2014 first try

So basically beneath you find my first try for my trainingschedule for 2014. It is built with the PMC concept in mind. It’s quite a long post in which I first explain (shortly) the PMC concept, then how my PMC looked like for 2013, and how the PMC looks like for 2014. The chart for 2014 is based on a small Excel schedule which I made to plan my training (and see effect of load in the future).
I assume you know basic powertraining concepts. If not I can refer you to these links:

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/power411.aspx

PMC terminology explained

Before I start with my own PMC I explain some basic concepts in the PMC chart. The idea behind the PMC is that you track you training load (short term and long term) based on your TSS (Training Stress Score). Training Stress score is the amount of stress you put on your body during a particular workout. Training Stress Score is calculated as follows:

TSS* = (seconds x NP x IF) / (FTP x 3600) x 100

So the components in the formula represent basically how long at what intensity your workout was in relation to your FTP.

In the PMC you track short term stress (Acute Training Load) and your long term stress (Chronic Training Load) and your performance (Hence the P in PMC). By exponential weighting of CTL and ATL to take into account carryover effects of your training you can calculate TSB (Training Stress Balance)*

The idea is that Form equals Fitness plus Freshness. Fitness is represented by training load and freshness is the result of rest. Balancing the two, i.e. balancing ATL and CTL equals Form aka TSB. TSS is the metric which is used in the equations to calculate ATL and CTL (and indirectly in TSB).

Then comes the question how can you estimate the TSS? Well, some trainingplans already provide these numbers given the training you do (e.g. Trainerroad). Another source –which I use- is basically your own experience powermeter numbers from rides in which you focused on specific training zones. General rules of thumb can also be applied like these: L2 IF 0.8, 65 TSS/h, L3 IF 0.9, 80 TSS/h, L4 IF 0.95 90 TSS/h, L5/L6 IF 1 100 TSS/h. You can also use this graph to by using time and % of FTP.  

 

Knowing this is, the question rises what are your goals and what do you (given you do not have a coach) estimate your CTL needs to be at time X (time of the goals)? Of course it would be nice to have a CTL of around 120, but for that you need a lot of training time, because these numbers are basically not achievable for the time-crunched cyclist. As you saw TSS consists of time and intensity and for someone like me there’s not a lot of time during the week to build TSS, so it had to come from intensity. Ideally you would be doing a lot of time at lower intensity which causes a lot of physical processes in your body (metabolic adaptions, cardiovascular adaptions, pulmonary adaptions) that eventually has a positive effect on your FTP (given of course also mixed with training in other power zones, and given you are a responder to training pulses), but that’s for the elite / pro guys who earn money with it.

As said a CTL of 120 is basically not possible for a time-crunched cyclist. All the time spend need to be at enormous intensity and even then you will not make it given the limited amount of time you spend riding. Also you won’t be able the hold it in your training because you have your general every day stress (work, etc.). Given max 5 hours per week during winter and max average weekly 8 hours non-winter I should be happy with a CTL around 80.

By building CTL you should be careful not to build (ramp) it too quickly given your short term training stress (ATL). General rules of thumb to make sure you don’t get overtrained or get more vulnerable for disease are CTL ramp rates of 3-8 points per week. A good example of this you will see below.

My PMC 2013

The story behind this PMC is, is that there is no story. OK, let’s clarify that a bite more. I basically did not really plan anything using PMC. I just wanted to see what this graph would look like and if I would be able to get some patterns from it and to be able to learn something from it. And you will read below, I did learn some things ;)

I had a fairly linear CTL build up from approx. April 10^th onwards. 28^th of April was the first big CTL spike from la Philippe Gilbert (160km). This one had a TSS of 360. After that ride my ATL went to another level and short after that I did some more intense sessions and another long ride with TSS above 300. Period where my CTL drops strongly seems like I did not train, but I did. I did however not incorporate those home trainer sessions in the graph (weather was bad in that period). The sessions I did certainly did not improve my ATL but merely stabilized it. After that I build up again and about a month later I was where I was left off end of May (approx. 45 TSS/day). Around 19-6 you also see a strong CTL spike from a 360 TSS ride.

