I started turning to a screen without power on group rides because it psyches me out. If I see 400 watts on the screen, my mind goes to “I’m over threshold and all these young guys are going to kill me”. If I see 18mph, then no problem.
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I don’t look at power on group rides either. I watch speed and the clock when I take a pull, but otherwise, I’m just looking at HR to make sure I don’t blow up.
LOL, each to their own of course, but it blows my mind that someone would use W/kg on their bike computer display.
It’s not something I’d have ever thought useful, he obviously does though.
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In all fairness the dude has bagged top 10s on highly contested local climbs.
LOL
I think you’re right. I was going to say other than Zwift what’s it’s use.
Random thought, but wouldn’t you broadly expect the W/kg number to be the same between two riders climbing at the same speed if everything is accurate.?
No, the bigger rider with the same W/kg will be a touch slower.
Assuming they have a bigger frontal area, which isn’t a bad assumption, depends on Cda
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Don’t forget the weight of the equipment and accessories too.
Thanks everyone for posting here, I think I’ve found this just in time. Like MI-XC but a year down the road, last year in 2021 my 4th year of coached training I hit the front end of XC 6hrs and came 9th National 12hr. All was good, I had October off and hit training hard until Christmas, with more hours available as I’d quit my job.
The week after Christmas I contracted covid (Omicron) albeit with mild symptoms during the initial ten days, but it tool me 3-4 weeks to get bike to a position of riding properly again - I’d just suffer massive fatigue and self diagnosed as post viral syndrome. February was all good but I couldn’t hit the numbers and I then got tendonitis in my left quad & hamstring, then another non Covid virus in March. Throughout that period I started a new job with a 3 month probation period also. Lastly, my weight went from 74.5KG to 76.5KG and nothing seems to reduce it.
So, training was impacted big time, and motivation has dropped right off. I can’t seem to ride as hard or for as long as usual and every time I ride my legs and particularly knees hurt more than they should despite no setup changes.
Also to add, I turned 50 this year and was determined that racing & training would not compromise my ability to celebrate - beers at home and on Hols without restriction kinda thing which then got out of hand and I’ve become and entitled drinker - why shouldn’t I have a beer after work - I’ve earned it!
So, I’ve just had a week and a half with the family on Easter hols within which I’ve done 4 outdoor MTB rides all with 4 x 4 VO2max intervals in, which actually I enjoyed. But, tomorrow I’m racing an XCO and although am trying desperately to stay positive, I don’t think it’ll go well for all the above reasons.
My goals were/are to perform top 10 in 6hrs in May, June, a 12hr in July and a 6hr in September. If I can come away from tomorrow’s “it doesn’t matter” race and acknowledge it as the hard training session its intended to be, then I reckon I can hit 4 weeks of good training until the May 6hr. If I come away miserable however…
It helps to get that out, I think I need to decide whether to crack on and accept lower results as a “maintenance” strategy or have a rest this year. My head wants to do the former… I think!
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What killed me was two (three?) fold.
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Vacation. Didn’t touch a bike. Felt the guilt, but there was no way to get on one. I found other things to do, and really had a great time. Not having to worry about going out in a strange land and what kind of mess the ride might be was great…
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A voice in my head started asking if I was training too much. I started taking shorter rides and was still pushing hard, but just not as hard. I started wondering if I was ‘falling out’ of the training grind. Not that I am training for anything except life, but I started the questioning and it started the downfall.
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Covid. After 2 and a half years avoiding the virus, and not getting infected on vacation, the wife got it on the way to a conference. Yippee… It’s been so much more different than any other illness I’ve experienced. I’m at a stand still, only doing really small light rides every couple of days. I’ve heard it could take me several months to ‘get back’ to training, and possibly longer. Although maybe it will spark me to get back to training more. Right now, it’s one step forward, and three back. This thing is NOT the flu…
We all have to do what we can, and getting back on the training thing is going to be mandatory. The worst is that I am eating like I’m riding, and yet not. Afraid of the scale…
I’m trying to not beat myself up over all this, but am getting impatient for this to be over. Yikes…
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That’ the problem with COVID…for some it is a mere annoyance. For others who have long-haul symptoms (like my daughter), it is months of symptoms and setbacks.
Unfortunately, the only metric we seem to be concerend about is whether anyone dies. Long-haul COVID is a major health concern and will impact society in major ways.
Hopefully it is a fast recovery for you.
steps down from soapbox
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Third, I believe.
