SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 99)

This used to be my problem for the longest time.  I learned two things about my trainer tire:

1)  One side is hardrer to get on than the other.  I try to get that side on first before installing the tube.

2)  If I forget the above, then when I have the final part of the tire left to install and I know my thumbs are about to turn into raw meat, I reach for the tire lever, reverse it, and lift the tire onto the rim.  It took me years to figure this out, and one day a light bulb finally went on and my thumbs and sanity have thanked me ever since.

Safe travels and have an awesome week!

Fred, I can't imagine doing a full hour test, at least not indoors.  Outside I could probably give it a much better go.  I think Jason's suggestion of doing a few rides with the PT first is a good idea though to give you a better ballpark estimate of what to shoot for.

I hope so.  I still can't imagine.  I wouldn't do it, even on an empty road.

Velodrome, maybe

All good points Fred.  My thoughts:

1. pacing purely off a short test is downright foolish.  Using short tests to setup your training and provide target power ranges for long rides and then pacing a race based on those long rides is a valid strategy.

2. I agree with this.  I just don't want to do it - lol

3. Agreed, that and pushing me to hit power targets for intervals on the trainer

4. Also agreed and something I'd like to learn more about

5. Isn't that just using your ride history and picking out a 20' and 5' peak power and estimating from that?  I don't know if it's actually 20 and 5 but something along those lines.  I agree it's more real world - assuming you actually put in some good hard efforts during training.  

A little over 1km swim out from the pier in some of the most beautiful water I've ever swam in.  Much more reef and fish hanging around than in Hapuna Bay for Honu.  My GF and I went just after sunrise to beat the crowd (and it got really crowded at the pier when we got out) but we just missed the Coffee's of Hawaii boat coming out.  Oh well...tomorrow.

The vibe here is unreal.

Fully agree Fred.  I love power.  I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to put in the time and learn how to use it.  But as great as it is, I do think it gets overplayed as some magic pill that will lead to better bike fitness and people spend loads of money to put it on their bike and then either never take advantage of it, or use other people's power profile to guide their race goals and end up pacing poorly.

1.  Fully agree.  20' tests, unless you're training for a 30' or less race, is just a test of fitness.  It's a good gauge to see if you're improving or not, but it is not an accurate way to devise a pacing plan for long course.  It is a good start to giving you a ballpark for what you should shoot for in training, and that should guide your race pace.

2.  I actually wouldn't choose to do a 1 hour test simply because of the recovery costs and the taper required to do it properly.  If the goal is to see what type of power you can hold on "not fresh" legs, then that makes sense.  Such as if you were going to do a stage race.

3.  Power while climbing is huge in a non draft legal race.

4.  Yes, but I'm this is also something I need to educate myself more on.  Or simply dump my data on Marc and let him figure it out. 

5.  I don't do enough riding without stops or areas where I have to coast/brake to get an accurate power curve.  For the short stuff under 5 minutes yes, but it's hard for me to ride more than 20 minutes all out.

Agreed on the vibe.

Do you feel like you should lose 20-30 lbs and buy a superbike yet?   

I'll comment on the Fredisms as a relative newbie to power.  As a caveat, I will say that I have ridden with the same small group for several years.  I am the only one with power, but that also coincided with weight loss.  I now crush people that used to crush me.  Obviously a combo of several factors, but power has really intensified and focused my midweek riding, which could best be previously described as unfocused.

1.  Common sense might make one conclude that you can't relate 20'/5' tests to IM racing (or HIM?)    But this is what they describe for running, no?  i.e., 20' run test to set zones.  Is it different than that (not a challenge, honest question)?  

I really have only the IM Canada data point to compare to and don't know what that tells me.  I went about my planned time but about 20-30 watts below planned NP.  Honestly, I don't know what that says about the question.  the tested FTP wasn't accurate?  Too conservative?   Execution skew all these numbers?   Who knows....   I do feel that my tested FTP played out well on most of my long training rides frm a %age perspective.....

2.  Call me lazy, bt I am perfectly happy with an approximation from which to extrapolate (even the hour is an approximation, just less so).     I know a lot of empty roads even here in so cal, and given how I feel inside on a trainer don't think I would be safe doing an hour all out, outside of a race situation with controlled intersections, etc.   I am just not visually aware when working that hard.

ETA - there is a 20 and 40k time trial series here relatively local. That might be a possibility......

3.  Absoutely agree, and from riding with all of my friends that don't ride power, climbing more intelligently.

4.  Not enough experience to really know as I've not had te aero toys and power out together enough, but makes sense.

5.  Above my intellectual pay grade

LOL, I never felt so self conscious in my life.  At Honu, I know there's like 150-200 really fit athletes there that put me to shame.  Here, it's more like 1500...lol.  It was amazing swimming in such clear water where you can see others from pretty far away just zooming by you.

Going out to pick up my Rudy Project helmet/sunglasses, then heading out to the expo again as we didn't have much time to browse last night.  Plus it was dark so getting pictures of all the superbikes was tough.  The Canyon one just looks plain sick.

Slowtwitch gathering tonight. 

What kind of workouts do you guys do to improve your VO2max?

I recently did 5 minute and 20 minute power tests (5min on Thursday, 20min on Saturday) and came out with 206W and 193W, respectively.  I'm pretty sure that means my VO2max is pretty weak in comparison to my FTP....and also means that it needs to be improved before making much/any real gains in the FTP department.

Also, in relation to the conversation above, I wouldn't blindly use FTP to pace a longer race, but am looking to improve it for overall fitness.

Usually 3-5 min intervals with about equal rest. Getting in a total of 15-25' or so of hard work. Sometimes a little shorter for interval length (where the equal on/off becomes more important), but not that often. I try for 110% or a bit over, but 105-120% should work it. You might also not be used to working up that high. I couldn't do it very well right now and would need a couple sessions to work up to that.

Sounds about right.  Typically my progression with Shane has been starting at 3' with 2-3' rest and working towards 5' with 2' rest.  I often can't pull off the 5' ones and blow up.  It's the workout I dread the most.

Ha.  I recently had a "threshold" workout (haven't been doing much V02 since well before IMC) and in my report I commented "that felt suspiciously like a V02 max set...."