Making things easier

Training
1

Hi all

I’m sure this has all been covered a thousand times but I just wanted to post about a few small changes that have really made training in this last block much more manageable.

  1. Small gear for ERG on the Kickr - this one has been discussed on the podcast many times but for some reason i always stuck it in the big dog and hammered away. The short shorts in the short power build and criterium plans are nigh on impossible with this setup as the flywheel just takes so long to wind down in the short 15 sec rests between intervals. 34/25 gearing has made this transition smooth and hugely improves the workout quality.

  2. Ant+ connection for PowerTap P1 pedals - I did not realise until recently that my P1’s were only connecting to the left pedal via Bluetooth on my phone, this applies to all power based pedals except the Assioma’s apparently. Once i connected via ANT+ i got both pedals and a much smoother experience with ERG and powermatch.

  3. Mindfulness - Sounds hippy but I’m not talking about meditation here but being more conscious of whats going on when things start to get tough. Today in Lamarck, which is 4 x 10 at FTP with 2 min rest between, I found myself really getting fidgety and wanting to pull the pin in the final 3 mins of the last 2 intervals. I just kept saying " Whats actually hurting?" and surprisingly i always realised that aside from some mild muscle discomfort i was actually feeling fine and I managed to also get my breathing back under control and finish the interval.

That’s all really but I thought I would share as I have really found the intervals more enjoyable with these 3 small changes. Hope it can help someone else.

8 Likes
2

I like the comment about mindfulness. One of the many things I love about cycling is how it improves my mind-body connection. I take a similar approach during longer threshold / SS intervals, but it doesn’t work so well for me during VO2 intervals though. lol.

1 Like
3

On #3 i similarly always feel like I’m really in shape when I’m more observing how I feel rather than just soaking in the suck.

4

It’s weird, but it even goes as far as when I have a stressful day at work or something else is going I’m like: I can sweat 6 minutes at 120% FTP / 160-170BPM, thinking I could also just die right now, gasping of air. And then do it 5 times more. If I can survive that, I can survive anything.

5

on #1 is that a wheel off kickr? I’ve always stuck in high gear at the front so will try!

#2 I did a group ramp test then also realised that was over Btooth and my left usually reads higher!

6

Yep wheel off kickr version 1.

7

Point No.3 is a really useful takeaway :+1: