Galena. Pretty tough especially after the Galena +3 yesterday. Had the same annoying last interval coaching telling me I should stop. Not a fan of this @chad
How do I turn that off? Is it possible to do within the workout?
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Itās in the settings option. I agree with you on the text like that, and have turned it off myself. Another one that gets me is āif this is easyā¦ā during workouts like VO2 when Iām dyyyyying.
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Build literally killed me, I also canned it after 4 weeks. Iām no expert and probably havenāt trained as long as you, but you sound fatigued, take that break and Iām sure youāll come back stronger than ever! Iāve never felt fitter and put it down to absorbing the stressšŖ
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Yeah, I just deleted the rest of specialty (only 8 workouts left in total). Those efforts are just so sharp, and I do not have the capacity to repeat those efforts like that. That said, now I understand how it helps you peak for races. That mental toughness and ability to repeat 150% efforts would be a huge get.
Build was certainly tough, but I managed to do all but one workout in the last week with perfect compliance (last year I could not make it through the whole phase). The most consistent lack of compliance with power targets has been in specialty the past 2-3 weeks when the power targets started to regularly include 130 to 150% efforts. Totally leg breaker.
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Same here. Puts a whole new perspective on doing indoor training.
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Meant to post yesterday, but got busy and forgot.
Basin -4: comments in the ride notes, which will help me remember not to do this one again.
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Baird +6 for me tonight. I managed to stay on the TT poles until the 2nd last over when I psychologically needed to take a break my mind wondered and I fell into the ERG spiral of death which made the last interval back on the TT poles hard so after 30-40s of that interval I turned ERG off for about 30 or 40s so I could get my cadence back up to finish the session relatively comfortably 
Listened to the Roadman podcast throughout or that last zone 2 section for 33mins would have been mind numbing 
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@BCrossen & @TonyLPowell - glad Iām not the only one who struggles with Basin and variants. They are like multiple Ramp Tests one after the other. Only āmanagedā one of the intervals in Basin+1 but somehow got through Basin and Basin-4.
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Dude. I didnāt realize what I was in for until I was in it. It literally feels like the final 3 minutes of a ramp test, but then take a 5 minute rest and do it again and again and again. Literal death and resurrection every 10 minutes. Idk how others are so compliant with that workout based on my experience. It seemed literally impossible.
One of the benefits of resistance mode is that you only have to āchaseā the target and do your best with whatever the target wattage is set on. 130% and above is too much for this old man; canāt imagine doing that in ERG mode.
I always get the gloves @runriderandi. So much so that I have actually opened up my own glove shop at the base of AdZ. Iām overstocked.
I feel you on this one mate. Generally speaking, nap time doesnāt fare well on the days that I choose to ride up AdZ during the nap! Iāve had to swap things around so that I cycle first thing in the morning now. Up at 4:50am and on the bike at 5am before everyone else wakes up. That way, come nap time, Dad also uses the time to have a nap
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Iāve been really enjoying the exercise physiology podcasts of late and I have been playing around with VO2 intervals and different rest times.
The PC system takes between 2-3 minutes to fully recover (depending on the athlete of course) so I wanted to see what the exhausted, or near exhausted, PC system āfeltā like today. It did not feel good. Not one bit.
Very challenging but I can see the benefits of it - it decreases the % of the interval being anaerobic and instead forces the body to work aerobically to produce the effort. The warm up VO2 efforts at 110% and the first interval went well as my PC stocks were fully charged. Then it was a gradual decline into some dark, dark times in the 3rd, 4th and 5th interval before reaching the Endurance component of the ride.
All in all a good little n=1 experiment. 2 minutes rest is not long enough for me at my current level as I am not able to execute the 3rd, 4th and 5th intervals in the session efficiently. I have now experimented with 2min to 5min rest periods (5min rest = 1:1 ratio) in the 5x5ās and for me, I think 3-4min is where I will land moving forward. Then I will tweak that using the concept of progressive overload once I get stronger and build up those oxidative capacities.
With all that said, my heart rate was in VO2 territory for the 3rd, 4th and 5th efforts regardless of power output so there is another lesson in that as well. As PC is exhausted, the glycolytic system kicks in and you are working aerobically etc. Lactate, or more specifically H+, builds up and the system reaches a certain level of acidosis = respiration and HR increase. So technically still hit my VO2 markers in those intervals, just at a different power output because of fatigue + lack of PC anaerobic contribution.
A solid 120min session in total - VO2 first up and then an Endurance block to finish up. Also have been reading about the benefits of doing an Endurance block after a VO2 block so there is that too. I can definitely confirm the benefits of that through my n=1 experience!
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I do this on weekdays and always have intentions of doing it on weekends too but 4 out of 5 times it doesnāt happen
Also, what type of progressions have you been doing for your VO2 work? Iāll be getting there soon and was thinking starting with 3min intervals maybe 5-7x then just lengthening the time but shortening the amount of intervals? I want to be able to do the coveted 5x5 well, hitting the VO2 HR/RPE/breathing.
Iāve mainly been focusing on 5min and 8min intervals as they suite what I am training for at the moment. I started off with 4min intervals though.
@runriderandi, this is a really good podcast episode on executing intervals that really helped me. Especially when they talk about intervals through the lens of targeting specific energy systems as opposed to target watts etc. Sepp Kuss from Jumbo Visma provides fantastic insight into how he performs intervals in the episode.
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Into the final week of Build (yay) but it hits you with some pretty demanding VO2 and Anaerobic stuff
Monday
Kaiser +1, 6 * 3 @ 122%, actually went so well I think my trainer calibration may have been suspect.
Tuesday
Ok this wasnāt in the TR program but a group Zwift workout with friends. If I can do 6 * 3 mins @ 122% then 10 * 1 min @ 140% shouldnāt be much harder should it? WRONG. Only fear of losing face kept me going here. The last 10-15s of intervals 2-10 were truly deeply desperate.
Wednesday
Back to Build program with Ansel Adams, only 50s @ 135% but 24 times 
I thought no way after yesterdayās torture, and halfway through the first set that seemed confirmed but struggled to the end of that set whence sets 2 & 3 actually seemed very slightly less obnoxious. Probably the endorphins.
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Iām experimenting with a shuffled schedule that will give me more flexibility on weekends if I can manage two hard days back-to-back, so this is round one. Managed to banish the suggestion that I could just backpedal for a second and/or stop into the back of my mind long enough to actually finish without bailouts, so Iām calling it a win. Chucked about 750m into the Tron bike up the Alpe in the process, I think Iām over half-way now!
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After ramp test yesterday , Mount Field today ! Start of SSB MV .
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Started a Vo2 max session then exactly half way through the WiFi dropped out. Couldnāt be bothered starting again so did this one.
Iām trying to decide what to do over the winter months. Probably go back to Base, I should ramp really but going to start at my last ramp level and see how it goes. Onwards.
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Yesterday was Zwift SZR Lunch Race. Second half I was working on trying to increase punch.
Time crunched today, so I did Geiger 45 (aka Geiger -4)
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Todayās ride has proved a couple things:
- I definitely messed Mondayās ramp test up, too low
- I definitely couldnāt have done that at my 240w FTP!
Got 2 weeks until plan builder chucks in another test so will stick with it and see where we end up.
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