That has been my biggest fear, long-term-Covid. It’s bad enough some days to get on the bike there after the vacation, and to add long-term symptoms, and a potential relapse, I don’t know what I will do. I mean, yikes, that would be a HUGE blow. But I loved hearing from friends and people about town professing their near total lack of fear about getting this incredibly bizarre disease. It hits some people HARD, and others get almost nothing. The wife has had blinding headaches, and I haven’t. She had diarrhea for a couple of days, not me. She’s been sleeping ‘better’, and I haven’t (YIPPEE!!!). I’ve had bouts of nausea, almost to the point of needing meds, and she really hasn’t. I mean the comparison of symptoms has been a near competition here. HAH…
Back to long-term, it drove me nuts, being off the bike post surgery. Imagining a time where I can’t ride at all, possibly ever again just seems like punishment for some past sin, and I can’t think of anything worthy enough for that.
Oh, I’ve had a ‘stuffed up head’, and had a hard time getting my sinuses and ears to clear, but some riding seems to really work wonders, clearing my ears and taking away the full sinus feeling. Seems counterintuitive, but if it works, I’m good for it…
I lost count after 50 people I knew died. Far too many good people died, and the bad ones seem to have survived, somewhat. Yeah, I know that’s a bad way to look at it, but the grief and anger was pretty severe for a while. I did a spreadsheet that calculated the different statistics of the coffins of the dead, and it was just horrific. It made it worse by reading the attacks on doing that and the meaninglessness others held human life. It’s amazing how easy it’s been to make people dismiss the illness and deaths of ‘other people’. I’m horrified… Riding was an escape. Sigh…
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Also WvA had to slow his program for the year because of Covid.
Then again the winner of Amstel Gold, Michał Kwiatkowski, had Covid in January and the Flu (Italian) in February and he’s recovered well enough I guess.
I struggle with the same issues as the OP, but more frequently. I’m lucky that I’ve not been sick over the last few years as I imagine that would probably end my cycling career. I work in a small organization and of our 35 employees we had over 20 of them get Covid and 2 of them got it twice!
What a weird couple of years. I hope the OP get’s his mojo back.
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Just a brief update. After about 5 weeks of <300 TSS I’m dipping my toe back in the water. I used FTP prediction to get a new FTP. Dropped 3.5% which is fine. I was actually hoping for more. Created a new plan after my A race which was then adapted lower based on my inactivity. Did my Difficult, Z2, Difficult workouts the past three days feeling pretty good. I’m not “back,” but feel like I can make progress again. I’m still coaching T-ball and still have a procedure coming up, so this is much looser than before. Thanks for all the encouragement.
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Probably a key element for you as you come back…keep us updated!
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Thanks for sharing this. I thought I was alone. You described pretty much exactly what I’ve been experiencing this spring, and when I see the enthusiasm of other athletes, I feel even worse. In past years as the spring arrived, I found myself with increasing motivation.
I’ve been wondering whether it was somehow due to updates that have been made to TR, but my avoidance of the bike actually reflects a general malaise. I dread not only my bike rides, but my swims, runs, and strength training too.
Thankfully my Covid experience was awesome. I was just super tired for a couple of days, and slept 3x for about 72 hours. As someone who is chronically under-rested, it felt like a blessing.
It’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one struggling.
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I’m struggling.
I feel like I’ve got a mild variant. I’m testing negative but I’ve got something on my chest and need to pop my ears every so often.
I’ve tried keeping up with training but I haven’t been able to finish the last two.
I don’t actually know if it’s just because I’m at a hard stage of Build where the workouts should be hard (but doable) and I’m just making it harder on myself and giving up too early. So I think I should htfu
But then I read some of these accounts here of long Covid and I wonder if I’m just on the cusp of getting something much worse and so I should take training easy to give my body enough capability to stay healthy.
Has anyone got any spare hindsight they could lend me please?
I think I could do with that option on TR, no power number just the green dot so I know I’m on track…
Did you get a pcr test or just a rapid? If not a pcr, id get that done. The rapid has a small window for positives and may not catch low amounts. If you test negative there then you may just have something else. No need to push through illness but also no need to fear the worst. Balance is important.
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Agree, i didnt mention it but had an illness in january that i thought was covid after the fact. It wasnt bad, but had the telltale signs. Was negative on two rapids but after the fact i was so sure that i had my dr run an antibody test that was negative. There are some nasty colds out there.
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