This afternoon I grabbed an hour to myself and headed out for another Hour of Power on the sunny roads, planning to repeat the hard session I did last week when I averaged a respectable 296W.
Today I felt great straight from the start and rather than trying to maintain 275-285W between the high power bursts, I just rode on feeling with occasional glances at my power. After 24 minutes I had averaged 317W (a new record) and then went on to set a PB right out to 60 mins. Other than a slight 'wobble' at 48 mins I just felt fine, though I was on the limit at the end and pleased to stop.
At the end I had averaged 313W compared to my last 60 min PB of 308W on 1 Jan. Then I tried to even out and control my effort, whereas today the Hour of Power workout is specifically designed to disrupt your flow and I would expect that to reduce your average power. So, I guess I must have got fitter. Last year's 60 min PB was 296W and I was absolutely shattered at the end of that, so I'm quite pleased.
Average HR was low at 163, cadence was tightly grouped around 80rpm (yes, I do pedal slowly). 1100kCals for the hour and a relative intensity of 0.999, so hard work!
Good improvements. Thinking of trying same tomorrow. What is the exact format of the workout and how do you keep the power on during downhill/ easy sections?
ReplyDeleteI am tending to go for 50 odd miles a day at the weekend and go fairly hard throughout but even so today averaged NP of 260w (FTP being 280) and find it tricky to keep the power up giving the hilly terrain.
Hi UHS
ReplyDeleteI start with the 15 sec burst and then settle in for the remaining 2:45 of each 3 min intervals. I tried doing the 15 secs at the end, but it gets confusing after a while, especially when you're working hard. There are many variations, but today mine worked out to 150%+ FTP on the 'bursts' and then 95% FTP on the recovery interval. I can't achieve 150%/90% indoors which shows how much difference it makes to me working outdoors. Other people may suffer indoors less.
I can only do these on flattish roads otherwise, like you, I can't get the power down on the descents. I use a short flattish 11 mile loop that doesn't have much traffic on it.
Your 260W over 2 hours is quite impressive. It's 92% of FTP. The best I've managed is 84% (265W). If you haven't done the HoP before it's worth a go. You might have a 'short wobble' at some point, but it gets easier about 3 minutes later.