Training and Time Efficiency

As many readers of this blog will be aware I do the vast majority of my winter training in particular indoors on my VELOtron and in fact also spend time training indoors throughout the year simply because of the time-efficiency and effectiveness of this type of training.

Many riders spend many hours during the winter out in all weathers spending a great deal of time "getting in the miles" when in fact a great deal of that time could be better spent (in terms of training at least) making use of an indoor trainer. Much of the time on long training rides, particularly in groups, is wasted. I do recognise that there is a strong social element to outdoor riding, that is the reason most of us do it, but it is I believe a mistake that endless miles will actually get most riders fitter.

This may or may not be of interest but I thought I'd share with you an example of what I'm talking about by showing you some data from 2 types of different rides, one long (4+ hours) road ride with a group of friends that I did today and one much shorter (2 hours) trainer ride I did a week or so ago.

The two upper graphs are the most important and show the power distributions (in training zones) for the 2 rides. As you can see the indoor trainer ride included some pre-programmed threshold (L4) intensity work and shows that I spent 29% of the session time at that intensity (which is VERY productive in fitness terms) and 62% of the session was spent in UPPER L2 (around VT1) which is also very productive training. As you can see only about 6% of the time was in my active recovery power zone and this time was actually during the warmup and cool down sections which I have pre-programmed into the session.

Contrast the above with the second graph from today's group ride in the hills of Northumberland. As you can see 56% of the riding time was spent at an active recovery power level which has essentially no training value whatsoever (soft pedaling, draughting, freewheeling downhill, all common in group rides). Adding up the total time spent in L1 and L2 (not working very hard at all in power terms) we reach a staggering 78% of the total ride time which is well over three hours of the 4+ hour ride essentially wasted in training terms but of course enjoyable in social terms. There is some time spent at the higher intensities where there were harder hills but these are the intensities which are also far better managed during an indoor session in order that the training benefit of these intensities can be maximised.

The final graph simply shows the HR data to go with the power data from the longer ride. As you can see there was very little cardiovascular challenge during the longer ride with around 15% of the time spent at a tempo HR level and <5% of the time up at L4 (threshold) HR levels and virtually nothing above that.

This is just an illustration which I hope may be of help in clarifying how easy it is to make the mistake of riding lots and lots of miles or many many hours which is in training terms unproductive. The problem is if they are not ridden at the right intensities to make the body adapt they will never make a rider quicker. A great deal can be achieved with an indoor trainer without exposing oneself to winter weather and in particular to the risk of slippery roads and the greater risks of accidents that winter brings.

Indoor Trainer Ride - Power Distribution

Outdoor Ride - Power Distribution

Outdoor Ride - HR Distribution

Tuesday Training

Hi

Tonight I did a formal FTP test according to this protocol. The data from the key stages of the test (5 minute effort and 20 minute TT) are shown below. So, what this means is that my FTP is 95% of 308W which comes out at 292.6W. I had secretly hoped I might reach about 300W but that was very optimistic but it does give me a realistic goal to aim for.

According to Allen and Coggan the Sweet Spot Training (SST) level is found at 88-94% of FTP so in my case that puts my SST level at 257W-274W. I have been doing my 20 minute intervals at 275W and considering increasing it to 280W so SST should not present a problem, be interesting to see what length of efforts I can do at that load.

The test was really very uncomfortable (hit my known MHR) but I think I've got some good data out of it which will help me move forward. Towards the end of the test I was thinking how dreadful it would be if there was a power failure towards the end of the test and all the data was lost and all that effort was wasted! Interestingly my average power for the 5 minute all out effort was VERY similar to my average power for the Lemmington and Billsmoor climbs I've got power data for, this to me at least suggests that the data I'm collecting is at least credible in the real world.

Lessons learned from this test:

1. Current FTP as measured on the CompuTrainer is 292W.
2. Don't start the efforts during the next test so hard.
3. Start next test at 290-300W and ride at least the first 10 minutes at that power then try to ride the second half harder.
4. Make sure OwnOptimizer score is no higher than 2 for the next test for consistency.

