Tour of Cambridgeshire

[Crosshair]

Okay, so I have zero chance of hitting my 4.0 by 40 goal in the other thread

So, I figured I'd start a new one for my new plan. The goal event this time is ToC. It's flat and fast and should suit me better than anything involving not eating

Out came the old Friel plan and I'm hoping to finish the 100miles as close to 25mph as possible. Depending on the weather of course, it is probably my only chance of doing a real life 4h century.

So where are we starting from? Well, I just did a ramp test and admittedly it was off the back of a bad day of eating yesterday and I drank a whole bottle of Baileys as my one drink of the year.
But I was a little gutted for it to only show 306w. If my life depended on it, I could have probably hit the 420 minute I reckon which would have been 319w so it just shows how subtle the difference is. But still- 306 is a good place to start.

It's easy to look at that number and think it means my last year has been unsuccessful but there's one really interesting difference- I'm fairly sure I could do 3x Zwift races in a row at 306w NP and still feel fresh afterwards. That's bonkers vrs old me.

So what's the plan then? Well, lots of riding! Hopefully double figure hours most weeks. Lots of Z2. Some speed skills (high cadence work and form sprints) and some force work.
I probably should lift weights now I'm an old duffer but I really cannot get excited about that. Obviously even standing starts are a rubbish proxy for weight training but it'll be better than nothing.

Then, I'm going to pursue my '300w for 120m' goal. This will be when I switch to muscular endurance in a couple of weeks.
I've designed a progression where I go 250w one week, then 260,270 then a recovery week, then 270,280,290, then a recovery week, then 280,290,300.
The idea will be to accumulate 120minutes in one ride at that goal wattage. FasCat coaching gave me the idea with their 'freestyle sweetspot' rides.
Obviously it may take a 3hr ride to get the desired time added up but hopefully by the end, I can actually genuinely sit at 300 for 120mins straight.
When you then add in coasting, drafting and downhills, this makes a 4hr century seem not that unrealistic.

In the meantime, I've entered Dirty River again. But I'm not going to taper for it or give it much attention. My ToC base training will hopefully see me 'reet. I'm probably going to do that on the MTB this year so will need to do some endurance rides on the Scott each week/fortnight.

Then, as we approach June (the event is in June), it will be chaingang season which will hopefully put the icing on the cake for me with some vo2 work and drafting skills.

I may do a few Crits too but they will be as training- I won't adjust my plan at all for them, just swap them for a workout.

[Crosshair]

First session today. Crappy day at work but managed to avoid slumping in the chair with biscuits

The goal was to give myself a baseline “efficiency factor” which is basically a complicated version of how many watts per heart beat you make.
The idea being, as you train your base- you should see that number rise. After all, your available heart speed is a pretty fixed entity so you want each beat to yield more power.

So the session was 10mins warmup/cool down with 100mins in between spent riding at a constant heart rate. I cheated a bit, and used erg mode because I already roughly knew what power would put me at what HR. Sure enough, 220w put me at 140bpm.

The result was 1.54 which is pretty meaningless on its own. As time goes on though, I can repeat the session and hopefully see that number increase.

Interestingly, a Z2 ride from this time last year was just 1.32- showing how much more efficient I am.

Tomorrow is an easy ish hour with some speed drills (high cadence and maybe some form-sprints) thrown in.

[weeksy]

I sort of enjoy your thoughts and sort of sit here thinking "what?"

It's mostly a mystery to me how your brain works, but it's entertainment fore sure.

[Crosshair]

Just imagine I’m thinking what you’re thinking when you start mentioning shock whiz’s and suspension settings

[weeksy]

Just imagine I’m thinking what you’re thinking when you start mentioning shock whiz’s and suspension settings

Indeedy. Funnily enough, we had the Shockwiz on the DH bike today by your house

[Crosshair]

Power data is like a shockwiz for your legs

[Crosshair]

First week completed and it was okay…. Considering the week of the year it was, I guess that’s a win.
I managed 6 sessions on the bike as planned.
Yesterday was my favourite. 120mins straight at 235w. My HR stabilised nicely in Z2 and I kept the power going right to the end with basically zero decoupling.

I intended to get ahead on hours so there was not too much pressure on todays ride but as it was, I still needed 3h.

