Welcome to the daily workout thread for the 2024 season.
Prior thread:
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No workout for me today since people were setting off mortars of fireworks until 3am 
2024 has been a rough start for me. Recovering from COVID and my mom is currently in the ICU.
Normally this workout would be a nothing burger for me but between all the emotions, thoughts, stress, and residual effects of COVID this took more effort.
First time I was able to do a structured workout in several weeks and it was just nice to do something with intervals and feel normal for 90 minutes.
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Fits and starts. Good weather had me commuting, coaching had me not training as much as I’d want in December… A holiday or two…excuses into New Years.
2024 - 3 trips to the office this year, and I haven’t driven yet. (+/-55 minutes and +/-40TSS per commute day). Best Garmin performance condition I saw in those 6 rides was -4, Fair.
Back to Fox to start this week (but I watched football all day instead)…
Pulled Fox to yesterday. Sweet Spot 1.4, “productive.” I’m stupid. I should have looked for a stretch yesterday, but knowing I was going to train again today I stuck with “productive”… Discretion might be be the better part of valor, but I know I could have done more.
The intervals were short and light enough that I decided to really cook off at the beginning of some of them, and the end of the last one. +5 button pressed, 2 minutes in at 107% of “FTP”… then a full 5 minute cool down. Marked easy.
Passed on the AIFTP update because it probably would have lowered my FTP even further and made the “catching up” OF my workouts TO my current fitness even slower. Interestingly, Intervals ALSO offered to update my FTP based on the 6 minutes on the final interval/add-on time, as if that were a max effort 6 minute interval rather than just a boredom killing effort. Wanted to drop almost 20 watts from the number I have it set at in TR… Pass on that, too.
Calendar adaptations accepted. Calls for Mono 2.4 Threshold “stretch” today. Discretion means I’m only moving up the “stretch” scale and I alternated in Owsley a 2.8 with basically the same profile and only three more TSS… Its calls for only 6 more TSS than the version of Fox I completed yesterday.
Edited, calling this a success:
Passed. Exceeded targets by a half zone or better in the “over” intervals. Self-added 1/2 of an interval. Would have added a whole, except I needed the cool down and to get back to parenting. 113 TSS where scheduled was 93.
Decent week. 5H 25M, 325 TSS. Stacked workouts back to back, killed them both. Wish I’d have gotten another ride in, but whatever, start the year crushing “stretches” and fall into “productives” in how many weeks? I’m guessing at least 2-3 training weeks unless I crack out a “breakthrough” or two in a couple of different zones/focuses.
Just changed my next two SS workouts to “stretches” (3.6 and 4.3 from current 2.5)… We’ll see how that works out.
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First of ‘24 in the books!
I was sick a couple weeks ago and there were some remnants last week. It felt nice to spin a bit!
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Today i did my first workout of the year, and the technology rewarded me by not letting the power down on my float sets!! It’s like having a stern eastern-european coach telling me “All VO2, no float for YOU!”
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Commuted Monday. 61 minutes, 41 TSS.
Tuesday snowstorm. Ran a mile on the TM at the work 7:06-7:16 depending on the device/calculating program. A few light sets of bench press and back squats (its been a long, long time for back squats and my hammies got really tight so I discretioned myself back to my desk.)
Tunnabora on tap: SS 3.6 , basically 5x7 sweet spot with 3 minutes recovery.
I avoided overshooting or adding much intensity… Except the last interval I rode a smidge over current estimated FTP… Got my HR up to the bottom of the territory I know as “threshold” and I’m thinking that my FTP is probably a little higher than AIFTP put it a month ago… I’ve got a 20minute assessment on the calendar in two weeks. Lets see where I am then.
Wednesday telework day, woke up with a little hamstring DOMS (I don’t run often enough to avoid that), but not enough to prevent a lunch ride. Tallac -2 (SS 4.8, TSS 73) which by the numbers looks a like the version of Tunnabora I just completed… Yep, I was stacking days. 3x15 with mid-interval micro recoveries.