End of June CTL really rises with a top on 4-7. Those two weeks I was on holiday at the Mont Ventoux, but I did bring my bike. I did some work before the 4^th as you can see in the sharp build-up of ATL. 4-7 I did the Month Ventoux 3 times (also known as Les Cingles (loosely “The Screwballs”). I really underestimated that. I ate too little. First two climbs went good. I had done both sides (via Bedoin and Via Malaucenne) with 250 watt average (normalised 260). From Sault it went wrong. I got hungry and I did not drink enough. After a few km’s I completely collapsed. That is, I could only produce 210 (NP) on that climb.

Because of that my TSB was went straight downward and was very low. My immune system must have been affected since I got a bacterial infection from a small wound on my elbow….the result of that was hospitalisation and 3 weeks of antibiotics. No cycling as you can see in the curve going down to a low of 40 TSS/day.

Then I picked it up again since I wanted to do a race end of August since my season was already wasted (remember I had a goal w.r.t winning the local championship but that was at the time of my bacterial infection). In 3 weeks I tried to manage what was left, but effect of the antibiotics was larger than expected. I had no power or whatsoever in those 3 weeks, also not on the race day. I became third in the race (50m before the finish I was still in first place….) and I had to live with that (race 1 hour with NP of 309 watt). After that I went on holiday with the family as you can see from the large drop in the graph (and very positive TSB).

Learnings I take from the above:

Biggest mistake I made was to dig myself in a hole too fast during that Mont Ventoux part (ATL in one week from 45 to 65. This must have had an effect on my immune system. This is something I hope to prevent now with better planning of my training and better monitoring of the PMC.

A positive thing to see is that I did a 60 min test outside when I got back straight after Mont Ventoux and with an ATL of 65 (highest of season) I managed to do 325 watt (whereas before that it was around 300 till 310 NP).

Indirectly: Give yourself time to recover. This is the hardest lesson, because face it: when you haven’t been on the bike for a long time, you just wanna go in full gas and when you see the powernumbers are not what you want them to be than that just sucks (and makes every ride a disappointment). Riding is fun, and that’s what is should be even if the numbers are bad.

PMC 2014

Given peak periods I have designed it as follows: I want to peak end of May / beginning of June. That will be my first peak period. After that I will decrease my load / intensity to be good at end of July / end of August.

W.r.t my training plan I started to think backward from my peak periods. On a macro level I see three periods (until first week of June, but I will explain that later on). As you will see I follow a method of periodization which basically is a build up towards a (desired) peak period. It is base, build and (hopefully) peak.

October 2013 – Half January 2014: Base period

Goal: Very steady CTL of approx. 40 to 45. Content of work is mainly focused on aerobic intensities (Base I) and later on some more sweet-spot training (intervals) (Base II).

Quite a long period, but that’s the way it is. When I get back from work in the evening it is dark and I don’t feel like cycling in the dark (and hours on Kurt is not my thing). So during the week I will do Trainerroad workouts (2 x approx. 1-1.5 hours). They have great trainingplans so I will use them. The base period is divided by two periods: Base I and Base II.

Intermediate Base I (Trainerroad): ‘’Following the initial fitness assessment, this plan emphasizes pedal economy - via leg speed, speed endurance & varied cadence - and base aerobic fitness. Minor attention is paid to saddle transitioning, leg strength & brief, anaerobic power bursts, but this plan is largely devoted to improving form and establishing some base fitness’’.

Intermediate Base II (Trainerroad): ‘’It allows riders to focus more intently on growing their sustainable power through consistent use of near-threshold efforts. The intensity grows somewhat sharply as suprathreshold efforts are sprinkled in on a weekly basis in the interest of growing aerobic power in minimal time.”

During the weekends I want to do a longer (endurance) ride from 2-3 hours. Towards the end of February I will start to do more VO2max related workouts since training races will then start.

Half January 2013 – Half April: Build period

Goal: Very steady build-up of ATL to approx. 50-55. Content of work is mainly focused on sweet-spot training (intervals), but more VO2max comes into place as well.

Intermediate Build I (Trainerroad): ‘’As the racing season grows nearer, our focus on improvement of max sustainable power is split to include more aerobic capacity work (VO2max). These are the shorter, fairly Intense efforts that can make or break a rider when the pace kicks up a notch or two, or several.’’

Training of this nature also has a noticeable positive effect on sustainable power due to the "trickle down" effect of the numerous training adaptations associated with VO2max work.

Riders who aren't accustomed to this type of intensity can begin to acclimate to working at this very high level of effort and thereby increase their ability to ride more competitively. This training plan also incorporates some less-structured race simulations for variety and pacing practice.

