Hey y’all,
For what it’s worth, as one experience amongst so many others ..
Second spring ride done here outside (here in Canada there is still snow but it has melted a fair bunch).
Started cycling seriously last summer.
Started TR in fall. Trained consistently during winter
KICKR first, then shifted to InsideRide rollers.
Couldn’t help but try out how TR gains are translating to the road.
Since I’m a newbie the gains have been across the board, but I noticed three particular gains which I especially appreciate and which seem to me directly related to TR:
- Much more comfortable recovery « under load ». Last year when I would complete a solid climb I would have to considerably drop my power and pace to recover.. my lungs, heart and legs were all spent. Now, I can back off after a hard climb (some 10-15% ones here) even as little as z4 and feel the burn going down and everything stabilizing. It’s great
Managed a PR here on a small kick followed by a false flat where I previously sat my ass hard down on the false flat after an out of saddle effort … last year I just ran out of gas each time on the false flat. Now I managed to ease off the accelerator and keep going relatively strong.
I chalk this up directly to Over/Under workouts !
- Quicker delay to « reload the gun »… quicker recovery
There is a section here in my stomping grounds with three short but steep climbs with 10-15% sections. After the third one I was often cooked. Each successive climb was tougher.
I find myself fading much less between climbs. I don’t start off each one fresh but my legs and heart/lungs definitively come in with more energy to each coming.
I chalk this up to the variety of threshold / vo2 workouts where successive intervals stress the aerobic system when your anaerobic juice is all spent.
- in the second half of my indoor winter TR season I felt z2 rides were tougher than threshold / vo2 work… Ashamed to say even one hour rides at high z2 felt tough ! But over / unders were doable , so I presume my FTP was accurate but my aerobic system (non-sugar-reliant) sucked big time.
So I switched to masters (dropped from 3 to to 2 hard workouts) and added endurance work, including 1:30 and eventually 2hour z2 sessions on Sunday.
I now feel much less hungry during and after a ride (much less reliant on gels during ride, and less ravenous after), and can much more comfortably sustain z2 and z3.
Also, from what I read, apparently z2 helps lactate burn off so probably this has helped points 1 and 2 above.
I could go on and on but this has already been too rambly.
I am just happy to share my experience.
Thanks TR, you’ve got me for good !
