I have been thinking of ways to create a virtual racing group for riders with powermeters to be able to 'compete' on a level playing field. Full details of the set-up HERE.
If you're interested and don't have a Bike Radar account, drop me a line via this blog and I'll get you involved.
See you on the 'start line'
Showing posts with label powertap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label powertap. Show all posts
Sunday 9 December 2012
Monday 26 November 2012
Sufferfest: Local Hero
After a day off the turbo yesterday and having a day off work today I was hoping for a couple of hours out on the roads to do some road sessions. Unfortunately the 2 days of continual rain has flooded all the local roads so I was doomed to another turbo session. I've had the Sufferfest Local Hero workout on Golden Cheetah for a while but I have never liked the idea of a 90 minute turbo session; today I thought I'd finally give it a go. Without the video I though it could get a bit monotonous so I ran old race videos at the same time to keep me entertained (more on that in a later post).
Here's the plot for today (complete with HR monitor faff at the start). Black line = power. Red line = HR.
Ignoring the warm-up and cooldown the session lasted 75 minutes with an average power of 263W (xPower 274) based on an FTP of 307W. At the end of the session I felt like I had some more left in my legs so I threw in a couple of extra intervals taking the whole session up to 90 minutes with a total Bikescore (TSS) of 115. Looking at the trace you can see that the intervals just touch the top of power Zone 4 (light blue, 30 mins) and just into Zone 5 (green, 10.5 mins). My HR also looks like it was under control reaching maximum of 168 so I was never bouncing off my Lactate Threshold and thinking about stopping or even that I was suffering too much.
So overall a good session and I felt a lot better than I expected to. Doing this workout again will probably let me know if the workout needs to be done harder or whether I was just well-rested for today.
Here's the plot for today (complete with HR monitor faff at the start). Black line = power. Red line = HR.
Ignoring the warm-up and cooldown the session lasted 75 minutes with an average power of 263W (xPower 274) based on an FTP of 307W. At the end of the session I felt like I had some more left in my legs so I threw in a couple of extra intervals taking the whole session up to 90 minutes with a total Bikescore (TSS) of 115. Looking at the trace you can see that the intervals just touch the top of power Zone 4 (light blue, 30 mins) and just into Zone 5 (green, 10.5 mins). My HR also looks like it was under control reaching maximum of 168 so I was never bouncing off my Lactate Threshold and thinking about stopping or even that I was suffering too much.
So overall a good session and I felt a lot better than I expected to. Doing this workout again will probably let me know if the workout needs to be done harder or whether I was just well-rested for today.
Saturday 24 November 2012
2x20 at FTP
I didn't do my planned Chain Gang ride due to heavy Yorkshire fog so I did a 2x20 at FTP (306W) turbo session instead. I didn't know how I'd feel after yesterday's session so I was pleased when the first session went well and I achieved 307W. The second session started off OK but I had a bit of a wobble at 16 mins and my power dropped off and I started to have those thoughts about a hot shower and a nice cup of coffee. I was determined to complete the session as planned following my mid-week display of humiliating weakness and a short while later I found the reserves needed to complete the session on target, albeit with burning thighs and quite a lot of whimpering. Black line = power. Red line = HR.
Looking back this has been the most turbo time I have ever done in a week and I've tried to specifically target Zone 4 (276-322W) and Zone 5 (322-378W). I'm going to have a day off tomorrow so that I can do a harder session on Monday.
Looking back this has been the most turbo time I have ever done in a week and I've tried to specifically target Zone 4 (276-322W) and Zone 5 (322-378W). I'm going to have a day off tomorrow so that I can do a harder session on Monday.
Friday 23 November 2012
Turbo Session
Today was a Real Rides Race Day workout on the turbo. Info here, nothing to do with me!
The workout is taken from an actual race and on-screen instructions let you know how hard you should be working on a scale of 1 to 10. I currently do it with 10 being 360W and subtracting 30W for each step down. It's quite engaging and tries to recreate the surges and recoveries you get in a criterium-type race and it's nice to see the HR trace gently increase over the whole workout. Its a shame it's a bit short at just under 39 mins, another 10 mins would be good. For the 38:36 workout I averaged 296W (298W xPower, 685kJ) of which 14 mins is in Zone 5 (VO2 Max), 9 mins in Z4 and 9 mins in Z3.
Today's trace looks like this (Black line = power. Red line = HR):
Next time I think I'll add 10W to each of these levels.
The workout is taken from an actual race and on-screen instructions let you know how hard you should be working on a scale of 1 to 10. I currently do it with 10 being 360W and subtracting 30W for each step down. It's quite engaging and tries to recreate the surges and recoveries you get in a criterium-type race and it's nice to see the HR trace gently increase over the whole workout. Its a shame it's a bit short at just under 39 mins, another 10 mins would be good. For the 38:36 workout I averaged 296W (298W xPower, 685kJ) of which 14 mins is in Zone 5 (VO2 Max), 9 mins in Z4 and 9 mins in Z3.
Today's trace looks like this (Black line = power. Red line = HR):
Next time I think I'll add 10W to each of these levels.
Thursday 22 November 2012
Set-up
Mid-session data view.