Intermediate Build II (Trainerroad): ‘’With event(s) just around the corner, this training plan notches up the intensity even higher and prepares you for the forced rigors of riding at race intensity.

As your ability to endure greater workloads and levels of discomfort - both physical and psychological - increases, so too must your training stress if the goal is to continue to improve.’’

Also from March – April there is a more rapid increase in ATL, CTL by introducing more racing / some longer distances.

Half April – End of May: Advanced Build – peak period

Here the real suffering will start ;), but I should have a solid base by then so make the step. In this period there will be quite some rides with the combination of high volume and high intensity. This starts basically from end of April with the first cyclo in the Belgian Ardennes (which means relatively short climbs, with (often) steep parts in it). Races I see purely as good trainings, but if I can feel there’s more in it that just being in the pack, I will not hesitate. I have to make sure that I earn back the start fee at least.

From half May on I have to be very careful since I will then be doing a long weekend to ride some mountains from the Trois Ballons. This is a training weekend to test myself. This will undoubtedly have a large effect on CTL so the weeks after that I have to be very very careful. Last weekend is the time trial, and then immediately I will have to start tapering for Trois Ballons. But to be good for the time trial I also have to make sure that I taper at least some days before. But that said, a positive TSB is not necessary to perform well as long it’s not too negative.

If am be able to bring my CTL end of May to 80 or 90 I hope be good. Why 80/90? I just want to be able to see the effect of what higher training stress (and better dosed) will do to my body, and more specifically for my FTP (2013 my max was 65 just after Mont Ventoux).. So, from April onwards I have to make sure I have a CTL of around 75 to make sure I do not make the same mistake to ramp it up too quick.

As said previously, after the first week of June basically my first two goals of the year are behind me (and achieved I hope) and by then I am going on a holiday with my family. We do not have that planned yet / no timing nor how long we will go / nor whether I am allowed to take the bike (if possible).

With that uncertainty in mind  and given the two other goals are end of July and end of August I have decided to cut my trainingplan in half. For the second two I will make a new plan (hopefully also) based on my learnings from the first plan.

The above basically comes down to the following graph:

 

I have built this graph in Excel in which I have made my trainingschedule. You may like it as trainingschedule set-up as well. It is still under construction, but for the time being it is good enough for me.

I wanted to put it here, but I cannot find a good transfersite. Just give me an e-mail and I will send it to you. Just for the time being.

 
Short instruction Excel tool

Basic thing about the Excel tool is that I wanted to see some key parameters which give me an impression on the training stress, the balance and the development as well as how much input (e.g. heart rate ‘went in’). I admit, I can still add new training output metrics in graphical format (like kms per month, hours and percentage spent on training types, etc.), but that’s for later.

The Excel tool: It starts with the startvalues of CTL, ATL and TSB. I got them from my WKO3+ software. My calendar starts at 29 september 2013. If you want to make sure the graphs keep on working on the ‘Graphical overview’ worksheet then do not delete any rows on the Training schedule worksheet. Rather if your calendar starts at a different date then just put new dates in column A. TSS, ATL, CTL  and CTL ramp rates are calculated directly. The rest you put in manually. To make it easy to see where the current day is, you see a highlight in column A.

Idea behind the graphs is that you can zoom in to specific time periods dynamically which is something that lacks in WKO3+. You just see one graph and it’s not easy to go to a specific time period. If you have a lot of datapoints (years) than this graph can become handy.

I have filled my schedule until Trois Ballons. I will have more info later on how to train at that time but that will come (since at that time I also want to go on holiday). It’s not relevant for now.

I correct my planned data if I have the real data from my rides. If you have any remarks or things you would like to see just give me an e-mail and I can see whether to build it in.

*Trademark of TraniningPeaks

TR Carillon

Aerobic ride Carillon of Trainerroad. 2 sets of 2x10min Sweet Spot criss-cross intervals where 1min surges are spent out-of-the-saddle; 1min rest between intervals/5min rest between sets of intervals. Not a hard one, and I really have to keep myself quiet. It's hard but part of the plan....

For you heart rate junkies: On average my heart rate for the 10 min intervals at Coggan zone 2, but since I'm improving I would go for about end zone 2/beginning zone 3 for this one.

