Slornow and Wannabefaster's mentor group...Closed (Page 14)

Good bike workout on the trainer/rollers this evening with some VO2 work. Felt surprisingly good...and feel like I accomplished something.

10 min warm up

20X(1 min @ 110%+/ 1 min easy)

5 easy

20X (30 sec @ 120%+/ 30 sec easy)

short cool down

Ended up with 30 min of 110%+ out of 1hr 17 min workout. IF .89 for the workout. 

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I almost bailed on my swim this morning....I was tired (slept fine last night, but not the couple nights before) and my HRV wasn't pretty.  But by that time, I'd already been up for five minutes and knew I probably wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so I went to swim telling myself that if it was bad, I could bail early.

Turned out to be a good swim!  I'm glad I dragged myself to the pool.

2x200 w/u

2x200 alternating 50 drill, 50 build

2x200 pull (still warming up, so no interval)

Main set was a "pyramid":  4x50 on 0:50, 3x100 on 1:45, 2x150 on 2:35, 1x200 on 3:30, 2x150 on 2:35, 3x100 on 1:45, 4x50 on 0:50

I happily sat in and drafted for most of this, but coming back down the pyramid, the guy who was leading was getting tired and not getting much rest, so when we finished the 100's, I told him to draft me and actually put in some effort

Monday's swim was ugly, so I was grateful that my feel for the water came back pretty quickly.  Short run tonight after work.

Nicole-Funny how sometimes we feel good after we get going and have a good workout.

Marc-I am with you....I hate swimming.  Maybe not hate but definitely don't enjoy it.  I think I would do duathlons if  there were more of them down here.....although then I couldn't about swimming.  With that said I am swimming as well in the morning. Hoping to get it in early before the thunderstorms roll through. 

I have been watching the documentary on The Eagles on Netflix.....death of Glenn Frey got me thinking about all of their great songs.  I wondered why I never saw them in concert but they broke up about the time I graduated high school...1980.  I am not finished with it yet.  Just got through the part where the band broke up.  Should be moving into the time leading up  to the reunion next.  Really amazing the level of individual talent the members of the band had...too many chiefs and not enough indians.  I watch alot of Netflix on the trainer when biking. Always looking for recommendations. 

The weather held off long enough for me to get my swim in......bike this  evening.

Have a good day everyone.

Funny, I kinda feel that way about running.  I've always joked that the only reason I run is that I have to get from T2 to the finish line somehow!  I'd do more aquabike events, but I'll be honest, I'm a bit too competitive to be satisfied with winning an event simply because I'm the only one racing it.

Also, I don't think I actually hate running....I just hate sucking at running.  About to start a run focus, so hopefully I'll see some improvement!

Good info to know on the MRI scheduling.

Given my extensive, nonexistent medical background, I am betting on a torn meniscus.  I did it one time playing tennis.  did PT for a couple of weeks and then was pretty much fine.

Hope you get a good report! 

Missed my bike workout on Wed. so needed to get both bike and run in yesterday.  Run was first, and done on the treadmill with the last 10min at 10K effort - hope the gym treadmill (newer machines) was accurate because this went really well.  Then the evening had 5/6x3' @ ~110% on 3'RI, this went well but I was suffering on the 5th one and told myself that would be it, but gave the 6th a go and lasted about 1min before packing it in.  Either way, things are starting to come back after a very low key couple of months where I wasn't accomplishing much.

Without intending to do so, I realized I haven't run outside in the last 2 weeks.  Getting wimpy when it comes to colder weather - I used to embrace it like a badge of honor.  Now I retreat to the basement treadmill with a TV, fan, and the Tour Down Under on my PVR.  Must run outside this weekend!

Most of your potential gains is going to depend on where you started from.  As you already know, FTP can drop quite a bit if you're off the bike for an extended amount of time.  Or FTP can be quite low as a beginner.  So if that is your starting point in a 3-6 month span, your potential for improvement is going to be much greater than say someone else who has been riding 5000+ miles per year consistently the last few years.

For your first point are you saying you're riding 7-8 hours indoors AND 4-8 hours outdoors?  Total of 11-16 hours?  Or is it a combination of both meaning if weather is bad all week, you ride 7-8 hours indoors, if weather is good all week, 4-8 hours outdoors, or a combination of both that is maybe 6-8 hours?  If it is 6-8 hours total, then that's a solid starting point.  Assuming two solid 60-80 minute weekday rides, a 2-3 hour long ride, and another optional ride.  

For me personally, my FTP peaked at about 290 last year as far as road bike power.  281 last year for a 40k TT on the TT bike.  Once my season ended in August, I suspect my FTP dropped to around 275-280.  I picked it back up in mid October looking to stay focused for this season (last season I kind of winged it and had hit and miss results).  My road bike FTP is already back up around 290, and I still haven't hit the meat of my training yet (hoping to peak in May/June).  I suspect if all goes well and I stay consistent and focused, I can get up to 300-305 when I peak, but also sustain 290ish for most of the season.  So I guess my swing is potentially 275 to 305.  Granted...I don't take that much time off the bike since it's all I do, and I'm pretty well trained as it is so I get pretty excited when my peak fitness even shows a 3-5 watt gain.

As for weight...again...it depends.  If you're already really lean, I suspect losing more weight will impact your power.  But I also think it's greatly exaggerated by most people...as most people are not as lean as say a pro cyclist.  Someone like Bradley Wiggins would lose weight and sacrifice power when he was focusing on the TdF or Grand Tours because it would still improve his w/kg.  But last year he was more focused on classics and now the track for Rio, so he put on about 15 pounds to gain more power as pure watts is more important than w/kg on the track and during classics.  But again, even with 15 more pounds, Wiggins is still considered lean by amateur standards.

I raced last year mostly at 158-162.  Right now I'm at 154 and putting out just as much power as I was during my peak.  But again, at 5'6" and about 17% body fat...I have lots of weight to lose before my power will suffer due to weight loss.

You and I are roughly in the same boat as far as height/weight ratios in relation to BMI.  By "American standards" we are lean, but not in terms of endurance athletes.

If  say you lose 8.5 pounds of fat and 1.5 pounds of muscle.  I don't think your FTP takes a hit because FTP is still very much an aerobic effort that isn't highly governed by muscle mass.  

I'd also wager that with your frame, you still have more muscle mass than most elite endurance athletes anyway.  Most of us normal Joes would benefit from losing some muscle mass if your ultimate goal was to become the best endurance athlete possible.  At a certain point, you're just carrying around excess muscle weight and it's not making a meaningful contribution to your aerobic endurance.  But at the same time we also have to look into the mirror everyday and be happy with what we see.  I for one would not be happy looking in the mirror and seeing a rail thin pro cyclist.

If you're at your goal weight of 185, 300 watts is probably possible for you with some solid training.  Maybe not this season, but soon.  That would put you at about 3.55-3.60 w/kg...certainly within the range for the average guy even if you don't have good genes.  

As for your training...that's a lot of riding.  Have you experimented with shorter rides and higher intensity?  

I've always hated running on a treadmill....and yet, decided to buy one last week!  It gets here on Monday.  Similar to you, I'll use it when the weather sucks rather than embracing it like a badge of honor....opposite of you, I'll be using it in the summer when it's 36C+ and 90%+ humidity.  I would rather aqua jog than run in that crap....but I'm pretty sure I can tolerate a treadmill run, in an air conditioned house, with a fan, and a good tv show to watch