We have a tradition of going to the beach with all our dogs on NYD so that took up the morning and then Rich offered to go and ride outside just as we got back.
So I did- when all I wanted to do was nap on the sofa
And that effectively messed things up. It started raining at dark so I ended up doing just 1h50 and with the crappy roads- it was only 150w average.
A true junk miles ride

Lovely recovery day tomorrow and then I’m going to attempt to add a little to each ride across the week to get up around 12hrs.

[weeksy]

We'll be in your woods at 11 tomorrow if Freddie wants to watch some daftness

[Crosshair]

Thanks, but he’s got a riding lesson tomorrow

I’ll come up if I’m not stuck in the mud at work

[Crosshair]

That’s week two done
6 rides completed. First up was a repeat of the 2h at 235w session. But this week I topped it off with some high force work. Letting my turbo flywheel come to a complete stop in top gear and then doing a seated start until I’m on top of the gear.
They don’t feel like much but they do sting in the next couple of days!

Wednesday was spin-ups again. A few 1 min efforts at over 100rpm. I guess this is really just training the mind-muscle connection rather than doing anything physiological. Otherwise it was just a 90min easy spin.
I was pleased with the ride though as I wasn’t overly motivated!

Thursday was outdoor z2. I started strong but the saddle height had slipped low on the gravel bike and I didn’t have an Allen key so I just made sure I got round.

Friday was an hour easy. They almost seem pointless these rides but actually, I find they make me feel better that day but also improve the next day’s workout.

Saturday was a busy day out in the rain working the dogs and I was nearly asleep on the sofa when I decided to get on the bike at 8pm and see what happens. I wanted to test something on ERG mode so started a random Zwift workout and then that was it- I was locked in to completing it
It was a fairly hard warmup followed by 40/20’s at 330w but I ended up doing them at more like 370. Another example of how riding easy leaves you able to go harder when you need to!

Then yesterday, I wanted to go and look at something over near Streatley so I tried to find a gap in the rain and plodded over on the mtb. The way back took me up Streatley Gravel Hill as we called it back in the day- the scene of a thrashing by Weeksy in fact and I went hard but not all out hard. Power was 346 for 7m36 but I’m still 1.5 stone heavier than 2017 so I didn’t trouble my pb of 5.38. Then I got soaked But it was still a productive endurance ride to pad out the week.

I ended up on 11h07 / 12h planned. Xmas weight is stubbornly remaining in place

[weeksy]

Nice work mate... good efforts !!!

[Crosshair]

Week three and “base 1” done.

Five rides this week. Bailed on yesterday because work was stressful (inc 15k steps off road) and I just could not be arsed.

Today, I’d scheduled myself a century! No other instructions, just make it say 100 miles.

I had to work first thing and got my buggy stuck up to the axles in mud. So a long walk back to the farm for the tractor followed and then back again. So motivation was low.

I was determined to go out though so Rich and I hooked up at 12:30 to do a 50 mile loop. I left a little early so I could do extra miles and also rode the long way home.
Rich was a bad influence though and we had shortened the main ride a touch. So when I arrived back after 3h, the mileage was 56!

I then had to do the dogs and wash my bike so I also ate a lot of food! Double cheese sarnies and a lasagne with extra cheese (well it is a fat burning ride after all ).

Amazingly, I got on the turbo bike! But my legs were like lead and I was yawning during the 5 mile warm up.

I’d picked a nice fast group ride with lots of riders and managed to hang on for the 40 miles I needed.

I’m glad I made the effort- it’s recovery week now, so I should absorb all the training stress nicely.

The endurance training definitely works though- whilst I don’t feel fresh, I’ve certainly felt worse after a century

[weeksy]

Your dedication is to be admired. Where did you go?

[Crosshair]

Hampstead Norreys, met rich back at Hermitage then did one of the chaingang loops out to Baydon.

[Crosshair]

Recovery week went okay. We went out with Banjo for a group ride on Saturday. Conditions weren’t too bad really.

I was meant to do an FTP test but I don’t actually want to! I don’t think it ‘means’ anything right now so couldn’t be bothered to waste the mental energy on it.
Whilst out with Banjo, I did do a couple of efforts at 375w for 2 mins sort of territory. I won’t say the legs felt good but it wasn’t too bad.

Today is the start of Base 2 and I couldn’t face the Turbo so I went out on the gravel bike and tried my new home made tyre inserts! I had a bit too much air in but they rode fine. And you can ride them totally flat if needed!!

I drove the car a little way to avoid the ice on our lane and then did 2h20mins at 19mph which took about 243 watts.