Thunder, but light

Got some time to hop on the Kurt. Simple workout of the Intermediate Base I TR program I am following right now (Although I have to admit, I must not do Needham (HOPs) now....;)

Thunder is a fairly low intensity workout with an IF of 0.8. I try to focus on heart rate / breathing instead of the powernumbers (which I have no problems achieving) since this is an aerobic workout. It's important not to get any lactic acid in the legs, adaptions should come not from lactic acid increase. That's for later in the season......save the suffering for last ;)

Most of the time my cadence was around 85 which is just below my normally self chosen cadence. The last interval I wanted to see what would happen to HR if I turned to higher gear with lower cadence, but there was not really a significant drop in HR. End of all, just a good feeling, nothing more, nothing less.

Quiet

Last week has been rather quiet on my blog. I just did not have the chance to publish anything. This evening I wanted to put some graphs on, but for some reason my Garmin did not work. I mean I did see the rides on the Garmin, but when I connect it to my laptop it does not see the rides. Whereas the rides before the last 3 I can see.......strange.....

Anyway, since TR Ericsson I did do something. Wednesday I had a 1,5hour ride outside. At a endurance pace and I just wanted to get 'my head empty'. I estimated my TSS on 64. It were 46kms, 31.6km/h/ and average HR of 146.

On Saturday I had a 2.10h ride. Also endurance pace but since there was a lot of wind I did some low cadence, high gear sets. It really puts the stain on the muscles. I was riding without powermeter, so I just made sure my heart rate kept rather constant at an endurance range. Wind in the back I increased cadence at a lower gear. Av speed was 31km/h, 68km. I estimated my TSS at 114. When I came back the legs just felt really good. The other day (Sunday) it appeared that my back tire was flat (and that explains the feeling I had on the last part of the ride ;)

Saturday I did in mind with Sunday, because on Sunday I wanted to do another HOP. I had no problems with the HOP, and I feel I should be going to an other FTP level. But, not without testing of course, so that's for next week. The HOP TSS was 95, AP 247, NP 256, AV HR 142 (for HOP 147). 

We'll see what next weeks FTP will give. For sure the trainingschedule 2014 (70% version, 0.1).

I find it difficult to write about my workouts / ideas. I have lot in my head / ideas to write about, but too little time!!!!

TR Ericsson

Yesterday I just did a one hour Kurt session from Trainerroad. I was kind of tired so I was not into a hard effort (especially not after last weekend....) I did Ericsson which had 4 intervals of 8 minutes at 90% FTP. The whole session was:

1h,AP 210, NP 231,IF 0.8,TSS 64, AV HR 128

Tomorrow I am hoping to go outside to do a good HOP.

Ramp under and overs

Last week was not much of a training week. I had a weekend with my friends in Gent, Belgium which was not really good for the legs, nor for the liver ;)
 
Anyway, I did manage to do an other training last week which was kind of a ramp training. The idea is to mimic a climb which usually gets tougher at the end. You usually start at (if you pace well) a bit slower than you can actually ride. During the climb you will be able to ride a bit harder / its starts to become a bit harder. Its what you often experience with people who ride by at the start of the climb, but who pay the price halfway or towards the end of the climb and which you pass and leave behind ;)

The ramp training basically is a step based training in which every 4 minutes the watts are increased. At the end of the ramp (in my case at approx. 115% FTP) you go under your FTP. After that over, then under, then over and then under again. It is designed for sweetspot, but I have made it a bit harder :high end sweetspot / lower FTP training, which is quite hard. You can adjust the steps so you are doing a bit less on the whole, but try to keep it in the sweetspot range. The ranges (expressed as % FTP were):
 

There seems to be no warmup, but basically the 50% of FTP until approximately 70% is a good warmup, so don't worry. In the build up to the 116% it starts to get 'nasty' around step with 102%. The last 12 minutes in the buildup are quite hard. Its basically 12 minutes at approx. 110% of FTP. After dropping it to approx 100% of FTP is remains hard. First recovery you feel at the 88% of FTP (under) again......this is how it looks like in a graph:
 

W.r.t my heart rate (red line) there seem to be some erranous points. The dotted line remarks my 'Kurt' FTP.

The whole effort in my case was:

1h, IF 0.93,AP 256, NP 270, TSS 87,AV HR 145

Just for fun I wanted to see the relation between heart rate and wattage of the ramp part (which is basically a steady state ramp up). I deleted the erranous heart rate points and it looks like this (wattage on X, HR on Y axis).

