3x20

I think I really needed to move up to the 3x20 format.
I'm really feeling the benefit of the extra workload. I feel it's stressing my system more.
My legs feel tired for a day or two after a session, which I assume is a good thing.

Last nights session was quite consistent, mainly because I was keeping a very close eye on my cadence, keeping it at around 88rpm for nearly all of the session.

I produced: 318w, 319w and 319w for the sessions last night.
Quite pleased with that, really.
Pulse was mid to high 160's which is probably below my threshold heart rate, but I'm not taking much note of heart rate these days, since for me at least, it's so variable.

3x20

I'm kind of getting into the mindset where I don't really want to ride my bike out on the road. I just want to put in 20 minute sessions on the turbo. When I think of getting cold and wet and freewheeling most of the time and having to clean my bike, I'd much rather do some intensity on the turbo. It's kind of heartening when you've made a bit of progress. I just want to make more rather than riding around and not knowing where I am in terms of power/improvement.

Anyway, that's probably just me.

I think I might have mentioned I have an old aluminium Trek circa 2003. It has 9 speed Shimano 105 and I've been thinking for a long time about getting a decent bike. To be honest, I'd feel a bit of a fraud riding a £3000 bike, just because I'm not that good . A bit like the pot-bellied, balding business man buying a red Ferrari. Anyway, I'm thinking something mid-range, nothing too flashy.
I went into Sigma Sport on Saturday and had a good chat with Pete, so in the next few weeks I might be opting for a more up to date model of bike.

For the time being, the trusty Trek will do and today I knocked out a hearty 3x20 which felt good after not having done much all week:

311 watts, 317 watts and 322 watts.

I purposely started off a bit slow and gradually built the session up. The last 20 was quite intense and I was concentrating quite a bit, holding that imaginary fine line in your head between having to ease off and going to hard.

It felt good.

Got back from my business trip late Sunday night and felt pretty tired. Thought I'd leave it till Monday to do another session.
Monday night came and I really was looking forward to doing a hard session since I've been off since Wednesday.
The rest must really have done me good since in my 2x20 I came in with a 324 and a 320 watts. Not bad. As usual the last session felt a lot harder than the first. My knee was ok for the first session but began to play up a bit on the 2nd. Felt quite sore at the end.

My plan at the moment is to carry on with 2x20's this month and next month do some more outdoors rides. Temp stuff. 2 hours, that sort of thing.

Hopefully the weather will be warmer. Then after that month of 2x20's and tempo riding, I'll throw in to the mix a couple of Vo2 max session a week in May and hopefully begin racing in May/June.

That's my plan, anyway, but I never really stick to plans. It also depends on how things go at work plus how long it takes me to recover from the knee operation, which is looming.

All time high!!

Well, I've been making steady progress recently and as I said in my last entry, I thought I'd cut down on the commuting and hopefully this would leave me fresher for the turbo-ing.
This week I got the train in on Tuesday so was quite fresh for the session on Wednesday. I won't be able to do another session this week since I'm away with work for 4 days, so this was my one and only session this week probably.

Anyway, got home and got the kit out. One thing that has really helped me get better numbers is using a cadence meter on my computer. I know that if I start off at 85 rpm and after 5 mins up it to 90 and hold it above 90 rpm for the last 5 mins, I'm guaranteed a good wattage. If you watch the wattage numbers on the KK computer, they tend to dart about quite a lot so you can never be really sure exactly where you are in real time, whereas the cadence meter gives you a pretty good, more consistent feedback.

So last night I went out quite hard from the off and held it at around 90rpm. I felt in control but I knew I was close to the 'edge', if you know what I mean. Came in with 325w.
I took 5 mins break and went again. I was fine for the first 10 mins, but after that the fatigue began to build and I really struggled to hold 87/88 rpm. My pulse was well over 170. Anyway, came in with 310, which wasn't too bad really.

The only minor drawback was my knee was really hurting on the second set. The sooner I get the operation done the better.

Although I've made some decent gains in the FT department, I feel that there's more to come and I think I may start re-structuring my training as a result.

