Howdy FasCat Coaching Team,
If someone has a chance, can you take a look at TP to examine my data from Tuesday-Thursday this week? While I managed to finish the SS/Burst workout this AM, the bursts on the last couple of SS intervals were really freaking hard. Just want to make sure that things are looking like they should.
TIA,
S
Well you are doing everything right and hitting your targets! Though on erg mode, which I’m not a fan of, you have to hit those marks. Which can be good and bad.
What I found interesting was how much higher your heart rate was on Wednesdays effort compare to Tuesdays ride. Some fatigue there from Tuesday most likely. Similar power averages for efforts on each day but heart rate as 5 - 8 bpm on average higher. This is expected though as you are training hard at the moment and TSB is dropping.
So the over under today is suppose to be hard! Each effort overall averaged well over your FTP! So you are doing 5 minute efforts on average over your FTP. At least 30 watts higher then the previous days effort. Also you were hitting your 30 second full gas efforts at the end of each effort over 170% of your FTP! That is really good. You are going into these 30 second efforts with 4.5 minutes of work. Hitting 30 second full gas efforts after rest is tough enough. But this is very race specific by doing them while fatigued. You did excellent hitting the mark each time. Here is where erg mode can be a bad thing in that if you can go harder you should try. Though sounds like you were full gas.
The other thing with a workout like on Wednesday don’t feel pressure to ride at the very upper end of the zone. I see on the second interval you broke it up to riding at 87 and 90% of FTP for your tempo effort. Knock that back slightly. If you don’t go right to the top it saves you for the next day when you need to do full gas efforts like with the over parts of todays workout. Just a suggestion. Still going to get a lot out of riding tempo effort at 85% but just saving yourself a bit for maximizing your full gas efforts.
Thanks for the reminder on Wednesday’s workout. I did intentionally take it to the upper-end…but now I see that this was not a very strategic training decision.
Frankly, I am just relieved to hear that the SS/Burst workout was supposed to be hard…it surely felt that way…and I know that I have done very little upper-end stuff the last few months.
Appreciate the feedback you provided.
S
Yeah your norm power average was 108% of your FTP. Overall that is not far off from 5 minute vo2 max effort. Just a different way of getting it with power up and down. But like I said those last 30 seconds are full gas and you should be feeling blown by that point. It’s like going for a race win or attacking over the top of a climb. You did them right since you felt that way!
Not sure if you have time, but any feedback you are able to provide going into the regeneration week (based on TP data) is appreciated. SS/Bursts felt better this week…but maybe that’s just because I knew what to expect. PS: Joined the Whoop team, too. Very cool.
You had a great week! That is a challenging week for sure. Just doing efforts for the three days in a row. You hit your marks on each workout and seems you were able to keep the power on with erg mode. Though again I would just recommend doing burst workouts without, but if that is how you are comfortable that is how you are comfortable.
On Thursdays sweet spot over under workout your heart rate average between sets stayed consistent which was really good. You settled into a good effort. All of them your norm power was over 108% of your FTP! Each set you were able to really hit it hard the last 30 seconds which is really key. Super hard efforts again.
Looks like you had a challenging weekend. On Saturday you had a hard ride! First 30 minutes your norm power was 200 watts! Right at your FTP! That is a hard effort. Lots of time in zone 3, 4 and 5. But that is a good way to get that freestyle group ride like intensity.
Best thing of the week was Sunday. You were tired and could have easily bagged the ride. But you stuck with it. Last ride before a regeneration week. You got your endurance ride in. Sometimes you just have to get out there and start riding. Seems you needed a bit more than that, but again its good you kept going.
Your CTL went from a 60 last week to a 65 this week, so a nice 5 point increase. That is what we want to see as you are heavy in this sweet spot base building period. Now you want to focus on raising your TSB. Right now you are at a -27. Let your body recover and bring this number up. Did you move a workout to Sunday? That should be just off. Don’t do the sweet spot over under workout. Having that off will allow your TSB to get closer to 0 and on the positive side which you would like to see. Train hard, but recover harder! This is when you get fast. Sleeping and eating are just as important right now.