 

As you can see HR trends upward (first red line until dotted line) with wattage, and at around 250 watts (dotted line) there seems to be some sort of acceleration in the trend with wattage. So from that point on my HR trends faster than before. Now, I once did a lactate test and the point of 4 mmol /l was around 250 watts. But my heart rate at that time was 150. Now it is approx 133 around that point. Maybe that marks the point of  HR / wattage gets a different trend. But it cannot represent my lactate treshold since my heart rate is almost 20 lower than then (I am doing more watts at lower HR now). Maybe it is my aerobic treshold (which is usually 20-40 strokes lower than Anaerobic Treshold), but I suspect it has more to do with dehydration.

Within a few weeks I will be doing a ramp test as an alternative FTP estimate. Stay tuned for that one.

My heart does (not) beat for (t)rain(ing)

Well. Just long enough for me to hop on my X-bike to go for a quick ride of two hours. Since I have no powermeter on the X-bike I just rode on heart rate which I wanted to have around 155-160 at a fairly steady pace. I ended up with average heart rate of 157. What does that imply?

Although I try to write about power I make an unusual side step now to heart rate. Many of us who train to improve (and want to measure improvement) probably use heart rate as a measure, because unfortunately power meters are just not cheap (although the market is becoming quite booming with a lot of new entrants which is of course good for price decreases).

 

If you look on the internet there are a lot of different ways to set your heart rate zones. Based on Karvonen, Zoladz, Dr. Coggan, Friel, Edwards, British Cycling Federation guidelines, and so on. I will show my zones based on two methods: Karvonen and Coggan.

Based on the Karvonen method you take your maximal heart rate and your heart rate at rest. Based on that your heart rate zones are calculated as follows:

HR reserve = HR rest + (HR max - HR rest) * X%

 

X represents the percentage bounds of the heart rate zones. Based on my powerfiles I have seen that my maximal achieved heart rate is 189. My rest heart rate (lying down or sitting and not doing anything) is 40 (I have had lower, but 40 is a reasonable average).

 

Dr. Coggan which is a leading author on training with a powermeter and the analytics which defines the heart rate zones based on the lactate treshold heart rate. This heart rate comes with an FTP test. Based on on hour tests I have done my FTP heart rate comes around 168 on average.

 

 

Interesting isn't it? To make things more complicated a few years ago I did a lactate test and I turned out my lactate treshold (LT) heart rate was in this area. Knowing what I know now about training I should have asked him: what was the testing protocol (in relation to wattage) and what level of mmol/l he used to get the number for my heart rate at LT. My lactate heart rate came out at 150...how nice that it is exactly 150......;) Based on that I got 3 zones:

115-128 Extensive Endurance (for building period and recovery rides)

128-142 Intensive Endurance (for increasing aerobic level)
142-165 Interval training long (for resistance)

How can I place my rather steady state effort today with an average heart rate of 157? Seeing it black and white I have done Lactate Treshold effort based on Karvonen, a ferm Tempo ride based on Coggan and a resistance training based on the lactate test zones.

In perspective I do not see it too black and white. These zones are just some guidelines, nothing more nothing less. Basically zones do not exist. It's rather gray.

But then, which zones do I prefer? To be honest if I have to use heart rate a training guide I prefer to use the Coggan scale, because I think it is better to relate it to treshold heart rate than to maximal heart rate. This is same argument as defining power training based on treshold power instead of power at for example VO2max.

I keep it at: I have done a nice Temporide with parts at Lactate Treshold. And that quite matches my feeling ;)

2h03m, 67km, AS 33.2km/h, AH 157, IF 0.8, NP (est) 235, TSS 135

Wrong feeling and HOP

Because the weather was bad I jumped on the Kurt for a workout called Needham. What is Needham? Needham is an hour of power, aka HOP. This workout was introduced by Bill Black, a US coach and someone who contributes very much to the wattage forum.

