Two Wheel Blogs

The question of which method to use for finding your FTP still haunts me. Coggan's power level document suggests a 40k TT. I have some teammates who are coached by Cycle-smart and they use an extrapolation of 3 minute and 12 minute (or longer) times. Frielites suggest 30 minute TTs. Hunter Allen says 20 minutes minus 5%. I know the standard answers which basically amount to whatever floats your boat, just be consistant.

Here's a little more detail. I gave the results of a 3 and 12 minute test to my teammate and his magic spreadsheet spit out 250 watts. Great, I should be able to hold 250 for 30 minutes to an hour if I am properly rested right? Well, I can't. I've tried several times in a couple of different settings to average 250 watts for 30 minutes. The best I can do is about 230. And so I begin to wonder what my FTP really is?

The heat was pretty brutal tonight. I felt a little bogged down and without much zip. Even though I stayed near the back for the whole race, I still didn't have much left at the end. Perhaps I reached a little peek in Carbondale and I should start building back up again. Hard to tell without a training manager I suppose.

New Range #1:
	Duration:	35:07
	Work:	        400 kJ
	TSS:	        56.8 (intensity factor 0.985)
	Norm Power:	246
	Distance:	15.257 mi
		        Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	          0	774	190 watts
	Heart Rate:	133	180	167 bpm
	Cadence:	40	124	89 rpm
	Speed:	        2.5	36.2	26 mph
	Torque:	          0	315	51 lb-in

Someone asked me today, "what good is a powermeter?" I didn't even respond. I figured anyone asking such a question was at such a different place on the training spectrum relative to me that no amount of discussion could bridge the gap.

Then I thought about my training lately. It seems that my position on the training spectrum is about like watching the tide roll in and out. Every year I am doing something different.

I did the Tuesday Night Worlds last night. The heat was a factor for me. Staying in the pack just seemed to make it hotter. Here's my numbers:

Duration: 35:31.92
Work: 433 kJ
TSS: 62(1.023)
Norm Power: 256
Distance: 15.214 mi

Min Max Avg
Power: 0 796 203 watts
Heart Rate: 114 187 168bpm
Cadence: 40 135 91rpm
Speed: 2.4 35.4 25.7mph
Torque: 0 366 57lb-in

When you compare this to two weeks ago when I finished
14th, they look very similar but I felt very fatigued by
the end of the race last night:

It seems like only yesterday I said it was time to take it easy and rest up. Resting is exactly what I had in mind today until I looked at the forecast for this weekend. It looks like a significant chance of storms tomorrow. Sunday looks worse. Not only that but it's Father's Day weekend. The social event altert indicator was bumped from yellow to orange.

I decided to rework my plans even though that meant working when I need rest, when I didn't feel like it. Oh the things we do because we love riding a bicycle.

The one thought that kept returning to my mind as I rode through the stiffness and soreness was what it must feel like to do the Tour de France. Even though those guys ride bicycles for a living and an eight hour day in the saddle is, well, a day at the office like any other, I have to believe after a hard stage or three they get to feeling like I felt today. I wondered if they whine about it. I wondered how they protect themselves from being shot out the back when the legs feel like lead.

I wondered what thoughts occurred to them on days when distractions from the pain and discomfort are welcome. I imagine they think of the days, years down the path, when they're older cyclists like me. They imagine that if and when they get tired and sore they'll just take a day off.

If you asked me why I couldn't tell you why, but tonight I was in the mood to do some high intensity intervals. Come tomorrow I'll probably see how stupid a move that was because this sort of thing is just what my back does not need right now. It has been improving so it makes sense that I would go and do something absolutely wrong at this point.

If it's worse then I'll just have to deal with it. For today I felt like pushing hard on the pedals.

I found a nice spot where I could throw down for just about 2 minutes - a nice quiet road with gentle rollers trending downward. At the end of the interval I'd sit up, downshift and pedal slowly back to my starting point. The return trip would take about 5 minutes. After eight intervals I was thoroughly toasted. The last one started to look ragged. I knew I wouldn't last through a ninth. Time to call it good.

Results weren't bad for this old guy: IF was 1.019, TSS=104.

Here's an interesting statistic: Max speed was 56.6kph. Dave Zabriskie averaged 52.something kph for 43km the other day in the Dauphiné. I averaged around 46kph for my little 2 minutes and it nearly killed me each time I did it. To be sure Dave's a lot more aero than I was on the hoods of my road bike.