Funny I saw the Cloud Ripper topic on the forum and today I was dealt Cloud Ripper -2.
Manage to complete the workout and final TdZ stage to get all 18 but somehow this triggered a Red Day which left me a bit surprised. I thought for sure it would have knocked down tomorrow’s ride to 30 minutes.
I took a risk and re-accepted my AIFTP today after a couple weeks of really good training at my self-selected FTP of 245. I was served up Brush:
The hardest part of this one was the first several minutes of the lower intensity aerobic work after the last over interval. Quite uncomfortable!
I think all I needed was a couple weeks to easy back into serious, harder training. To my surprise, I was able to somewhat recover in the unders, so it didn’t totally feel like over/over work as I expected.
I’m feeling really optimistic about the new number and I’m excited to see how next week’s training goes.
There were people talking about six nations on Zwift. My rugby career ended when I realized I wasn’t big enough to really be a forward in college. Moved from 8 to second row and the only thing fun about that was getting tossed in the air.
Still enjoying seeing the AI classification at work when I throw it curveballs. Loaded Brasstown to be able to shut off thinking while getting some endurance after tiny race number 4. Wasn’t feeling it in the 4th race and pulled the plug early.
First time doing Madison today. I wasn’t expecting the cadence/standing drills, but they were a nice distraction (actually no, they were bloody awful, but gettingto sit back down again afterwards and do just a regular amount of suffering was almost bliss). I use TR for MTB fitness so ignore the aero-riding prompts, but the cadence and standing was something I could get behind.
The 60bpm was a nice change from the usual 90-95 it seems to habitually become at higher powers, but 100bpm standing? Absolutely horrid. I think my right upper trapezius was cramping, so that’s something to keep an eye on in the future.
Definitely glad to finish that third interval. Really liked the stand/sit idea though - essentially making sustained FTP riding an over-under-esque.
Felt good. AI predicted “moderate” to “hard”, but was feeling pretty easy, so I bumped it 5% for the last set.
Great to see you back on track with a solid plan, especially when the AI hits that FTP sweet spot perfectly! It is fascinating how this level of technical integration is now being used to bridge the gap between athletic performance and daily well-being through corporate wellness software https://betterme.world/articles/corporate-wellness-software/ by balancing load and recovery. Such digital solutions are the ultimate standard for maintaining long-term health while hitting high-performance goals.
I’ve got a bit of an off-plan filler week this week, in order to shift my next recovery week to coincide with a week away (in Skye 
) so I asked for a threshold workout and got 4 × 10 at 95%, 97%, 99%, and 97% with nice long recoveries.
Hard work, but perfectly pitched. The 99% one still felt like it was a tad above FTP for sure, but manageably so. I much prefer doing these in resistance mode, and I have Sauce for Zwiift running so I can see my current 1 minute and 5 minute power to make sure I’m in the right ballpark. Really happy with how I’m going right now.
+1w AIFTP Prediction bump … so now +5w in this block 
First time rating a TR workout moderate. I was torn, but had said to myself after the first set that unless something changed this felt like a moderate, so I treated myself.
The idea of rating a VO2 max workout moderate seems absurd even now, but I have never felt like my breathing and effort was this under control in a workout like this.
Riding in ERG so doing the watts rather than maximal effort, but I figure that’s the point with AI FTP. I’m now wondering if I should be keeping my cadence around 88-90 even at higher intensities rather than letting it creep up.
*long supra-threshold 
They’re in the same ‘zone’, but they’re definitely not the same, eh?
Oh for sure. Funny thing is I did a ramp test with mask on for testing VO2 max last week, and that blimmin’ mask had me gasping like a fish. Honestly, zone 2 with the mask on almost felt tougher. It objectively very much wasn’t, but the RPE when you just can’t get air on properly throws really throws me.
Nice one. 
My favorite way to send a stronger signal to the muscles & to the TR ML on these workouts is to fill in the short gaps & shorten the big gaps, if I’m certain it won’t compromise the work periods.
(Also Antelope -2 here, but a month ago.)
This week I injury-annotated away my Monday workout because of being wiped out by some dental surgery. I’m missing the bike though. Looking forward to a workout tomorrow morning if the weather’s kind. 
My commute hoe must have triggered an adaption and 2 x 20@92%. I got too many drop outs in power for some reason 
My Garmin which displays 3s power went to 0w quite a bit TR that records 10s power saw 30-50w drop every so often. the net result I was just below target 
Like bro it’s a sweetspot workout, relax. The whole point of sweetspot is it’s not that fatiguing. I’m pretty sure I’ll do endurance tomorrow and it’ll feel fine.
I trust you, AI coach. I know there’s a reason you’ve picked this boring, easy workout for me today, but …
…
Martin for 67 minutes in sweet spot 
Challenging, yet manageable. I was happy when it was over and not completely wrecked from the effort. Solid session 
This is my recovery week but I missed a Sweetspot workout two weeks ago and I decided to make it up today. Hopefully this workout early in the week won’t screw up the plan much.
2x20 Sweetspot via Galena -1. The last 7 minutes of the last interval got challenging. When from from me listening to an audio book to loud music to help me get through it.
Now easy endurance for the rest of the week 
Temple -2 today: 3×12’ Threshold o/u, but it seemed more manageable to think of it as Tray Mountain -2 with some low VO2 lumps, because the unders were right down at 90% & the overs at 110%. Would’ve been quite a different workout at 95%/110%. Added about 2’ of extra rest between the warmup & the first set so I could go home briefly, so I was surprised it didn’t drop the PL. 
I think I’ve almost grown into the FTP…
A bit too under on some of my threshold efforts tonight I think despite being way over on my overs and over overall. Which lowered my predicted AI FTP by 1w. There was one or two ERG resistance drop outs at the start of intervals which saw me switch to resistance to rescue it, but overall I think the FTP drop was right.
Had Bald on the plan today. Nice chill ride.
By completing this workout AIFTP prediction when up by 2 points for some reason to 238 up from 236, let’s see how that goes.
Another “hard day”, another threshold workout.
4 × 8.5 minutes at 100%, 98%, 98% and 98% of AIFTP.
Heart rate didn’t really level off on any of these intervals, and that together with RPE makes me think they were all still a tad above actual threshold. Still a good workout, though.
Interestingly, the AI seems to agree with my assessment above, as it reduced my predicted FTP gain from 7 watts to 5 watts, whether I rated it as Hard or Very Hard.