Now, what is the HOP. The HOP is a workout which -as stated- is an hour long on an intensity of 90% of FTP (so around sweetspot). Now, as if that sounds hard, it becomes harder due to the short bursts you after -say 4 minutes of about 20 - 25 seconds long. I have only done these workouts on the trainer and I always find them to be very exhaustive. You know you're gonna suffer and you know you're 'cooked' very slowly. The last intervals are always hard to maintain, at least that is my experience with this workout. Nonetheless, it is a very good workout if you can sustain. If you have not done this before try to build it up from say first 20 minutes up to an hour, because as I said it's quite stressful. Below you can see the profile:

The workout starts with 8 minutes warmup. After that the hour begins with a short burst. Now, as you can see the first 26 minutes of the HOP data is missing (straight line upward). That was because Trainerroad got stuck (my laptop is getting slow, some processes were running on the back). I then decided to ride 'on my feeling'. This meant a cadence of 88 at the gear I selected. I decided to just try to ride 1 hour flat since I did not have any hope that Trainerroad would start again. I 'hoped' to ride at approx 90% of FTP.

Now. Suddenly you see my data appearing again at around minute 32. You see that with the cadence/gear combi I selected I was constantly doing watts at FTP. So the first 24 minutes my feeling was wrong and I rode 'too hard'. After I could see my datastream again I decided to switch to the HOP profile again. As you might see from the red line (Heart rate) is trending upwards. This is the decoupling effect I was talking about. Every step further away in the hour my heart rate has more 'trouble' getting back to a stable level. After every burst it 'steps' up. The last 6 intervals average heart rate equaled. 153, 156, 158, 159, 161, 165 (OK the last one I pushed it more). Dehydration is one of the factors in place. The other is just fatigue I guess. Again, heart rate as a monitor for performance...maybe not.

End of the HOP I averaged 272 watt instead of 256 watt (which was the 90% FTP target). Intensity was 0.9. Total ride TSS was 98.

Bad weather so Kurt Kinetic

It was raining today so I thought -with 'winterseason' in the back of my mind- why not do a small FTP test on the hometrainer (Kurt Kinetic). I use Trainerroad for my hometrainer workouts. Trainerroad is just great. An enormous database of workouts and all can be related to powerzones. I pay only 89 dollar per YEAR! For that amount of money I am not going to invest in a hometrainer on which watts are measured.

I use virtual power in Trainerroad. This basically means that from the speed / resistance relation of the specific hometrainer a power number is calculated. Is this ideal? No. Because the power number calculated is dependent on multiple factors of which 'how tight the tire is pressed to the roller' is a very important one. Also during the ride because of heating up of the tire this pressure changes and thus the powernumber. Basically it should be calibrated during the ride to correct for this.

Then why do I use it? Because it is better than heart rate (especially indoor). Because there is no wind inside to cool one off, your body does not have such a good opportunity to cool down. Heart rate just goes up and at the same time (when you hold your heart rate constant) you can be sure your power also decreases (aka decoupling). More on decoupling on Joe Friel's site:

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/aerobic-base-ride.html

I wanted to show you what the decoupling was for my ride on the trainer (which is shown in Trainingpeaks), but my heart rate monitor went everywhere (I think it's time for a battery replacement).

So, do I care much about how high my FTP is on the trainer? No. I only use it as a guide to base my workouts on and every now and then I do a new test to see whether I have improved. However, I then have to make sure that conditions are the same, i.e. the pressure of the tire on the roller is the same everytime. So, tire pressure also needs to be the same. I always check that. Will it always be 100%? No, probably 98% on average since the tire quality goes down after a few rides (so I have to put a little bit more pressure by putting the roller a little bit upward). Bottom line: always make sure that factors which can influence your workouts and monitoring improvement are constant!!

My average power on the roller was 300 on the 20 minute test, and by using the 95% correction factor for an hour FTP comes at 285.

Now. A year ago this FTP number was 323. How about that big difference? It has a bit to do with my form at the moment, but a lot more with the tire-roller pressure which was much lower last year. Also the tire I use now is different from the one I used last year.

A nice feature of Trainerroad is a.o. that you can export your datafile. I always export it and load it to Trainingpeaks. I use the download from Training Device and I drag and drop the Trainerroad file (.tcx) in the box. Simple as that.

Since my current set outdoor FTP (290) is almost the same as my indoor FTP (285) I do not care much about the small difference in calculated TSS, etc scores. When these start to drift more apart I have to change FTP in Trainingpeaks based on whether I ride more indoors or outdoors.

By the way, for a lot of people FTP is lower on the trainer than outdoors. It basically has to do with a lot of energy wasted by the body heating up. That energy is not put into the pedals. Some people use fans to keep it cool.