It was quite interesting- I wanted to ride at 250w flat for 2h. So I set “Time in zone” on my Garmin to measure when I was between 250 and 260w. After ten minutes of trying, I’d managed 34 seconds
Definitely going to be easier indoors those ones

[Timmy]

How can you work 'in zone' if yo don't know what your FTP is and therefore what your zones are? Couple that with double cheese sarnies and a lasagne with extra cheese as your nutritional strategy and you have a very 'unique' way of training

[Crosshair]

Interesting question!

Because the important thing about Z2 in the latest Dr Inigo San Milan lead Z2 revolution is staying beneath 2mmol of lactate.

Which could be 65-80% of “FTP”

It’s made me question everything I thought I know about Coggan based zones.

Obviously I’m in Base at the moment- so the important thing is sticking to that sub 2mmol pace during my Z2 work.

Of course I don’t have lactate data so I use the talk test and that sets my zone for me



DrISM is actually pretty scathing of “FTP” in his latest GCN video. As he says, it’s not really a physiological metric because the time period attached to it is so vague. And the methodologies for approximating it are even worse.



Triathlon Dan on YouTube for example, did a Zwift ramp test and got given 360w as his “ftp”. When he lab tested, 4mmol lactate (generally considered to be the upper lactate turn point) was just at 306w!!!!



I’m struggling to think of a situation where FTP in fact will be useful ever again to be honest
Whatever duration an interval is- FastCat suggest doing them maximally for the first, then target that for the second, then the second achieved power becomes the target for your third and so on.

So let’s say I ‘wanted’ to do the classic 2x20 at FTP. Provided I paced myself for the whole effort, the first one would “tell” me my 20 min steady state power anyway. Certainly with more accuracy than a dodgy test

[Timmy]

More than one way to skin a cat I suppose, I've only just learned the 'old' way! I like the FTP way as I only really ride to power, where ever I am. I suppose you could train to RPE and it would still be effective although more sensitive to how you feel. With power it's just hit the numbers or don't.

Whatever way you train, consistency is definitely key.

[Crosshair]

It’s kind of the same way I think @Timmy just pinning things to a different threshold.

Today was back to my Tempo progressions. 1x120@ 260 being the target.

I took the race bike out for a play as I’ve only ridden it once since I fitted the 12 speed di2.

Twenty minutes warming up at 180w and then into the work.
I felt incredible! HR was just one bpm into tempo (158) and power for the next two hours was 263w average.

With the evil wind that was only good for about 20.2mph for the 40 miles of work or 19.6 for the entire 46 mile ride.

The contrast to that was Sunday. Rich had to get back to do footy with the kids so we went at 07:30. It soon became clear I had nothing. I just felt awful. Flat, lifeless and couldn’t do over about 180w. He kept dropping me and riding off as he was targeting about 210 and then slightly higher during his 4x 8min tempo bursts.
I kept plodding on and made it back in 3h15 for just 50 odd miles.
But I knew it wasn’t ‘real’- I wasn’t ill, just felt totally empty.
Yesterday was recovery day but I basically spent the second of half of Sunday and most of yesterday eating as I think I’d just gradually depleted myself over the past couple of weeks.

Anyway- onwards and hopefully it won’t happen again this Sunday

[Crosshair]

Bloody hell these weeks go by quickly

Wednesday was a day off after that big tempo ride.

Thursday I took the gravel bike to Salisbury plain. The wind was bonkers strong. And the tracks were filthy from a big exercise going on.
Anyway, I trudged around for a couple of hours and then literally flew back downwind like a mad thing I think I did 12minutes at about 24mph to finish off

Friday was a recovery spin.

Saturday I went and beat up on the 15mph Banjo shop ride. But then we got lost so had a fun chase to find them again. We even had amazing tiffin and mocha at Marlborough (I usually hate stopping).

Sunday was the 8am ride. We knocked it back to the 38mile version although two guys did peel off and do the big one. 6 of us started together so it was a nice fun group with loads of chatting.

Both days I got a few compliments on my fitness which was nice.

Monday was off.

And then today was back to tempo! 271w for the 2hrs of work. Hillier route so 20.2mph for that bit and 19.5mph overall again
I’m getting quite addicted to the sheer effort of those rides. The concentration to keep the power going is really intense! I had music on but barely listened to it.
When you first take up the strain, you can’t imagine how you’re going to do it for 5mins let alone 120.

Another Z2 ride, a recovery spin, a century and the Sunday group ride are on the menu for the remainder of the week. And then I’ll have earned my recovery week