I've been feeling pretty tired recently and getting on the turbo in the evenings has been a struggle.
I've had a nagging feeling that all this cycle commuting I'm doing is not doing me too much good, training wise. All it's really doing is making me feel tired. That and the current Hong Kong merger/acquisition I'm heading up at work. Anyway, Thursday I was due to do a session but I felt so tired I didn't do the session . I got the train into work the next morning and despite a long hard day in the office, I felt a lot more lively when I got home on Friday and thought I'll do a session and miss the club run tomorrow . So that's what I did. 2x20 and came in with a 318 and 315 watt figure. My best yet. I reckon it may be down to me missing the session on Thursday and having a day off the bike on Friday.

Anyway, this got me thinking that I might try experimenting with not cycling in to work a couple of days a week and and only doing the turbo session when I really feel recovered from the last one, rather than forcing myself no matter what and training at a lower power level.

I'm sure this is common sense for most of you but the penny is only beginning to drop for me now.

Oh, and my KK computer has suddenly stopped resetting itself and changing to km/h. The reason? It just needed a new battery. Duh!

For some reason my weight has gone up to 86kg.
Either that or someones sabotaging the scales.

Another 2x20 was dispatched last night with 307 watts and "who knows" watts.
Yes, you guessed it. My lovely ultra high tech, ultra reliable KK computer went schizoid during the 2nd interval and re-calibrated itself to a 26" wheel size.

There's nothing more fiddly than trying to reset a KK computer whilst pedaling at 90 rpm with a hear rate of around 170 while swearing out loud and immediately regretting it cos it takes too much oxygen.
This is the third KK computer I've had since November and each one has had to be sent back due to various anomalies like the buttons not working and the thing resetting to 0 whenever it feels like it.
Well, today I've had enough. I popped out of the office and I've bought myself a Trek rear-wheel cadence computer that will tell me my average speed for the turbo session without me having to rewire it at 170bpm. From the average speed I can tell how many watts I've done by a simple table on the KK web site.

I find it amazing that a company that produces one of the best made and most reliable turbo trainers out there can produce one of the most unreliable and naff looking plasticky excuse for a bike computer ever made.

Anyway, in other news, it seems that the pain I've been experiencing in my knee since my altercation with a certain piece of road is due to some damaged cartilage. Yes, that means an operation and I'll be out of action for about 4 weeks.
Shame really. I'm due to have the thing done in April, so my late start to the season will be delayed even further now. Oh well.

Did another 3 x 20 today and felt quite good throughout.

Normally my 2nd and 3rd 20 are a fair bit lower in power than the first, but today it was pretty constant. 303w, 305 and 307w average. The last 20 was considerably harder than the first though.

Yesterday I was going to do the CTC hilly 50, but I really hate cold weather and I'm glad I stayed inside. I don't normally like to go outside and train unless it's 10C or above.
Old bones, you see.
Yesterday I stayed in and did 2x30 mins SST at about 280 w. Felt quite manageable and I felt quite fresh this morning for the 3x20's.

Sorry for the lack of entries lately.
I haven't given up , honest!

My ISP cut me off for downloading.....ahem....too much data .
Just a few Linux ISO's don't you know, but they took exception anyway.
No ISP hence no internet and since I haven't been close to the internet at work (been out of the office travelling) , I was kind of snookered.

However, I've still been training and I've been making steady progress.
I won't bore you with details of all the data I've accrued, but let's just say that I'm typically well over 300w now for my 2x20's. I've put this down to doing more road rides. Mostly tempo riding alone but also some rides with the Addicombe 19mph posse.

A couple of days ago I thought ,what the hell, I'll do a 1 hour test and see what I get.
I was well rested after a few days off the bike and felt good so I went for it.
For the first 15 mins I held off a bit and kept it just below 290w knowing that I could up the ante in the last 15 mins.
All was going well until the last 10 mins when I really felt it and my pulse was over 180. Well above threshold.
However I managed to hold on and was pleased to see an average of 311w for an hour.
Pretty chuffed.
I'm still mopping all the sweat up ,mind.