With all this said and done, the indoor season can start for me :)

To end this post here's the summary:

1h00m, IF 0.93, AP 240, NP 268, TSS 86

SST and almost lost my saddle

Today I wanted to do a SST (Sweet Spot Training). It has been a while since I last did this. SST means you ride between approximately 85%-95% intensity of your FTP. The idea is that you balance the volume of your training with the intensity. If you do not have a lot of time to train SST is THE way to go to increase your FTP (if we may believe the experts). In that way it's a good way for building up for a new season (not my main intention at the moment since I just wanted to experience the feeling again ;) For some more explanation here is one of many links:

http://www.fascatcoaching.com/sweetspottraining.html

Currently I have set my FTP at 290, since I am very much out of shape. This would imply that I should ride somewhere between 246 (0.85*290) and 276 (0.95*290).

I always do my SST and FTP tests with wind that comes from the front. The wind resistance just feels good, but I admit I also have to train SST wind in the back, its just a different sensation and producing the watts is more difficult (in relation to more speed). I wanted to ride 1 full hour around SST watts. However, it felt good so end of the day I rode a bit longer 1.15h and my AP was 275 and NP 286. Basically at the high end of the sweet spot watt range (actually a bit over it, considering my NP). But it felt alright something which I did not feel for a while. I was not very tired afterwards. Maybe my FTP is also a bit higher than 290, but I am not gonna adjust it at this time of the season.

The last 20 minutes of my whole ride I almost lost my saddle. I had to hold it while riding. This must have looked very awkward and everyone that rode towards me on their bike looked at me at a strange way. This was probably also since my face expression was not that nice....,my back really started to hurt by riding with the hand at the back of the saddle. People must have thought....where's the hand....

Whole ride statistics:

1h56m, 68km, AS 34.8km/h, AH 158, IF 0.9, AP 246, NP 265, TSS 162

Tired

Tired. That's how I felt after a terrible night. The kids were not in the mood and mum and dad also had to be part of that..........

2h38m, 83km, AS 31.5km/h, AH 143, IF 0.7, AP 187, NP 2023, TSS 128

Still have to fill in the duration and average speed. I could only remember the rest of the ride parameters.

Wednesday I will post version 0.1 of my trainingschedule in Excel. Still some small changes I need to make.  I already have some more ideas but those will take more time to implement. As I do not have an exact calendar of cyclosportives nor races the ideas will be for version 0.2 :)

X-bike, but Rotor legs and an evening highlight

Yesterday I had time to go outside so I went for a quick ride , because in the evening I wanted to go and see the new Pinarello 2014 Dogma gamma. Because it had rained the road was wet so I decided to do a tour on my X-bike. Getting used to the X-bike setup is OK, since I sit more upright on it compared to my FP7.

This ride also made clear to me that I never want to ride without my Rotor Q-rings anymore. On my X-bike I have normal chainrings and after a season on Q-rings I could very much feel the difference. I had the feeling of just pushing the pedals in the air, with no feeling of really pushing the pedals hard. It was very strange. Whether (scientifically) proven (or not) to generate more power with the same amount of input, my Rotor's feel a lot better.

Since I have no power meter on my X-bike I had to make an estimate. I just did that based on what I felt like it was.

1h38m, 54km, AS 32.7 km/h, AH 153, IF 0.8, AP 220, NP 235, TSS 108

As said, in the evening I went to see the new Pinarello Dogma gamma for 2014 in Renesse.

There were a lot of very nice 'ladies' over there as you can see and I fancy this baby only not with the Dura-ace setup but with Campa Super Record. We'll see what Santa brings me this year ;)

Sunday will be an endurance (or tempo) trainingride with my friend Richard. I was working on my Trainingschedule in Excel, but I am still not happy with it. This week I am not going to publish it.

Windy ride

Today there was quite some wind. Last ride I had on Saturday, so not really good to ride almost 5 days later: No surfing on supercompensation ;)

So today I just did a temp ride with some small intervals of several minutes. Just to get some lactate in the legs. 

1h51m, 61.3km, AS 33.6 km/h, AH 156, IF 0.9, AP 240, NP 261, TSS 149.5

Tomorrow I hope to do a 20 minute test on Kurt. Just to set my FTP for the coming period on the trainer. Trainerroad here I come.......

If the weather stays OK however I prefer to go outside as much as I can during the week (not in the dark...).