Hi
VeloTron
Good, this L3 session went very well, better than recent sessions and whatever the passing problem was it seems to have gone away. My HR and RPE were much more where I would expect then to be and I remain pleased with how this consolidation period is going.
I'm now starting to give some early thought to the forthcoming VO2 Max (L5) training period ahead and deciding upon how best to determine my target wattages. Based on what I've done before and refining this my first step will be to establish my current performance position and I'm going to do this by performing a RAMP test, probably next week.
The RAMP test will tell me primarily what my current MAP is and this should rise a bit after a few weeks of L5 work. In addition to giving me my MAP I'm also going to extract from the RAMP test data my maximum 5 minute power and use this as a baseline to set my training wattages. Looking back at my last test (18.01.2009) my MAP was 415W and my 5 minute power from the test was 356W. When I did my last FTP test the 5 minute test prior to the 20 minute TT delivered a wattage of 373W, slightly higher as a result of not being part of a RAMP test.
On this basis I reckon using the 5 minute wattage from the RAMP test as my target L5 effort wattage will be more than good enough for the purpose and will allow excellent test-on-test comparisons to be made. I hope by doing this, if I test soon and then after my L5 training period, I will have a very good idea what benefit, if anything, is delivered in both MAP and 5 minute power. Applying this method based on previous data I would have been doing my L5 efforts at 356W, with an FTP of 313W that would be 113% of my FTP. According to the good book L5 work should be done at 106-120% of FTP so 113% would put me bang in the middle. It's worth a go as it would be a very convenient way of doing things.
When I come to do my L5 intervals I'll not do them for 5 minutes but for 4 minutes so that I will always be working within my capabilities but also hopefully be working at an intensity high enough to deliver the desired adaptations. My plan is to do 4 minute efforts with 6 minute recoveries and initially 5 intervals per session, so 20 minutes of L5 work per session.
When I'm "used" to the above I'll start doing some shorter efforts at about 125% of FTP, they will really be fun! More on those when the time comes :-)
That's the plan, gotta have a plan!
Just a thought:
ReplyDelete6 min recovery seems like a long time. It may mean that you will not be really taxing your VO2max system. From a personal point of view I prefer to maintain at worst a 1:1 work:recovery ratio, but in order to make it do-able build up the total time spent at 115%FTP, e.g. 12mins, 16mins, 20mins and 24mins. I would then cut down the recovery period to tax myself more. Starting at 4 mins suits me too.