I use Golden Cheetah v3 when I'm doing my workouts giving a live readout of key parameters. It's completely customisable and is great for post-session analysis too. Here's a screenprint taken at the end of today's session, showing the HR, power, cadence and speed traces in the main graph, short-term power and HR in the smaller graph, as well as target power, instantaneous power, cadence, HR and elapsed time in the smaller windows. The data is gathered from a Garmin HR strap (£32) and a Powertap G2 Pro+ hub (£loads). This data is recorded on the Garmin 800 (£250 ish) as well as straight onto my laptop via a Garmin ANT+ dongle (£25).
I use Golden Cheetah v3 when I'm doing my workouts giving a live readout of key parameters. It's completely customisable and is great for post-session analysis too. Here's a screenprint taken at the end of today's session, showing the HR, power, cadence and speed traces in the main graph, short-term power and HR in the smaller graph, as well as target power, instantaneous power, cadence, HR and elapsed time in the smaller windows. The data is gathered from a Garmin HR strap (£32) and a Powertap G2 Pro+ hub (£loads). This data is recorded on the Garmin 800 (£250 ish) as well as straight onto my laptop via a Garmin ANT+ dongle (£25).
Success!
After a disappointing session yesterday I thought I'd repeat it with exactly the same set up.
Black line = power. Red line = HR.
Black line = power. Red line = HR.
As you can see, I managed to compete it and quite easily too. My heart rate was significantly lower than yesterday, with a peak HR of 167 compared to 175 which I think has something to do with my lower cadence (around 14 rpm lower than yesterday). I even managed a 480W blast at the end, just for fun.
So what have I learned? From day to day my performance varies a lot for no apparent reason. I just wish I knew why.
Saturday 17 November 2012
Start the experiment...
I have decided to record my attempts to improve my power over the next 5-ish months. While I have taken cycling and training semi-seriously over the last year I don't seem to have improved much so I think I need to be a bit more methodical about it.
After 5 weeks off the bike I went on a training ride yesterday and was very disappointed at my performance on the White Horse Climb (aka Low Town Bank climb on Strava) , which I usually love. For some reason I was struggling up in the granny gear and on each of my 3 climbs I got slower and felt weaker. At the top on the last climb I could barely breathe and my throat felt very constricted so I'm hoping it's not fatal.
Anyway, here's a section of the power and HR trace from the 3 climbs. Black line = power. Red line = HR.
When I got home I analysed the data (on the fantastic Golden Cheetah 3 software) and noticed that on each attempt my power was lower than the last and my HR was lower too, even though I felt like I was trying as hard on each climb. While my best time on the climb is 7mins 10 secs, my fastest on this day was a terrible 8:57 and my slowest an embarrassing 10:04!
So, time to do things properly and train with a method and a plan. While I've had the excellent Training and Racing with a Power Meter for a while, I haven't taken it too seriously, but now I think it's time to as well as inputs from other sources to develop a plan aimed at improving my power.
The first step was to complete a 20 minute power test. Having done several before I knew the importance of pacing myself and not going too hard too soon. I was hoping I could achieve 320W for the 20 mins so I started off just below this and let my power build through the test. With 1 minute to go I dug hard to use every last ounce of energy but quickly went into deficit and had to back off, then managed to surge for the last 30 seconds to achieve 322W. Incidentally, this is exactly the same result as a 20 min test I completed last November so I hadn't lost anything, which is good. By the end of the test I had given it my all, I was unable to speak and just slumped over the bike. I don't like doing these all-out tests because they are painful and relentless and on the very limit of what your body can achieve (at least they should be to be an accurate test).
So here's the power and HR trace from today's 20 min power test. Black line = power. Red line = HR.
Note how the power trace is quite smooth for the first 12 minutes or so, then starts to wobble a lot, before going manic for the last 2 minutes. In the last 2 minutes I go from feeling exhausted to OK and back again as my body loses then finds new reserves of energy.
After 5 weeks off the bike I went on a training ride yesterday and was very disappointed at my performance on the White Horse Climb (aka Low Town Bank climb on Strava) , which I usually love. For some reason I was struggling up in the granny gear and on each of my 3 climbs I got slower and felt weaker. At the top on the last climb I could barely breathe and my throat felt very constricted so I'm hoping it's not fatal.
Anyway, here's a section of the power and HR trace from the 3 climbs. Black line = power. Red line = HR.
So, time to do things properly and train with a method and a plan. While I've had the excellent Training and Racing with a Power Meter for a while, I haven't taken it too seriously, but now I think it's time to as well as inputs from other sources to develop a plan aimed at improving my power.
The first step was to complete a 20 minute power test. Having done several before I knew the importance of pacing myself and not going too hard too soon. I was hoping I could achieve 320W for the 20 mins so I started off just below this and let my power build through the test. With 1 minute to go I dug hard to use every last ounce of energy but quickly went into deficit and had to back off, then managed to surge for the last 30 seconds to achieve 322W. Incidentally, this is exactly the same result as a 20 min test I completed last November so I hadn't lost anything, which is good. By the end of the test I had given it my all, I was unable to speak and just slumped over the bike. I don't like doing these all-out tests because they are painful and relentless and on the very limit of what your body can achieve (at least they should be to be an accurate test).
So here's the power and HR trace from today's 20 min power test. Black line = power. Red line = HR.
Note how the power trace is quite smooth for the first 12 minutes or so, then starts to wobble a lot, before going manic for the last 2 minutes. In the last 2 minutes I go from feeling exhausted to OK and back again as my body loses then finds new reserves of energy.
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