SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 32)

BTW, just a huge shoutout to Shane (gsmacleod) at Scotia Multipsorts and what a coach can do for you....  I started working with him in January.  I've been consistent and have trusted him, and been pretty religious about the workouts.  My FTP testing results show that it works when you work it.

Jan - 277
May 294
July - 303

Getting back to this, the two points are to get a better picture of the curve for your potential output. Both tests are very much aerobic system dependent, though the anaerobic can have some more influence on the 5 minute than the 20 because it's closer to the crossover and might be close enough to have *some* effect. I forget the percentage at that time. 50/50 is in the 1:30-2:00 range though. Threshold is a point on the curve. VO2 isn't really a point, but a condition that occurs. There isn't really a power associated with it, but there is a range of power that is rather effective at improving performance while at this condition. Anyway, the points for the power curve don't necessarily *have* to be 5 and 20. They strike a nice balance in a few things like their duration for repeatability and emphasis on the aerobic system.

If you haven't been working much higher than threshold, then pushing the higher effort work is going to be harder. I find it difficult to go that hard if I hadn't been doing anything near that for awhile. Like you saw, it feels like I couldn't go any harder. But try it again in not too long and I can. Think I've posted before about that even happening within the same workout at times.

And nice job on these tests!

Chris...nice work on the tests.  Makes me want to go out and test again soon...umm...NOT!!!  LOL.

Ben - I like the way you described threshold and VO2 max.  I agree that VO2 is more of a range than an actual number.  Given that VO2 intervals can be anywhere between 3-8 minutes...the power you can sustain for that length can vary quite a bit. 

But as far as why or if we should incorporate VO2 workouts...I also agree that we need them to "make room" for FTP improvements.  The best analogy I have heard is that you think of your power like a house.  The ceiling of your house is your threshold, and your roof is your VO2 max.  In order to effectively raise your ceiling...you have to make sure your roof is high enough to accomodate it.  So IOW, if you neglect VO2 workouts and only focus on threshold, you'll reach a point where you simply can't (or make it very difficult) to push your ceiling higher because your roof is stuck at the same point.

Keep in mind though that FTP is just one hour maximum effort, and having the highest possible FTP is only the goal if you're doing a one hour race.  For long course racing, it may not be as important to do as much VO2 work to squeeze out a few more watts in your FTP when you consider the bike segment of the race is between 2.5 and 6 hours.

Ben and Jason, thanks for the explanations. here's a graph representing the curve with my numbers

Raise da roof!!!!!

I think last summer, while testing on my road bike, I was able to hit 318 for 20' and 368 for 5'.  Granted, the 20' test was all uphill, so I think that number was inflated a little.  The 5' test was on completely flat road but into a stiff headwind.  The tests were also done on back to back days with the 20' first, so it's possible my 5' max could have been higher on slightly fresher legs, but honestly when I started the test, my legs felt ok.

It sure looks like you've got room to increase your 5' power to make more room for threshold gains, but I'm sure Shane has you focusing more on threshold for a reason...being that Canada is your goal.

Yes, for a while we were doing lots of 5 x 5 at 340+ etc.  Haven't done those in a while - just took a peek at trainingpeaks, and in fact have not done any since early May, and none since the last test.  That explains that.

That's pretty consistent with mine.  Lots of early VO2max stuff and then as we got closer to the race, that stopped and the focus switched to more sweet spot and threshold work.

ETA, and the V02max work has returned since the race.

Desoto floatpad is awesome IMO.  I won't use the regular fleece ones anymore.  Riviera gear and the Lithfoil suit have the floatpad I think -- for men anyhow.

Family brag: my mom just did a half marathon today in 1:53.

This puts it in perspective (she's 62):

http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/age-graded-calculator

The Liftfoil does have whatever their strongest floatpad is (at the time at least). And it does work well on the bike. It's a touch wider than I would like, but wasn't necessarily bothersome. I just knew it was there. Likewise for the run. It wasn't really bothersome, but I did know it was there at times. Didn't have that with a softer fleece in another suit.

Wow, that's awesome!

Did my long run today and purposely waited till about 8:30 to start and let it warm up a bit.  All I can say is that frogg togg cooling towel I bought last week is awesome.  I strongly recommend everyone give it a shot...if not for running it hot weather but just for general use while in the sun.  Golfing, spectating, beach, hiking, etc.

70 miles today and a short jog afterward.   Very comfortable.

Had to go google it.  Do you just carry it with you and wet it? 

Very cool! That is impressive.

Chris, I cut it in half then put it under my hat so that part of it hangs over my neck.  It's amazing how the thing does not dry out.  Every 2 miles I went to a water fountain and wet both my hat and the towel and after 1 mile my hat would be dry but the towel was just as damp as it was when I wet it.  Also good because even though it stays damp, it doesn't drip...so probably won't need to dump as much water on my head and soak my shoes.

I may experiment with the other half in shoving it in my top.  You know...instead of sponge boobs like Macca.

Interesting...  thanks.   I could use that in hot climes.