All this is good news.
The bad news is I'm still 85kg, or thereabout.
In short, I'm still a lardarse when it comes to most people I see racing.
I would have thought all this turbo sweating would ahve shed a few kgs, but no.
If things continue like this I may even have to give up my beloved Ginsters pies.
Heaven forbid!

Slow Improvement

Since my last 3 day block of training, I've done a couple of 1x30's with a day's break in between.
This seems to have helped my power output a bit and I seem to be making a bit of progress at last.

On Tuesday I did a 1x30 and came in with an average wattage of 289 w . I started off a bit slowly but picked up towards the end. Thursday I did another session and came in with an average of 294w, which I was pretty chuffed about. I started off harder than I normally did and tried to hold it which I managed to do OK, although it took a lot of concentration to hold the last 10 minutes.

Anyway, my geeky graph now looks like this:

click on the graph for a bigger picture

I seem to be getting more fun out of doing the graphs than I do riding my bike, which is a bit worrying.

another block of 1x30 mins...

I've just completed another 3 day block of 1x30 minutes on the turbo:

session 1: 280 watts @ 166 bpm average
session 2: 282 watts @ 166 bpm average
session 3: 280 watts @ 170 bpm average

I'm a bit dismayed to see that my power is not going up appreciably, which is a little irksome.
However, it is still early days, I suppose. I've only had the turbo since the 20th of December, so there's still time to see some improvement.
Anyway, my 30 minute sessions are going OK, apart from that. I try and keep my effort constant throughout and not go for a big splurge in the last 5 mins to get the power average up.
In the interests of geekiness, I've created a nice little graph that shows my 30minute sessions on the turbo:

click on the graph for a bigger picture

Days are along the bottom and watts on the vertical axis.
As you can see, I missed a whole week early on when I lost a bit of interest in this mad escapade.

I went out on the Addiscombe club run on Saturday and sat at the back of the 18mph group and coasted round. Quite a nice gentle ride. Chatted to a few guys who I hadn't met before, which was nice.

I'm intending to carry on with the 30 minute sessions until the end of Jan and in Feb start on the more intense 2x20 sessions. That's my plan anyway, which I probably won't keep to, knowing me. I'm hoping that I can be averaging 290 watts for the 30 minute sessions by the end of Jan.

End of year lethargy

Apologies for the lack of entries of late.

I'd like to say that I've been too busy riding my bike to post any entries but the truth is that I've lost a lot of momentum.
I tend to get bored of cycling pretty quickly and go through phases where other things become more important and I guess I just lose interest. This doesn't really bode well for me trying to race next season. I reckon that you really need a consistent build up of training load in order to make progress.

I forced myself out on Addiscombe the club run last weekend. I went with the 18mph group, I think it was. Didn't want to go but I forced myself anyway. Probably a bad idea. I hate the winter and the cold and turned round when we got to Leigh and went home frozen and demoralised.

I think the bottom line is you have to enjoy your cycling otherwise it becomes a chore.

Despite this lack of motivation I continued to commute into work. Last Friday however, I was enjoying the empty roads at 7am and took a damp corner rather too fast. Next thing I know my face is scraping along the tarmac along with my right leg. I pick myself up and notice the taste of blood in my mouth , the shredded clothes and the bent bike. Hobbled into work with a buckled front wheel and bars at 45 degrees and blood leaking from my face and leg.

nice bit of road rash

Anyway, a few days ago I suprisingly had the urge to get back on the turbo.
I did 3 consecutive days of 1x30 mins , which was pretty hard going.
My data for these session were:
1. 274w average at 164bpm
2. 280 w average at 163 bpm
3. 287w average at 161 bpm.

I tried to do these at a notch below 20 minute pace which seemed to work quite well. I started off really easily and kept it steady
I think I'm beginning to get back to where I was a few weeks ago.

1x30 min...this is going to be easy!

Last night the insomnia I often suffer from hit me. I was wide awake from 2am and have now been up 18 hours. I'm sure that's no biggie when you're 18, but for me......

