Jepson. Very doable despite so close to FTP
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look at the last two intervals - failed.
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My favourite 5x15@97% to check how things are going. Not especially hard, legs felt good all the time, hr stable and low, breathing like during SST. So endurance rides are doing their job.
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You didnāt quit and pushed through to the end whilst close to your limits to me isnāt a fail.
Some days we arenāt at 100% and depending on fatigue/life stress etc can make all the difference. Just a few percent off our game on some workouts can make those intervals impossible to complete. Another day you could crush itā¦
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^ this
Iād question the culture of #fail that appears to frequently come up on this thread and others.
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Iām not Bashful so hereās my failed workout.
On a positive I did manage to survive 2 intervals more than last time.
I think the long rest between sets doesnāt help.
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I had a ramp test in my calendar yesterday but I had a CT scan at 6pm. I was back by 7:30pm but after having chemicals in me I wasnāt in the mood. Anyway I had the itch to do a 20mins test instead, so I did that tonight. With a non ERG 20mins test I do a lot better than a ramp, I can have that minute or two at my FTP but less than the target and recover to beat the target. When I was at my best no recovery was needed. 284w for 20mins (garmin says 285w 
) an FTP of 270w. After it Iāve actually put on weight 60.3kg, 4.48w/kg (I was 59kg straight out of bed) 
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Sorry to be a buzzkill, but isnāt the 20 minute test supposed to have a 5 minute all out effort before the 20 minute block? Iād be worried that protocol may give a too high number to work with, especially if you only take off 5%.
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Some do but hey, ho 
Iāll see how I get on with it. Iāve just looked at my records. Before I finished with my coach, it was his protocol, and I got 296w, 281w and my first Ramp test FTP was 272w. If I struggle Iāll lower it by that (at least 3%)
PS I think Iāll do tomorrow nightās session and maybe future sessions with ERG switched off.
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Why 5x15 specifically? Doesnāt seem as crazy as 20 minute intervals but as easy as 10? For some reason, 5x15 doesnāt sound as daunting!
I simply like 15 minutes intervals. They are quite short, easier mentally and a little bit easier to recover (very subjective but this is my experience after doing threshold 3x week). In the end this is 75 min TiZ so pretty good stimulus. I have done 4x20@97% and overall RPE was not so much higher but it has provided more satisfaction. 2x40 was also good but little bit too hard when doing more intensity during the week. And I like this workout as āgo toā threshold workout and I have done it so many times I know very well how everything should be. The progression is 3 min brakes between that rises level a little bit.
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Yeah, for some reason when the interval length starts with a 2- or higher such as 20+ minute intervals, it just mentally seems more taxing. 3x18 just seemed so much more doable than 3x20 even though itās only 2 extra minutes per interval 
I havenāt tried 5x15 yet. I may add it to my next threshold progression. Iāll have to see if I can compress it into a 90 minute workout for a weekday!
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I donāt know that Iād call 110% of goal FTP power āall outā, but Iām always suspicious if I have big jump and then see that the 5 minute āclearingā effort was less elevated from what I held for 20 minutes.
But either way, if one uses 92-94% w/out the 5 minute piece, theyāre still likely within the margin of error/personal difference.
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Today I was feeling awesome so in my scheduled workout Monitor I upped the intensity factor by 5%, and combined the last 2 intervals by just ignoring the rest break. I think that my FTP is set too low because I took a 2.5 week break after my A event on October 24th, and I retested for my first ride back. I had a drop from 303 ā 281, but in the week and a half that I have been back into training I am already feeling like I have gained most of that fitness back. Another thing that could be affecting my RPE during these workouts is that I had been on a high volume plan for 3 months before my race on October 24th, and now I am doing a low volume plan with strength training built in so that I donāt get burned out before my A race which is still 50 weeks away. At the end of December I am going to a mid volume plan, then in March I am going back into a high volume plan, all with strength training built in. This could be affecting my RPE because my TSS per week has gone down by more than 50% since this change in plans.
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Just finished the first four weeks of mid volume short power. Did a ramp test yesterday and netted -1 watt. Bummer! Chalked it up to some gnarly insomnia Iāve had for a few weeks and tried not to sweat it. Couldnāt resist retaking the test today after a decent nightās sleep. Nettedā¦ +1 watt.
I typically spend about a minute at max HR on ramp tests. But on both ramp tests this week I fell a few BPM shy of max HR (interestingly, 201 both times. My max is 205.)
Considering the insomnia, the weirdly low failure HR and the fact that Iām very very new to cardio and probably should not be plateauing at 2.7 w/kg (lol), I think Iām going to switch the second half of the block to low volume and try to focus on recovery.
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I think I completed every workout and I still lost like 4 watts after the first part of short power build. I didnāt adjust my ftp and just chalked it up to being really wrecked from how hard it was. I gained like 10 watts or something after the second part.
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