Cycling Program v3.0 - 2010 - 2011 (Page 20)

3min test done - that second minute was awful and made me think I'd gone out too hard.  By the time you're into the third minute then at least you know it's coming to an end.  But that second minute - pure hell...

Anyway, good result and my CP is up 14 watts. 

Week5 testing is in the books.  3MP=384(-3), 20MP=300(+16), CP=285(+35)

I attacked the test expecting to see similar improvements in Week5-3mp as in Week5-20mp. That did not happen.  First minute was an incredible 408 ave. but I wasn't taking a 1minute maximum test.  At 1:28 I was still pulling at my target 400 ave.  The second 30 of the second minute went bad and saw my cadance drop to 71rpm as I battled to maintain momentum in the big ring. At this point in the test, I tensed and lost cadance.  It's tough to relax and apply power through a full 360 under that much load.  Decent rally in the 3rd minute saved the test.

Ride Happy.

Nice numbers. Congrats.

Tell me how you feel after this week's 6x4 at that new 20MP :-)

What are you using : PT, Crank based PM or Trainer ?


Edited by marcag 2010-12-05 2:35 PM

I'm training on a Cervelo S1 with a compak dbl (50/34) crank, a (12-25) cassette, Powertap SL and KK Road machine.  I crave the feeling of the power coming on as the KK starts to really whine. 

W6D1 done.  That's a pretty serious workout!  Kind of regretting my good 20' test last week since now I have to live up to it.

It doesn't look nearly as bad when you read Jorge's description as it feels when you're doing it.  In the middle of the 4th interval I had to go into Zen of the Trainer mode.  Focus, concentrate, pedal in circles, etc.  I admit I cheated and did 1' recoveries instead of 45" just to make it simpler to watch the clock. Believe me, 60 seconds goes by really fast!

Also, I decided to take a look through last winter's discussion thread.  It's long, of course, but there's some good info in there. Here's a link: 

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=186131&start=1

Edited by Flagstaff30 2010-12-05 5:00 PM

Well if it's actually worse than it looks, I'm in big trouble because when I read it my first thought was that it was going to be REALLY hard!

Well, I was looking at the description thinking, hey, I did 20 minutes straight at this power last week, and this week I get a break every 4 minutes.  That's going to make it much easier.  Well....

One thing that was a factor for me today, I seem to be a bit sluggish the first day after a rest day (as yesterday was for me).  Do the rest of you experience this?

That happens to me as well, but the feeling usually subsides once I'm warmed up.  If I have more than one rest day in a row, my muscles might not want to respond as readily.

w3d3 done.  not as bad as d1, but still tough.

I just got a new road bike today, and am considering putting the TT bike away until race season.  Any thoughts on if I can just swap the PT to the roadie and use the same CP #s to train with?  Or would I need to do 20MP/3MP tests again?

Power is power. Swap the wheel and get ready to ride into the valley of pain. 

Even when moving from standard to compact crank?

Sure, it's still just force*distance (or cadence).  Your gearing will change and you'll be doing about the same force on the pedal at the same cadence.

However, if you've been doing all your work at this point in your aero position, you might be able to generate a bit more power in a more upright road bike position.  My impression is that the difference is usually relatively small, on the order of 5 - 10%, so it wouldn't dramatically change your training, but it might be interesting to retest just to see if there's any difference for you.

I agree with the other posts that if you choose to go with your road bike, no need to re-test

As far as deciding to use the TT or Road bike read the following

http://iamspecialized.com/triathlon/rider/jordan-rapp#/blog

and look at the section  : WHY TRIATHLETES *NEED* A ROAD BIKE

If Jordan is right, and I am sure he is, the argument would be that it's better to use your road bike, IF you have a tendency to not ride in the aero position. So if most of your time on the trainer is spent upright, you are actually better off on a road bike according to this article.

Personally, I continue to use my tri bike and make every attempt to stay in the aero position. I typically do the hard parts in aero and the rests upright, and do the 1.5-2hr rides in aero, coming up a few minutes every 15 minutes.

A friend of mine uses his road bike until late Feb, watches movies while training and then puts the TT bike back on to get use to aero position.

Jorge, sorry but on day 2 of the new week 6 it seems that it is more a 60' workout than a 40' because starting from 70% up to 95% by 5mins each, you get
2x(5'@70%, 5'@75%, 5'@80%, 5'@85%, 5'@90% and 5'@95%) which is 2x(30')
I think for getting 40' workout the best solution would be to start at 75% up to 90% by 5', correct?

I do the same on the trainer too, AFA resting on the pursuit bar. Article makes sense to me, I do a weekly group ride also that will be more comfortable on a roadie as well.

It says repeat until you complete time so I read it to mean what you typed above (once) and then 5' at 70% and 5' at 75% and then you are done.  I have a sneaky suspicion that next week may be 5' longer and then longer again the next week.... 

correct!

no problem using your road bike and no problem using a compact, it just changes your gear ration a bit but to produce power you still need to either increase your torque or cadence so you will adjust no problem.

one thing many triathletes don't pay attention to is road bike fit as much as they might do with their tri bike. if you have a good bike fit on but you position will be pretty similar, what will change is how much your body is rotated up or down, but your hip angle should be relatively the same.

I like my road bike on the trainer because it is a bit more comfortable.

my athletes have referred to the 6x4' workout as the 6x4 minutes from hell...

And it's just by coincidence that it's the first workout after upping our FTP numbers.....evil, evil, evil :-)


Edited by marcag 2010-12-06 4:01 PM

Week 5 testing is in the books.  Nice improvements in the numbers but I believe all of that was due to better pacing during the test.  The next round of numbers should be interesting, but I am not looking forward to testing again.  I took a look at this weeks plan and I must say things are getting a bit more devious!!!  

Then you wont enjoy next monday's w/o either.  I recommend an extra fan.  Or a busket for the puke.

Me too!    Doing the entire thing including prep as a 15 week prep for Cal 70.3.  Training with power but haven't done testing yet, so I am just sort of going by RPE and seeing where the power numbers end up