Anyway, needless to say, I was a bit tired this evening. However, the turbo was beckoning me. Yes, I could have put it off till tomorrow, but my sense of masochism prevailed and after cycling home in sub zero temperatures, I was already committed.

Tonight I thought I'd try a 1x30 min session.....just out of curiosity ,you understand ,and also with the bonus, in the back of my mind, that the whole ordeal would be over that much quicker than if I went for the vanilla 2x20. To be honest, it felt mildly like a bit of a cop-out. However, at the end of it I was under no impression that I'd copped out of anything.

Since I was feeling tired and also due to the fact that I was going to go for 30 minutes instead of 20, I started off a lot slower than normal. The first 5 minutes I was never above 270watts, which I felt at the time was a bit worrying. However, i picked up the pace a bit but I was still riding a click down on my 20 pace. I felt pretty comfortable and felt I could maintain this pace for a long time. My pulse was pretty low and I felt in control. However as the session wore on, it became more of a struggle . My legs began to hurt quite a bit. I was holding a consistent pace, but I could feel the lactic acid accumulating. Breathing was fine and pulse was mid 160's. The last 5 minutes , my legs were really complaining from the consistent 30 minute pace they'd had to endure.

Anyway, I finished with an average wattage of 287watts and an average pulse of 165bpm.

I felt this 30 minute format was far better at replicating Functional Threshold Power than the 20 minute efforts. I think the 20 minute efforts can contain quite a bit of anaerobic input which skews the readings, whereas 30 minutes doesn't so that. I felt that 287watts is a pretty good indicator of my FT at the moment, despite the fact that I'm sure I could do 315watts for 20 minutes leading one to assume that my FT was 300watts.

Anyway, the bottom line is I reckon that the 1x30 is giving me a better workout for where I am in my training, despite 2x20 gives me more time in 'the zone'.

only time for 20 minutes (not that I'm complaining!)

Only time for a 1x20 this morning. Working late tonight and too many things to do.
Felt rather unwell yesterday and haven't been on my bike since Friday's session.
Felt a bit better this morning so thought I'd try and fit in a 1x20.
My idea was that since I've had some kind of virus and also that I seem to fade on the 2nd 20, I'd try and tone down the 1st 20. Keep it at say 285 watts. Not go mental.
Anyway, jumped on the damn torture machine and warmed up for 5 mins. Then off I went. Started of in the low 270w but I felt stronger than I thought I would, so I pushed on. Nearly all the time I was well over 300w and my pulse was low 170's, although my breathing felt hard, for some reason.
Thankfully my computer behaved ok this time and I came in the a 301w average and a 168bpm pulse average. Not too bad really, but once again ,my planned session of keeping it easy failed to materialise. One day I'll learn some discipline with this cycling lark.

I think one of the things I'm learning is that I feel stronger the more time I give myself to recover. I've had 3 days off the bike and I felt noticeably stronger today. I think we've all read on various Internet forums and coaches web sites that recovery is the key to improvement. I've heard that most amateurs do too much and never reach their potential since they are hammering it all the time. This is ever more true for guys like me who are....ahhhemm....more mature. We need even more time to recover. I think I'll try and stick to a maximum of two 2x20's a week . There we go...that concept of discipline again!

A tale of 2 halves and a dodgy computer.

I've had a longish rest since my last session on Tuesday. However, that didn't stop me feeling tired from a busy week . I've found that no matter how slow I go, commuting into work really takes it out of me. It's only about 10 miles into work, but it's all stop...start....stop....start. I'm not sure why it should be so tiring but for me it is. Added to this is the fact that these miles are 'junk' miles. There's no training going on since I'm normally aware that I'm either recovering from a turbo session or preparing for one so either way I'm taking it really easy.

It could of course just be that I'm too old and infirm for all this malarkey, which is a more likely conclusion.