Definitely a success. Tacked on 20 minutes with some in high Z2 and some in low SS/high 3. 80 minutes, 100 TSS, IF of 0.87 rather than 0.79. Marked “easy.”
Here’s what I’m actually excited about:
That’s plan adaptations moving my scheduled 5.2 Tallac -1 to Venado +1, a 7.2 SS.
I have to drive to work tomorrow so won’t commute. Will probably try to steal 75 minutes and do my “routine builder.” Maybe run/maybe row at lunch. Will likely lift.
I haven’t recovered from the shock of the adaptations coming so fast, yet, but I’m already looking at 90 minute alternates for Friday. Probably in the low breakthrough or high stretch. I’ll try to keep to the longer steady intervals and see what I come up with.
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I wouldn’t do that on my FIRST workout of the year, but I’ve been known to overshoot some intervals intentionally…
Dumb trainer here, so no “motivation from coach” comes to me in the form of malfunctions… Was it just that one interval?
It happened for a few intervals, but that was the worst.
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Finally got back to indoor training with Mount Deborah -1 today. It started OK enough but in staying relatively comfortable to target I let my self naturally stand up and dance on the pedals in the last two intervals. You can perhaps see that in the cadence.
Some one moved in over Christmas to the upstairs Maisonette so in the interests of being a good neighbour I did the workout in the small ring. I’m quite happy with the noise (or lack of) results. I maybe should have did it with the front door open to control the temperature. I think when I decided it was too hot I mentally resorted to the relatively comfortable standing up 
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Amazing how much difference it makes to the heart rate comparing 30s intervals (ok) vs the erg stuffing up and holding the last one for 60s (through the roof)… 
Coach INCONSISTENT ERG strikes again… at least I’ll be ready for an unpredictable attack 
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I finally got to answer the question “what happens if I try to workout with both toddlers roaming?”
Surprisingly, I managed to finish my workout with little interruption… and little water because my older one loves water bottles.
A little close for comfort, but I was vigilant about their whereabouts 
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Didn’t feel like riding in the rain, went to the gym and always love seeing new bests for the last 16 days:
Humorous seeing ftp extrapolation from 4x30-sec at “hard” but nowhere near max efforts. Any extrapolation from 30-sec efforts defies belief. Whatever.
Massive fan for the win. Fair amount of tempo after the 30-sec glycolytic work, nary a drop of sweat.
One other person doing some spinning before the class that started 15 minutes after I finished.
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My last workout was on Boxing Day and then the lurgy took hold which has seemingly taken a lot of time to recover from.
Clearly my mind is writing cheques my body can’t currently cash with my first workout of the year, despite a 1.5% drop in my FTP. AI has adjusted this weeks workouts.
So the first learn of 2024, is don’t rush back from illness because of an irrational fear of leaking fitness. While this is true there is nothing you can do other than consume quality calories and rest. The bigger picture is the overall gains and like for like comparison from this time last year.
Recovery ride this evening which I might bin as it’s a easyish threshold tomorrow. Oh the weather is currently not conducive to commuting which is the real secret sauce…
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That must be a solid hour at your FTP and a good validation of it 
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For whatever reason this was just absolutely brutal, like ramp test-level deep effort by the last interval. Look at my hilarious cadence line for the latter half of the last effort! I was all over the bike.
Definitely closest I’ve come to failing a workout in quite a while, and I’m normally pretty good at longer VO2 intervals. I blame a combination of cumulative fatigue, getting over a cold and limited recent VO2 work. Plus those rests are REALLY short! Wuff, hope I bounce back in time for Denali +1 next week 
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Did you just fall off your bike at the end of that last threshold interval?
I would have.
No, but for a few minutes I had minor balance issues and a bit of mental confusion.
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That cadence was $h!t tonight. On hindsight I was too full of gas for anything productive tonight and it showed with the cadence.
PS I didn’t die and come back to life in the first block, something must have interfered with the HRM or it wasn’t 100% lubricated with sweat until that point. Well not till the end of the last block according to W1
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