I wish I could say that it went perfectly but it didn't. By Saturday morning I had taken enough rest that I felt like a million bucks. I slept in a couple of extra hours and woke up feeling good. Had four waffles for breakfast, took a little more rest, lubed up the bike and got to work warming up. As it turns out, I forgot one very important element.. Anyway. the first 5 minute "all-out" block went GREAT. Only four watts off of my 2007 personal best CP5. This value has been steadily increasing for the past three months. I tried in December and hit 308, tried January and hit 318. Saturday I did 330. The speed and heart rate checks out too, so there's no doubt about erroneous readings. The five minutes averaged at 30.1 mph. In contrast, my CP5 at the Bob Beal time trail was only 310.. but of course that was after a miserable and crampy road race in the rain.. The verdict: my zone 5a/b power is doing very well.. it's well ahead of schedule, relative to 2007's progression.
After the 5 minute ice breaker, I get 10 minutes to recover... and this is when it dawns on me that I screwed up. Back in December I had two aborted field tests- both were indoors and both times it was because of overheating. Then I wised up and did the test out in the garage and had no such problems. For whatever reason, I forgot all about this and found myself unable to recover from the 5 minute test. Still I began the 20 minute time trial expecting to crush my previous test result from Jan 9th. About 5 minutes into it I'm suffering way more than I expected to. Not only did I start out too hard, I was just plain hot and it was affecting my heart rate big time. I had a window open and I had positioned myself in front of a door cracked 1/2 open, but this wasn't enough relief. After the 7th minute I started to fade.. avg watts ticking down one watt at a time.. when soon I was at the last tests average and before long, under it by a few watts. "This suck balls.. if I'm going to do worse in the 20 min TT than I did a month ago, I'd rather try a 'do-over' in a few days, in the garage". So I sat up in the 8th minute, cooled down for 20 minutes.. happy about my 5 minute result, but angry at myself for setting up the test indoors where it's just too hot to perform and put out big efforts. A new test is scheduled for tomorrow night. Yes, I still have to do the five minute portion! The 20 minute data is useless if you don't start out with 40 minutes of simulated tiredness in your legs. I need to keep reminding myself: The point of the Field Test isn't to look at the result and feel satisfaction about improving the numbers. The objective is to establish today's FT and make sure that workouts are performed at the correct intensity.
8 comments:
I have my trainer parked under a ceiling fan. That way I can reach up and pull the cord when I need it. It is still not enough for hard efforts, even though my kitchen is around 60 degrees. Rigging up a big fan facing you head on and putting the switch where you can reach it (or getting one with a remote) would be ideal.
You should come and climb Big Blue. I think you could average 400.
a solobreak, murat and gewilli head to head on big blue
overheating?
The guy who wears 9 hundred layers of clothes to ride outside over heats?
I understand, last couple times i rode the trainer in my bike room it was 31 degrees in it and i was still stripped down to my bib shorts and sweating after the warmup when i was cold...
and all ya doing is demonstrating how pointless FTs are, just ride till you puke a couple times a week, then ride like pianissimo the others...
:-D
308 comes to about 6:13 for a guy Murat's size. I know he can do better than that. I ran it in 8:35 last week.
So what's a good time? Tell me that and I'll tell you my Critical Power for that duration. Then you can do your voodoo math at AC and tell me what my time would be. I weigh 173 right now. I climbed that hill only once and hated it because I had no concept of where the top was..
If it interests you, and if you use Shimano, I'll meet you at Big Blue one day, we'll fit my PT and rear wheel onto your bike and you can try it, once and for all and validate all the AC formulas.
Ge I have been bundling up a LOT on the weekends because I'm out for 3-4 hours in 20-30 degree temps and I would rather overheat a touch and ventilate by unzipping than head home early, shivering.
No I'm not demonstrating how pointless Field Tests are.. I'm just demonstrating why you've never tried to do one.
:)
20 minutes all out TT are enough of a FT for me.
I did a big handful of them this summer...
bundling up...
Ahaha it was freaking balmy on Saturday...
We have validated the AC method a few times. Marro and I weigh the same and we've gone side by side in the low 5's and the numbers come out within 5%. It's around 420 watts. So if you are putting out 308 at just a kilo less, then expect to go 6:15 or so, depending on the wind. It's not perfect because the grade is not steady the entire way, and of course if you don't know the hill then you won't meter your effort as well as if you did. The biggest difference from your tests is that the hill is too steep to sit. So maybe if you had the right gears and sat the entire way you'd average 308 and do a 6:15, but I think if you stood up on the steep parts it would bump your average power and your speed. 5:30 is respectable for this time of year. If you want to climb with the lead group in the masters, you'd better be closer to 5. In the summer time guys like Colman can do it in 4:30.
A kilo less? You guys weigh 175 in the summertime? Other considerations: my CP5 is now 330 on the trainer, not 308. Also, the output on an indoor trainer versus a 5 minute stomp on a difficult climb is night and day. Both are uniquely difficult. It's true that the power spikes higher when you're out of the saddle and that's when "Normalized Power" comes into play. Obviously in an indoor field test, you're seated the whole time and you're not working to propel any of your own weight. It's just you and the magnet plus the friction between the pedals and where the rubber meets the trainer.
Yeah I wouldn't put me down for a low 5's time, not without some practice on the thing.. But a high 5 is probably within reach. In two months I'll weigh about 160. What then?
:)
Yes, the last time me and Marro rode the hill together we each weighed 175. He has since dropped a few pounds. I have dropped below 170.
If you lose 13 pounds, your performance on the hills is probably going to improve whether you use a powertap, hrm, cheap timex watch, or sundial to track your training.
You are getting older now, it's time to stop gaining 25 pounds in the winter. What happens if you ever get hurt and can't train? I've dropped almost 40 pounds from my peak. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, and I sure don't want to do it again. Climbing hills when you're overweight does build power though...
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