT Ave. was 163HR 18.4 MPH LT using 97% 158HR
20 TT Ave. was 162HR 18.7 MPH LT using 95% 154HR

I was expecting to be able to hold a higher HR today since it was only 20 min. Maybe I am to tired from last weekends training?



Edited by keith-OG 2009-12-08 11:45 AM

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Edited by trotpntbll 2009-12-08 3:10 PM

From your post before this one, where you are talking about 220-age, I think you might be a little mixed up.  Usually I am a lot mixed up so I'm happy to be able to (hopefully) set you straight

220-age (is supposed to) give you your MAX Heart Rate... i.e. supposedly the very highest your heart rate should reach during exercise.

However the tests we do on this program give you your "Lactate threshold HR" which is basically your average heart rate going as hard as you can over a long sustained effort .  This number should be quite a bit less than 220-age.  For example 220-my age = 190 but my LT is 161.

If you did week 1 multiplying Jorge's percentages by your 220-age figure, I bet it was REALLY hard   Try using the figure that you got from your test and it should still be very hard but manageable.

If I'm way off here and this not news to you then I'm really sorry.  Good luck!

Test #2 done.  Ave HR 151 for 20'.  Do I use .95 or .97?  Probably splitting hairs at this point.

Thank-you.  Apparently I was confused.  So confused I didn't even know it!  I feel a lot better about my numbers now and yes week one was a b-tch!

.95 for if you did 20 min test, .97 if you did 30 min test, LTHR should be similar

awesome job!

maybe so but your speed was higher which means you can got faster at the same given effort and itself is a nice improvement!

I got through week 5, Q1 on Monday evening and plan to hit Q2 in an hour or so. *gulp*

I'm being dragged out of the frozen north to go somewhere warm for two weeks, starting in the middle of next week. Next week would have been my 2nd testing week but, even if I could fit the testing in, I'm guessing the test results would not still be accurate when I come back after two weeks of vacation. What I might try is to repeat a couple of this week's workouts next week, fit in what training I can over the vacation without upsetting my wife, and do the week 6 testing when I get back. That's going to set me about a month behind in the program though. Oh well, that may fit better with next spring's weather around here anyway. Does anyone see any good alternatives?

Jorge - can you really compare the two given that this week's test was 10 mins shorter? In theory wouldn't your speed drop the longer you try and hold the effort?Don't anyone freak when they see my HR numbers but here are my results:Today 12/9/09 - 20m 00s 6.43 miles 19.30 mph 188 193. Last test 11/10/09 - 29m 59s 9.25 miles 18.50 mph 184 189

Edited by Lisa B 2009-12-09 8:29 PM

Ugh, so a two week stint in Thailand and 1 week of horrible jet lag made me decide it was best to restart from the beginning again. I was only at week 3 so not too bad a loss. But hey, the first one hurts just as bad the second time around in case you were wondering.

week 2 Q2 done today with the new numbers from my test the other day.  What a difference!  A much slower descent into sweatfest hell but I could stay there all day.

Am I supposed to be hitting a certain cadence or Just worry about the HR/RPE at this point?

Edited by Seren 2009-12-10 6:22 AM

Just finished week 2 Q2 and I'm amazed at my ability to focus while on the trainer during this plan. I really have to thank you for putting this up here because my attention on the trainer is unbelievably short, but I'm trucking through this one.  Looking forward to my 5 minute test on Saturday where I can show off my super duper short course skills. :p

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Technically no though the difference between both tests in terms of the power curve/duration relation falttens over time. IOW while the speed for the 20 min test might be a tad higher than what you would do for 30 min still the different wouln't be as much. If I have to guess I would say 18.6mph was very possible for a 30 min test vs the 20min for Keith and still is a good improvement over only 3+ week of training. Next test which will also be a 20 min test will be a better comparison, in your case I wouldn't be suprised you get 19.5mph +

About your LTHR, it is normal to see fluctuations due to the variability of HR (hence my preference for power) still the way I see it you should be pretty excited consider you can go faster at a lower LTHR even if your 30 min speed would be lower, still I would guess it would be 19.1-19.2mph at lower LTHR, in other words, congrats on the improvement!

Edited by JorgeM 2009-12-11 10:34 AM

This makes me smile! Just shows what work and consistency can do for your fitness, congrats! 

Just completed week 2!  Woohoo!  Did notice on that Q3 workout I had to use RPE for those 30 sec rest A between intervals.   My HR never drifted down to the correct numbers.  But with the RPE it workedout great