5 Min Effort:
Duration: 5:00
Work: 103 kJ
TSS: 12.9 (intensity factor 1.245)
Norm Power: 342
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 7.9%
Pa:HR: 5.84%
Distance: 2.221 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 226 ft
Grade: -1.9 % (-226 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 214 403 343 watts
Heart rate: 127 170 162 bpm
Cadence: 85 107 99 rpm
Speed: 20.3 28 26.6 mph
Pace 2:08 2:57 2:15 min/mi
Altitude: -226 0 -98 ft
Crank Torque: 212 370 291 lb-in

FTP Test 20 Min TT:
Duration: 20:01
Work: 370 kJ
TSS: 42 (intensity factor 1.121)
Norm Power: 308
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 11.02%
Pa:HR: 0.02%
Distance: 8.833 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 1294 ft
Grade: -2.8 % (-1294 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 223 383 308 watts
Heart rate: 145 187 175 bpm
Cadence: 90 108 98 rpm
Speed: 24.4 28.8 26.5 mph
Pace 2:05 2:27 2:16 min/mi
Altitude: -1886 -593 -1055 ft
Crank Torque: 187 322 265 lb-in

Tuesday Training

Hi

Pleased with how tonight's L2 session went. target was to ride at an average HR of 150BPM which I managed. The good thing about tonight's session was that I felt that at the end of it I was really quite comfortable, not finding it easy but comfortable, I could definitely have continued for quite a while longer if I'd needed to.

Started with a HR in the mid 140s and allowed it to drift up through the range ending about in the mid 150s, may average power output for the hour (including starting from a standing start) was 239W and my average HR 149, average cadence was 90RPM. Output no better, which is fine, but it *felt* better.

I'm continuing to collect blood lactate data to establish some sort of comparison data as time goes on and to validate the testing procedure. I took a single blood sample tonight at the 35 minute period which is loads of time for things to stabilise. The sample was taken at 35 minutes, the power at that time was 240W and my HR 151. The measured blood lactate level was 1.6mmol/l which correlates very well with the previous measurements taken at this workload and HR, very encouraging. This figure, and the time it was taken into the exercise, suggests that at this intensity I am successfully buffering the lactic acid produced and clearing the lactate adequately to prevent a slow circulation build up, this makes this level of riding sustainable. That's what I think anyway!

Clearly at the present time this level of workload, which is now sustainable for an hour, is below my lactate threshold though the full test is to come. I think this is very useful data and the thing to do is probably to increase the average HR for these L2 sessions by about 2-5BPM and take further steady state readings to see at what level true lactate threshold training is taking place. I think this may be what I need to do to optimise my training, probably after a few more successful L2 rides at this intensity collecting further date to ensure that the readings I am getting are truly consistent

We shall see, but I'm encouraged.

Saturday Training

Hi

I've been continuing with my litre of skimmed milk a day plan and feel better for it and have also been making sure I'm eating more than enough carbohydrates. I reckon I'll not worry about my weight too much for the moment until such time as I start to feel a bit more like my old self.

The good news is that the plan seems to be working and I've been feeling considerably better today, done some shopping (more TdF DVDs!) and even some gardening and the time came this evening to do a spell on the turbo to see how things were going.

Did a steady hour on the CompuTrainer and immediately knew that I was feeling a whole lot better, the fatigue is on it's way out of my legs and I felt much stronger. I rode keeping my HR at all times below 150 and below 130 for the vast majority of the time. I just went up to 150 quite briefly a couple of times just to see what the corresponding power output was and was pretty pleased, it's coming back. At 150BPM my power output was 285W and at the upper limit of my HR zone 2 (138BPM) the output was 250W so those figures are much more in line with where I was recently. Did glance back at my output at 150BPM a month ago and it was measured at about 245 so if that's right that's encouraging, I must check in more detail.

So, long ride tomorrow and feel more confident about it after today and after the large bowl of pasta I've just eaten!

Friday Training

Hi

Just a couple of days to go and the weather forecast is looking pretty gloomy for Sunday but there isn't much that can be done about that, a shared "experience" I guess. It's not getting wet that bothers me in the slightest, I can deal with that quite happily, it's the fact that your brakes don't work properly that I hate, guess I could always walk down the hills!

Decided today to do an hour on the turbo with a few short bursts so I used the time to measure some of my power outputs and see how they compared with the test I did last August on a different CompuTrainer. The results are unlikely to be completely comparable (different though accurate machines) but they did at least show that my HR for a given power output is about 10BPM lower now which is good and this applies at all output levels. This could be due to measurement differences but instinctively I feel now that I produce more power than I did and I can certainly ride at a consistently higher speed than I could then.

Particularly pleased that I do now seem to be able to sustain 300W on the CompTrainer which when I first started using it felt like a real struggle. It would be interesting to put my Winter bike back on the TACX Flow one day and see what the power results look like now as that's what I used all the time before, I am certain I would be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, nice roast chicken tea tonight and then it's get packed up in the morning and away we go on our GPS guided trip to Coniston, be a nice break for Lorena not having to navigate whilst I moan about us getting lost! ;-) Planning to stick my pocket GPS in my back pocket on Sunday to get a GPS track of the Fred Whitton, bit of extra weight but if it will fit in I'll take it, be fun afterwards to look at all the information!