After what I thought was a great regeneration week, the “Diabolical” workout absolutely kicked my butt this morning. Is that normal? Definitely the hardest intervals I’ve done in the SS series. I was so beat down in the second set that I thought there was no chance I’d be racing any crits when the season starts again. Ugh.
It is not called diabolical for nothing! 
Think of it this way you did 4 x 1 minute full gas efforts and between these efforts instead of zone 1 recovery you held threshold. It is a hard workout! This would have been something not possible in the first week of sweet spot training but now that you are several weeks in you can complete it. Its never going to be easy you are just getting better and doing more demanding workouts. Now focus on recovery and get ready for tomorrow! You’ll be good!
Bueno. Thank you for the encouragement and perspective.
Alrighty, Coach Jake. I am exhausted after last week. Not sure if it is the volume, intensity, or just all the other crap going on in life, but I couldn’t really complete the weekend workouts as described. I tried to make sure I was fueled and hydrated, but on both days I was just empty after 2 hr (making for a slog of a 4 hr ride on Saturday). I’d appreciate any feedback you are willing to share.
I’ll try the 20 min field test tomorrow, but I am concerned that I will still be recovering from accumulated fatigue (perhaps some of the Whoop data would be informative…I am part of the FasCat team in Whoop and share data with TP). And now that my June events are cancelled, I will probably be looking at late August (for anything other than a low-priority race). Considering the Gateway Cup or maybe a gravel event over Labor Day weekend. Gunni (gravel) Grinder the second weekend in September is on my main goal at this point.
So, what’s next? Lots of time…go back to SS or move forward with a more crit focused plan as originally discussed? Need to figure out what plan I should purchase next.
Thanks for your feedback. Cheers!
Hey Stephen,
I will look at things and get back to you! But first thing don’t do the field test tomorrow. Why don’t we do just do a regeneration week this week before starting a new plan next week! So we can go into the new plan fresh.
Do you feel you need a field test? I can also look at your power to see if we should do one. You might not need to do one and if you do lets save it for the weekend when you are fresher. We will basically just repeat the regeneration week you had 3 weeks ago. I will update TrainingPeaks with those workouts for you. I can also plug in the field test for the weekend.
Oh and you should be tired! It’s ok. Looks like you had some decent workouts and TSS numbers. Your CTL was at its highest all year on completion of the 18 week plan which is exactly what you want! So you built your fitness up really well.
With no racing to August at best we can do a few options. But most likely it will be still aerobic building and maintenance. We don’t want you to burn out before you get to racing so backing it down a bit is ok. So even like doing sweet spot 2 for the next 4 weeks after this rest week. Then we can look to do maybe a gravel plan if you will be doing some gravel races. Ideally would hit the interval plans maybe come mid June / early July. That would lead you into racing in August.
But also remember anything you do this year will also help you for next year!
But right now again lets focus on rest after you worked really hard the last two weeks. Went from a 65 CTL to a 75. So that was outstanding!
Thanks for the info. Can you remind me (again) for what sort of CTL us masters-type riders should aim? Totally good with going back to intermediate SS2. And honestly, while I am feeling better (stronger?), I don’t think I need to do another FTP test…I sort of think we are close. Sadly, 205 is about where I am at (leaving me at 3.2 W/kg). Whatever. I am where I am. Feel good that I’ve been FtFTP. Hardest thing is to remember that it is unlikely I will generate the watts that I did when I was 31-32 years old. Please let me know if I should purchase the SS2. I’d be okay going back to SS3 as well. Just let me know when you have some time. No rush. I am digging the regeneration week.
