Cycling program v4.0 2011-2012 (Page 17)

Something works. I've just completed my week 10, 30 min TT. Since the fist week my numbers have gone 16.88, 18.72 and I've just done 21.74 for the 'distance' over the 30 minutes on Garmin Edge 500. Average HR for the tests have all been in the same ballpark 160-164.

Thanks Jorge. I bombed at this last year after week 5. Sticking with it is doing something good. Maybe I will hit my target time for my Olys next year.

Ditto.  Man that sucked while doing it.  Felt great after getting it done!

Awesome to hear this, keep it up!

This is also a good reminder for everyone following the plan; as we move along, each week will become increasingly harder, that is because fatigue accumulates over time. For that reason is VERY important to take care of the details:

- fuel well before and during your workout, refuel short after workout to improve recovery process, rest, etc. If managing fatigue is still challenging while taking care of the details, then back off a bit on some of the less intense rides; that way you continue to develop your fitness without further inducing significant fatigue.

I hope that helps!

Anyone else wondering when the  'less intense rides' begin.
It must be today whoo hoo.
Winter Cycling with Power Day #38
  WU: 5-10' @ 70%
  MS: 40' as 5' @70%, 5' @80% 
  CD: 5-10' @ 60-65%

LOL... I thought today was one of those days for me.. Week 5 Day 2... holy crap... 12 hours later and I am still feeling it... but man I love it! When I feel distress... I just imagine myself passing those guys I lost to this past year... 

Just did that workout and my only thought was that Jorge must of been in a very good mood that day and decided to be nice to us.  Between this program and my HM program my legs are feeling it and tonight was a good night for a less intense ride.

Sorry to bring this up again but it's the workout I'm doing tomorrow morning and was wondering if there was any news on this.

For early morning I go the gu and gatorade route, having had a delicious and nutritious dinner of course.  Then I make sure to have a great breakfast after.

x2.  I ride first thing in the morning, so I eat a banana w/ 1 gulp of Infinit mix just before hopping on the bike, then drink Infinit mix during the torture session, followed by a good breakfast (apple, steel-cut oats w/ milk, peanut butter, honey, and raisins mixed in).

I realize that the first test was only after about 3 weeks of cycling again, but I'm happy to report that this program works.

First 20m test:  272 watts (3.2 w/kg)

Second 20m test:  294 watts (3.5 w/kg)

Awesome!

If I am not going to be able to fuel more than 30-60 min before I try to get simple easy digestible carbs. Something like fruit, fruit juice, maybe some white bread but avoid protein, fat and too much fiber. As a last resource I might use sports drink, gels, etc. when real food won't do the trick. Also, I start drinking sports drink as soon as start riding and keep doing so often as that will allow to absorb and replenish some carbs faster.

On that note, try using sports drinks, gels, etc. with a mix of carbs; specially something like glucose, maltose or maltodextrin AND fructose  because it can enhance body absorption increasing carb intake/utilization; because the "shuttle" our body use to process the first 3 and fructose are different 'doors'. A drink that has this that I know is powerbar with the C2 max formula, but I am sure others has this to.

Yowsers!  That's great!!  I'm doing the second test tomorrow morning.  Anyone else?  Who's excited about it?? 

Did the first test (Week 3)

4 min @ 313 WATT (4.0 w/kg)

20 min @ 240 WATT (3.07 w/kg)

For a CP of 222 (2.83 w/kg)

Now looking at my 4 minute test and assuming that power decreases by 5% as distance doubles, my 20 min should have been somewhere around 275 (313W * .95 ^2.5).  I definitely pushed 4 minute test to the limit (blew up 1 minute before planned 5 minutes). I'm also pretty sure I could not have done 20 minute much harder (started in 220's ended in 250's with a pretty nice straigh-line increase in power over the course of the test, and the last 4 minutes were really tough).  Just surprised to see such a big spread between 4 and 20 minute power measures.

Has anyone had similar results?  Any thoughts on this?

Yeah, thanks dude.  I'm happy with it.  That second one was for our indoor time trial series last Thursday.  My actual testing day is this Tuesday, so we'll see how I do then with the warm-up and everything.  I'm hoping to come close, but we will see. 

Put me in the "it works" club too! 

First 20' test was 232w (2.9w/kg)

Second 20' test done this morning at 256w! (3.2w/kg) which is beyond my wildest dream of what I would have done.

I was thinking 245w in my head as a target so I started there and was going to try to hold on. Got to 10' at 248w and still felt strong (I'm usually questioning my sanity at this point) so decided to bump up to 255. 4 mins later I still felt strong so upped to 265. Started to hurt after that but was still doing 280-290 for the last min or so. Last 5' was 272w which is only 1 watt below my 5' test from the first round of testing.

Thanks Jorge! 

Oh and thanks to my wife who came into the room around the 10' mark and opened up two windows beside me to help cool me (outside temp of -1C).

That is some great improvement!  Doing my test tomorrow evening.  I am looking forward to it, in a masochistic kind of way.  

Another one for the "It Works!" club (though mine is HR based).

Test 1: Ave speed for 30' test - 25.58mph, LTHR:168

Test 2: Ave speed for 30' test - 26.88mph, LTHR:173

I am glad to hear that people are getting some serious results from the training plan.  For me, though, I was a little disappointed in my 20MP test results this morning.  I am sure it has nothing to do with the plan...probably it is me.  

Since I am VERY new to training I don't know where to start regarding trying to figure out why I'm not improving.  I have been following the plan religiously.  The workouts seem hard to me and at the end I am usually pretty spent.  For my 20MP test today I went as hard as I thought I could.  Near the end (18 minutes), I felt like I was going to die but, I tried to push a little harder.  So, when I compared my results from today's test to the one I did earlier and found they were essentially the same...I was very dissapointed.  Maybe I left something on the table this morning...but, it sure didn't feel like it.  I'm still feeling the effects after several hours.

I'm thinking that it may be that I am starting to get fatigued.  Since I am relatively new at this (training about 1 year) that I may not have a good base.  Anyway, I was a little discouraged.  But, I will press hard on the 5MP test and see what happens.  From there, I will continue the program.  It has been fun to challenge myself with the workouts and I will keep going.  Maybe the next test will be better!