Outline data from today's mini test below:

Thursday Training

Hi

Another level 2 ride on the turbo scheduled for tonight and again I stuck to 45 minutes and plan to increase this to 50 minutes next week, steady does it. Pleased that I keep coping with these sessions, I find then very hard for a while, then they seem to feel easier and so it goes on throughout the session though today I was feeling better in the last 10 minutes than I have previously, I could have continued but prefer to build the session length steadily.

Very slighty higher average HR than last time but also a slightly higher average power output so this all looks ok to me. I think I have now worked out a decent system for these session on the CompuTrainer, takes a bit of getting your head around as there is so much more to it than the turbo I was previously using, much prefer it though.

Session length - 1:05:00
Effort length - 0:45:00
Average effort HR - 152BPM
Average effort power - 257W
Average effort cadence - 90RPM
Average effort speed - 24.3mph

And so to bed...

Wednesday Training

Hi

High resistance session tonight but did it differently this time by using the ergo mode on the CompuTrainer instead of mucking about with the gears. Stayed in the same gear and set the wattage to raise my HR up to the required level (160BPM) whilst pedalling at 90RPM. Tonight at 90RPM I was producing 310W for my 160BPM.

Then, for the next 6 efforts at lower cadences, 85,80,75,70,65 and 60 I simply pedalled at the required cadence and then set the wattage on the ergo to hit the required HR and it worked really well, much less fiddling about and the same effect, certainly felt just as hard!

Managed to do the first 3 efforts (90,85 and 80RPM) at 310W, the next 2 at 300W and the last 2 at 290W so I think I did a little better than last time, certainly felt better at the end than previously.

Tuesday Training

Hi

Another level 2 ride scheduled for this evening so that's up to an hour on the turbo with my heart rate between 75% and 85% of my MHR so working at about 150BPM, no picnic.

Anyway, managed the session Ok without ending up in dire straights and I think I now have a system worked out for doing these on the new CompuTrainer (CT). Start watch when first starting to turn the pedals so that the whole of the exercise is recorded and then warm up both myself and the turbo for 10 minutes. Then callibrate the unit to ensure that the power data is accurate. I've been using the spinscan functions during the warmup to try to improve my pedalling efficiency which is all very interesting.

After this I use the CT in manual ergo mode and start data recording, I raise my HR and power output over the first 2-3 minutes and then maintain my HR at the required level by varying the power output/resistance. My target is to be able to do these efforts for a full hour, last week I started at 40 minutes and I did tonights and my previous session for 45 minutes at 150BPM. I'm planning to increase the session length by 5 minutes every week if I'm able but no matter how long it takes I'll get there in the end.

Tonights data for the effort, including the period where I raise my HR up to the required level was as follows:

Session length - 1:05:00
Effort length - 0:45:00
Average effort HR - 150BPM
Average effort power - 250W
Average effort cadence - 90RPM

Time for bed!

Tuesday Training

Hi

Challenging session today for me, the longest sessions I have done at this intensity have previously been 2x20 mins (10 mins recovery in the middle) and I've not done that very often! I managed to do 40 minutes tonight in the 75-85% zone and kept in in the 80-85% zone for the most part once my HR was up. I guess going from 2x20 to 1x40 is a step up?

For the first 30 minutes my power output was held at 250W, my HR was then slowly creeping up to 85% so for the last 10 minutes I dropped it back to 240W. I warmed up the turbo for 10 mins, calibrated it, and then continued my warmup until the 15 minute mark and then started my effort.

Hopefully be able to increase the length above the 40 mins over time, I suspect I still had a bit of fatigue left in my legs after the weekend's jaunts in the hills of Northumberland.

Friday Training...

Hi

Hard ride planned today. In an ongoing effort to raise my AT I have been trying to do more work in the 80-85% of MHR zone, usually doing 2x20 minute efforts. Today I decided to see how I got on with a long tempo ride trying to keep my HR above 140, on an undulating course. Problem was that the undulations went a bit wrong at the end where there is big hill.

Anyhow, things went well and I smashed my time for the journey to work by getting there in under an hour for the first time, previous best about 1:09, at an average speed of 21.2mph and an average HR of 152 for this section, I was very pleasantly surprised as I was able to maintain the pedal pressure and keep my HR up, maybe my legs are getting used to this after all.