Ideally we hit this peak CTL closer to when you are racing. Its’ hard to hold and maintain peak CTL if not impossible. You won’t benefit from trying to hold that peak CTL. So ideally you can give you enough work to maintain just below a peak CTL. Then you can have an overload session for 2 weeks when you get closer to racing. This would mean big weekend rides like in our gravel plans. Then you would start your interval training plan. We should plan on you starting your interval plan come mid July at the latest. That way it takes you thru August up to possibly Gateway. Even if for whatever there is racing or not you should do a heavy block of interval (intensity) training.
So about 10 - 11 weeks till we would start the interval training based on your schedule. So we can do 6 weeks sweet spot 2, 6 weeks gravel plan, onto a 6 week racing interval plan. We can adjust those plans to fit into this window as well. I can also adjust the sweet spot 2 plan if we need a touch more work to maintain CTL and make sure it don’t drop too much.
Had a chance to re-listen to the podcast this AM. Would it be useful to shoot for an peak CTL of 85? Up for that…especially if it comes during the summer months (when higher education is a little less nutty). Your plan sounds good to me. Thanks for the feedback.
We can do that. We can put in planned TSS and line it up. Once we put the plans in we can adjust the workload to increase CTL as needed.
Just added Intermediate SS2 to TP to start on 5/5/2020. When you get a chance, can you please change the Tuesday effort on 5/6/2020 to something other than a field test (since I am scheduled to complete a field test this weekend)? Hours/duration and CTL from SS3 seemed doable, so please feel free to adjust accordingly if appropriate. Thanks again, Coach Jake!
Hey FasCat Coaches! Hope y’all had a good weekend. I was hoping for a strong test result on Saturday, but the results were underwhelming to say the least. The bad news is that after 13 weeks, I am not sure that I have observed a demonstrable increase in FTP (I know, it is only one measure, but it is hard to ignore provided the emphasis that is placed on it). Intellectually I am okay with the lack of improvement, but am concerned that I might be missing something. I did go ahead an repeat a previous ramp test just to compare (understanding that there are caveats to be considered when using the ramp test).
After our brief conversation in March, I left my FTP at 205 (I was coming off a nasty non-COVID-related virus). I did all of SS3 based on that FTP (205 W), and the workouts seemed okay (okay, the diabolical did not…it was tough). I looked back at the last three months of data and my highest 20 min wattage was 205. If we subtract the requisite 5% from that, we end up with an FTP of 195 W. My ramp test estimated an FTP of 197 W.
So, here’s the question for you: Do we readjust down from 205 W and go with the “test” results? Does that 10 W difference make a meaningful difference in training zones? And aside from better sleep, less stress, more yoga, and more winning in the kitchen, any other suggestions? It’s just a little disappointing to see no major improvement after 13 weeks.
S
PS: Can you please adjust the plan for tomorrow (5/5) to include something other than another FTP test?
Hi Stephen,
First of a ll I adjusted tomorrow and Wednesday for you in the next training phase. So you are set and ready to go!
Secondly I am really happy that you can sit back and reflect intellectually with your field test. Its not the only measurement of improvement and one 20 minute effort is not a direct reflection of your fitness.
So just look back two weeks ago when you did the 2 x 10 minute diabolical workout. Your peak 20 minute power was 202 watts which was more than you could hold this past weekend. And that includes a 5 minute rest period! Your peak 10 minute power was 223 watts! You were fading after 5 minutes of 216 watts. So more or less you were just not having your best day. This can happen throughout training. Its why over testing is a bad thing.
I would put your FTP at 195 watts based on that previous best 20 minute effort. Would it change the zones dramatically, no. But it would make things more accurate for you moving forward.
So the next block is basically sweet spot 2 which is basically sitting right below your FTP for long durations. This is a really good way to help your FTP. But sitting below it allows you to recover. After this block we might want to try some intensity to help your top end and ability to ride over your FTP. Having higher anaerobic power can help put out a better 20 minute test but at the same time that doesn’t necessarily mean a higher FTP. But it can give your FTP a slight boost for sure. Like I said before maybe we can do road racing intervals which would give you some threshold and Vo2 max before we do the criterium intervals.