Anyway, tonight I got out all my gear out and got ready for the dreaded 2x20 (yes, it's already the dreaded 2x20).
First session went quite well. I felt noticeably stronger than I have in a while and noticed that I was holding a slightly higher wattage than my last session. My pulse rose from the mid 160's up to the mid 170's over the session with an average of 168bpm. Average watts were 294 w which I was quite pleased about.

The second session was a different story. Much harder. I just couldn't get going at all. I don't know if I didn't rest enough between sessions or I rested too long. I was struggling to hold 270w and my legs felt really dead. Half way through I was averaging around 285-ish watts, but it was a real struggle and it was very hard to finish the session. When I looked at the average watts, my computer/power meter went a bit schizoid and told me that I'd averaged 1456 watts. I know it was a hard session, but it wasn't that hard! I hope my Kinetic computer isn't about to break down. I've heard stories of a few breaking very easily. If it happens again, I'll have to send it back, I think.

I'm going to have a rest for a couple of days. Apart from having the proverbial 'wooden legs' after tonights session, I'm visiting some friends in Wales for the weekend, so won't be able to do any cycling.

A Fun Tuesday night in.....changing tyres .

After Neil's comments on the problems of using Spesh Armadillo tyres, I thought maybe I should change the rear tyre back to the Rubino I had on before. I did a roll test and found that the circumference is quite a bit different to the Rubino, so I had to recalibrate the Kinetic computer. Tapped in 2120 and got things set up in the garage, much to the amusement of my wife who thinks I'm barking mad.

She has a point.

Anyway, off I went on my first 20 mins. I started off a bit slowish.It always takes me time to get going even after a good warm up. Towards the end I was aware I'd gone to slow early on and had to push it a bit.Pulse up to 180 for the last couple of minutes which isn't threshold territory. It's quite a bit over . Anyway, came in with 289watts and an average pulse of 173 bpm. Ok, but not that great.

Tok's today asked me what FTP I'd like to eventually get to. 300watts would be nice,I said, but that would mean a 20 min power of 300/0.95w = 316w which I'm a long long way off at the moment. I don't think it's impossible though (famous last words).

In between sessions I began to worry about Neil's comment about the Armedillo's. I imagined I was losing watts by using this rear tyre. Heck i was probably putting out 350 watts in that first session but the tyre makes the computer think it's only 289. So I quickly changed back tyre to the Rubino and re-calibrated to computer to 2110.Anyway, it didn't make much difference.
2nd 20 min session went to form.....i.e. a lot slower than the first. I tried to keep the pace consistent and didn't go mental in the last 5 minutes. 282watts and 169 bpm.

boy I've got fat!

Got on the scales today for the first time in, well...a long time.
I'm a hefty 85kg, which in old money is 13st or thereabouts.
I'm 5'10" so that spare tyre round my waist will have to go, I'm afraid.

I'm going to try and cut out the biscuits and cakes and eat more fruit.
I'd like to get down to 75kg or even 78kg by early summer. We'll see how I get on.

dissapointing session

I was going to go out and do a road ride today. A brisk 3 hour ride in Surrey. I haven’t done such a ride for several months, but the threatening rain put me off, so I stayed in and did a 2x20.

I noticed during the week how my rear tyre was wearing down after going on the turbo, so I fitted an old Specialized Armadillo tyre. These things are bombproof, but weigh a ton. I’m wondering if changing the tyre would have affected the computer readings on the turbo since my wattage was a bit down today than on previous days, despite feeling well rested.

Anyhow, first session was a struggle to hold a decent wattage. It somehow felt harder than the last few times. Not sure why. I came in with an average wattage of 287w and pulse average of 172bpm. Had quite a longish break before I did the next session. About 15 mins due to a phone call, and found it really hard to get going again. For some reason I really couldn’t get the watts up. I was convinced my tyre was rubbing on the brakes or something since the first 5 mins I struggled at around 260 watts. As the 2nd session went on, I was able to pick up the pace and came in with 274 watts, which was a bit disappointing. Maybe I’m expecting too much too soon?

