Winter Cycling Plan Official Thread (Page 9)

owl girl - optimal cadence is self-selected and a funtrion of power, gearing, torque, terrain, etc. That is for a given terrain, a given power and the gearing on your bike you'll find the best cadence to suit your needs. On the trainer you don't have to deal with terrain but still choose whatever gearing (torque + cadence) that allows you to do your sets.

Artemis - does zones look about right. remember training with HRM when doing short intense intervals can be challenging hence also make sure to use RPE.

cymanski - HRM is an invidual number, what's your LTHR it is only relevant for you, higher or lower numbers are usual because we all are different but having a higher # doesn't mean much.

rreischl - mmm around 6-7 months out of the race, that way you can have 12 weeks of general training (cycling plan) and 12+ weeks of specific training (long steady sessions)

StMaas - use 152 bpm to determine your zones

trotpn - consider using a roller foam or trigger point therapy to massage your ITB as well as doing hamstrigs stretch with an elastic band. This + a good bike fit and adequate run load has helped me get rid of ITB issues...

PennState - definitely doing a 60 min test should be the standard to determine your true 60MP (or FTP). That said as you get more experienced training with power and using the CP model or other way to estimate your FTP you'll know aprox what could you do during a 60 min test without doing one. Still, once the weather changes up here (around March/April) I do try to get outside and do a 40kTT to get my 60MP and then try to do so again at least 1 month before a big race to know exactly what my 60MP is.

tnickerson - my suggestion? stop worrying about cadence too much. Focus on what effort you should sustain for the session and just do it. As I said before, if the interval is short and hard your HRM wont catch up on time (lags behind) so you have to gauge your effort by RPE. once we start doing longer sets your HRM will have more time to catch up with the effort your working muscles are producing and it will serve you better to gauge your effort. But ultimately the cadence you use to achieve that it is what it is.

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FOR EVERYONE USING HRM - If you did your 30 min test and you struggled through the test but got your aprox LTHR use that number. It is possible other factors affected how hard you could have pushed during the test but for know it will be 'good enough' and it will be a better way to set guide your training based on your current fitness level. Next round of testing you'll have another chance to figire out if you indeed can push a bit harder.

FOR EVERYONE USING POWER - same as with those training with HRM, if you are new to dosing this kind of tests it is normal to struggle nailing the test as it takes a bt of experience to pace yourself and know how hard you can push all out for 20/5 min. Still, whatever results you got, use those to estimate your critical power for 60 min (aka 60MP) and adjust in coming weeks. If the intervals feel right then you are close your 60MP, if it feels to easy then go try a bit higher and probably means your 60MP is indeed a bit higher.

Micawber - after I donate whole blood, I'm usually not the same for a solid 3 or 4 days.

I just did Week 2, Q2 ... and all I can say is Get Ready for the PAIN!  I actually started too hard in the WU and the first Interval cause my legs felt really good.  I am not used to doing intervals at all.  I'm used to riding at high tempo and just maintaing for however long, so this is new to me. 

Depsite having my trainer next to a wide open window, with 49 degree air blowing in my face, I could've used a second bath towel cause my first was so drenched it became useless

Question,  I am doing a half mary tomorrow.  I plan on Q3 Sunday(week 1).  I hardly think my body will be wanting to do the LT on Monday.  Would moving the LT (week2 Q1) to a different day be a problem with this plan?  I don't know how much each session builds for the next one.

Thanks.  That means rearranging things but it's doable.  Just not sure I'll be recovered from the half enough to put out a decent  LT test, but it's only the first assessment of bike fitness and I'm not that fast on the bike yet.