I continued my work and reviewing my data up until the point I hit the big hill at the end I had travelled 38.9mph, some of my data for this secton is below:

Duration 1:56:30
Energy Expenditure 1672 kcal
Number of Heart Beats 17720 beats
Minimum Heart Rate 122 bpm
Average Heart Rate 152 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 173 bpm

Minimum Speed 2.9 mph
Average Speed 20.0 mph
Maximum Speed 33.2 mph
Distance 38.9 miles

Minimum Cadence 50 rpm
Average Cadence 89 rpm
Maximum Cadence 105 rpm

By the time I got home my average speed had dropped to 19.3mph on a ride which included 1500' of climbing and at 46.8 miles was not far short of 50 miles. This has proved to me that I can sustain Z3-Z4 level effort for long periods and has given me great confidence for future sportif rides, I'm getting there, bring on the long intervals!

Sunday Training...

Hi

Really didn't feel like training again today but forced myself to get on the turbo (gale force winds outside) and in the end managed Ok. Did an hour pretty much all in Z2 but decided to do a bit of a perfomance measurement which encouraged me a bit at any rate.

Did 2 10 minute sessions in ergo mode at 250W and measured my average HR for the 2 sessions, for the first it was 134 and for the second it was 131 so they were both well within the upper border of Z2 at 138 so things maybe haven't slipped as much as I might have thought. Pity 250W on the Tacx Flow isn't really 250W but there you go, that's another story!

fingers crossed for the forthcoming week, gotta get back into it.

Sunday Training...

Hi

This was a hard old ride and no mistake. 65 miles with 2x30 minute Z5 efforts (25mile TT pace) thrown in with 45 minutes recovery between them. Managed the efforts at a pace which covered the "10" in just over 28 minutes which was longer than I had hoped for but there is no escaping from hard facts! It was a bit dispiriting to say the least to watch one of the blokes just ride off into the distance, pretty morale sapping experience that.

For the first time today I did start to question the likelihood of my achieving my objectives but I'm going to continue to bash on and hope that at some point over the next few months I achieve some sort of breakthrough, I've got to at least keep on trying and if nothing else I should be fit enough for the Raid Pyreneen which I'm looking forward to.

Summary of weekly training below:

Sunday Training...

Hi

Today's was probably the hardest session I have done. The wind and rain here is terrible so I had to do the whole session on the turbo, all 3 hours of it. I had planned a hard session prior to my recovery/adaptation week, the plan was as follows and I completed it:

1. 30 minute warmup.
2. 4 miles at 25 mile TT pace, HR approximately 165.
3. 10 minute recovery.
4. 3 miles at 25 mile TT pace, HR approximately 165.
5. 7 minute recovery.
6. 2 miles at 25 mile TT pace, HR approximately 165.
7. 5 minute recovery.
8. 1 mile at 25 mile TT pace, HR approximately 165.
9. 30 minute recovery.
10. Repeat the above.
11. Complete 3 hour ride in Z2.

The results are shown below:

14.01.2007	Run 1	Run 1	Run 1	Run 2	Run 2	Run 2
TT Length	Time	HRAVE	HRMAX	Time	HRAVE	HRMAX
4 Miles	07:54	155	164	07:46	156	167
3 Miles	05:51	157	166	05:41	159	167
2 Miles	03:50	159	167	03:48	160	167
1 Mile	01:58	153	167	01:55	153	166

I was pleased to manage to do slightly better on the 2nd run but I'm ready for my "rest" week now. This was a really difficult session which I hope will give me something to draw on when the going gets tough later in the year.

Wednesday Training...

Hi

Just completed tonight's session which was 8 one mile efforts on the turbo which are always fun but will I believe in the end make me go faster. I am sure I am making progress because my average HR for the efforts has reduced slightly and my times are improving, progress is slow but I am confident that it is happening! You can review my comparative times here if you wish, make pretty boring reading but some people like this sort of thing!

Another turbo session planned for the morning, I might have a protein bar and see what that does for me.

Tuesday Training...

Hi

For the first time ever tonight I did a 2 hour turbo trainer session and I'm not sure it is something I'd want to repeat too often but it's done.

The session went something like this:

1. Warm up for 15 minutes.
2. 20 minutes @ 120-130. (200W)
   
3. 5 minute recovery.
4. 10 minutes @ 130-140. (240W)
   
5. 5 minute recovery.
6. 5 minutes @ 160. (320W)
   
7. 5 minute recovery.
8. 2 minutes @ 170. (400+W)
   
9. 5 minute recovery.
10. 5 minutes @ 160.
11. 5 minute recovery.
12. 10 minutes @ 130-140.
13. 5 minute recovery.
14. 20 minutes @ 120-130.
15. Warm down until 2 hour point.

