Officially started SSBMVI last night, so started out with the Ramp Test and added West Vidette -1 right after.
Once more my assessed FTP came out lower than my current FTP. Only by 10 watts, but still… The last time this happened I went ahead and increased my FTP by 5% because I felt like I could handle it (and I did as I went through Base, Build, Specialty). At this point I’m considering increasing my FTP by another 5% as I work through SSB. Alternatively I could just increase the intensity on some workouts first, then go ahead and manually up my FTP if all goes well.
One thing is clear, though: I don’t assess well with the Ramp Test. I have yet to see an FTP increase except when I increase it myself. Maybe I’ll go back to the 8 minute test.
Tunnabora straight in from work was feeling little bit tired so dialled it back a bit,think it was a bit too much sort of enjoyed it. Now time for a beer
Fully recovered from chest cold and back to 100%. Knew this was going to be “fun” - dialed down to 115% and then 110%. Still not enough - turned each 3 min interval into two 1.5 min intervals, so this went from Spencer +2 6x3min to something entirely different at 12x1.5min. C’est la vie
VO2max work is hard for me, and is both a weakness and a limiter. Two years ago I worked hard on vo2max and got up to 5-7 minutes at ~108% and it felt great! Right now I have no problem doing 30-60 sec vo2max/anaerobic intervals, but the wheels start coming off above 90 sec.
The plan? Finish up SSB2 and in two weeks I’m going to do a Coach Chad VO2Max Boost block before starting Build. At a minimum I need to get to 3min at 110% before proceeding with Build.
Did Pioneer today. First week of half distance tri mid vol. FTP (virtual power) went up so much after SSB that all of this was done 2-10W more than my previous FTP…mental crusher. For some reason, these tempo workouts kill me, but I love the VO2max work.
Found it mentally easier once i got to the peak on the second over in the set. Trick was to keep my cadence above 86, as anything under that felt grindy on the Kickr!
Hopped in a Zwift race this morning and got my @$$ kicked. I stayed with the pack for one and a half laps then got dropped pretty badly and did a solo TT at just above threshold for 25 minutes. Still good fun and came in 5th. 51’ at above threshold so need to adjust FTP up to 320. With warmup and cool down 1:40 total for the ride
Then a mid day 4K swim which felt awesome compared to my stuffy, overheated lab space
Then a refreshing 6 mile run before dinner. I need food and sleep
Gave Whorl a whirl tonight. These workouts are tough mentally, they’re just so boring. I also seem to end up with more DOMS from aerobic endurance rides than over unders or VO2 workouts
I’m more of a steady state power kinda rider so I’ve been doing some over under stuff recently.
This was harder than I expected. Ended up having a lot left at the end though where I got a little excited.
Started SSBmv1 (for the 2nd time back to back) with a test of 303W. As I went through the weeks I manually adjusted up by 2 or 3W per week, until got to 313W.
Followed by a swim at lunch. Main set of 8x200 on 3:15 interval. The pool was clearly above 80 degrees again, so first few intervals I was slower than expected. I picked it during the second half of swim and improved pace time up until last one. Most were around 3:00, so about 15 s rest between sets.
Then this morning was 55 min run finishing with 6x 20s hill sprints. Poor max could only keep up with me for the first two, so this year one of the things I intend to change is drop him off for all intervals. I thought he could keep up on the uphill ones, but that was only when doing 2-4, he was gassed after 3x today. My highest HR was achieved on the first interval as opposed to the last so my running buddy will not be part of the hard work moving forward.
hunter -1 today, only had 2 lattes prior to this (homemade, use skim milk) so maybe underfueled? the live podcast is filling me with doubt lol (the notion of eating what you’ll burn for breakfast and during ride). did the workout just fine, but the nutrition talk got in my end a little lol
edit: also bagged myself an orange jersey on zwift by going on the reverse loop with only 15 people on lol
Bashful today. This took a lot of ‘rule 5’ and ‘shut up legs’. High RPE in the first set. Middle set a little better. 3rd set was hard to keep as stable as the first two. I’ve always felt my vo2 and ability to recovery were my biggest weaknesses so perhaps one day gap from the last vo2 session is not quite enough for me. On the other hand learning to suffer ftw.