So that was it, all very tiring, I just hope this will do me good, or at least make me quicker in the long run. Got some 1M TT intervals planned for tomorrow, won't that be fun!

10 x 1km Intervals...

Hi

Well I have survived the 10 x 1km interval session I had planned, they really aren't much fun at all but that seems to be pretty true of most sessions that are supposed to be "good for you"!

Slight improvement on the last of these sessions I did, the times can be checked on the link to the felt, I think the key thing is that I was managing to be pretty consistent from the first to the last. My bike speed on the turbo does seem to be limited by the cadence I can pedal and I think that's down to having a compact chainset on the bike, great on the road, not so great on the turbo maybe. I find that I'm pedalling at close on 120rpm at some points which on the highest gear I have is damn hard work.

I can't help but think that if I keep working away at this I will feel a whole lot different this Spring than I have done previously, let's hope so. I can't wait to see these again, mid April 2004 that was taken so over three months to go yet.

Managed to hit a maximum power output of 465W.

New Year's Day training...

Hi

Well I had planned a long ride in the hills today but to be honest I was a bit tired from the 100+ miles in the previous 2 days and on top of that the gales here were actually quite dangerous, gusting to 60-70mph, that's my excuse anyway!

So, turbo it was. Decided to do one of the Cycling Plus forum BeaconRuth's highly recommended sessions which is 40 minutes @ 80% and that's just what I did. Didn't feel bad at all really, the first 10 minutes were the worst but I soon settled into it and than I felt fine. Started from a standing start and used the ergo mode to keep my HR at as close to 80% as I could, recorded what data I could for future reference and here it is:

40 Minutes
Target HR 80% of MHR = approximately 148BPM
HRAVE 147BPM
PWAVE 276W

Not really sure what the data means yet but it will do for future reference. As this was a session recommended by someone I respect I was just pleased that I was able to do it without feeling at all out of control or out of my depth.

That was hard work...

Hi

Well I have completed my scheduled 10 mile turbo trainer time trial (TT) and extremely hard work it was too. I am very pleased with the results which are shown below, the last time I did one of these was back on 29.08.2006 and it took me 22:11 to complete the 10 miles, I have improved, there is no doubt about it.

I also managed to collect some power data from the turbo which should be useful for future reference. I warmed up for 15 minutes and callibrated the turbo, I then set the turbo to zero and started from a standing start. When the 10 miles was finally up I stopped pedalling and read the data off, here it is:

• TIME 19:46
• HRAVE 172
• HRMAX 184
• PWMAX 398
• PWAVE 338
• CAAVE 107
• CAMAX 117
• SPMAX 35.8
• SPAVE 30.3

That gives me a FTP of about 4.27 W/KG which scrapes me into the "very good" rating!

I won't be doing another one of those for at least 6 weeks, it will take me that long to recover!

Bye Bye Christmas :-(

Hi

I can honestly say that for the first tme for ages I am sorry to see Christmas finish, we had such a brilliant time and I really wanted it to just continue but to no avail, back to work for me. All good things must come to an end I guess.

Did an hour on the turbo again this evening simulating some power climbs by using the trainer in ergo mode. Reasonably satisfied with my results, also completed a one mile TT as a test after the hill simulations when my legs were far from fresh and I seemed to still be going pretty well, all results below.

Each hill climb lasted for 5 minutes with 5 minute recoveries between them, the 1 mile TT was from a 20mph flying start.

Climb 1 - 5 Mins PWR 280 HRAVE = 149
Climb 2 - 5 Mins PWR 280 HRAVE = 151
Climb 3 - 5 Mins PWR 280 HRAVE = 150
Climb 4 - 5 Mins PWR 300 HRAVE = 151

1 Mile TT 1:46

Think I'm going in the right direction.

Indoor training...

Hi

Steady session on the turbo trainer and did some basic fitness data collection during the session. Following a good warm up rode at a fixed power output and recorded my HRAVE for a 5 minute period at a constant power. I'll refer back to this in the future and hopefully see a difference as time goes by.

Data collected shown below:

5 minutes @ 250W HRAVE = 132 BPM
5 minutes @ 300W HRAVE = 157 BPM

Also established that my power output at the upper limit of ZR is currently about 200W. Also interesting that today my 5 minute average HR at an output of 210W was 115 BPM which is about seven BPM lower than the last test 2 days ago, just goes to show what a day of rest can do.