2x20 and lots of sweat

After sneaking away from work early today, I had a 2x20 session planned in my head.
Set up the trainer and the paraphernalia that one needs to do a session: towels, fan, music, drinks, pulse meter etc etc.
I was still pretty warmed up from my 10 mile ride home, so i only spent a couple of minutes before I set off on session number 1: Wanted to keep it manageable, so I didn’t go out too hard. My pulse stayed quite low throughout, even though the power was ok. In the end I came in with an average wattage of 292w and an average pulse of 163bpm. Not too shabby, I thought.

A 5 minute break and I was off again. First 5 mins was ok, but it became increasingly harder to hold the same wattage. Really had to dig deep for the last 5 minutes. Came in with an average pulse of 171bpm and a wattage of 282watts.
I think this session showed up my lack of stamina. I’m ok for the first 20 mins but struggle a bit after that.

1x20 min

Didn't have time to do a full 2x20 (had a dinner date with people from work), so instead I did a 1x20 and thought I would use it as a 20 min test to see how many watts I could produce. So, I wasn’t going to ease off a notch like I did on my first session since I knew I didn’t have a second 20 min to do after the first.
This got me thinking that maybe it would be better to just do 1x20 mins and add 5 mins a month ,say. After all, it is only just December and I don’t intend to race until May probably. Far better to start slow and build up gradually rather than killing myself on 2x20’s twice a week and giving up in Feb!

I don’t know. I’m new to all this, so I’ll just play it by ear!

Anyway, got in from work, got changed kissed the wife and set up the KK in double quick time and warmed up quickly. I knew I had only 20 mins so I went out pretty hard. By halfway, my pulse was a tad over my threshold (or what I think is my threshold) heart rate, at 176bpm. It was rising alarmingly. For the last 5 mins it was hovering around 180bpm. I felt in control, breathing was ok. It wasn’t like I was on the ragged edge. However, the last 3 mins did drag a lot!
Anyway, when I looked at my average watts for the 20 min, I was pleased to see 305w!
I don’t think I’ll be replicating this again anytime soon. Ideally I’d like to keep it at between 280 and 290w and gradually increase the time to 30 mins, maybe 40 mins.

Introduction and first turbo session

Hi, This is my first entry in my new training blog that hopefully will see me entering a few 4th cat road races next spring/summer. I'm a 50 year old bloke who's been cycling about 10 years off and on, mainly just to keep fit and mostly on my own. I'm kind of keen to try my hand at a few races. I occasionally go out with The Addiscombe CC on their Saturday club runs, but often I can't make it due to family commitments and work. In general I do about 100 miles a week commuting into work from Morden into central London. I'll often try and get out at the weekends for a club run or a 3 hour jaunt into the surrey hills. For the record, I’ve got a max heart rate of 200 and I don’t know how much I weigh (probably too much....I’ve got a bit of a belly!). Recently I’ve been off the bike for about a month with a bad chest infection and it’s only in the last few days that I’ve begun to feel better. So I reckon I’m not in great shape physically at the moment. I recently bought a Kurt Kinetic (KK) trainer, since I heard these are the best and also because they have a power meter, which kind of interests me and will allow me to see any progress I might make. I’ve never used a trainer before and I was a bit loath to get one since I’ve heard so many stories about boredom etc. However, since I have a rather weak chest in the cold winter months, I thought it best to minimise the amount of time I spend gulping down icy air and just put up with the boredom. So, this afternoon, I set up my KK for it’s maiden flight. I’ve been reading a few books about training and also reading a fair bit on various forums, and it seems that the much talked about 2x20 is the way to go to build up ones aerobic engine. So, after spending most of the morning assembling the trainer and attaching the computer to my bike and doing a few test runs to make sure everything was working the way it should, I was ready for the off: towels, drinks ,fan and the radio turned up garage door closed ....I was ready. I warmed up for 10 minutes or so and got my heart rate up to about 70% of max. Then I stopped for a bit and then went for the full 20 minute session. I was cautious about overdoing it in the first 10 minutes, so I held back a bit and kept my heart rate around 80%. I don’t know why people speak about boredom with turbo trainers. It’s not boring, unless people find pain boring. It’s more like a kind of torture! The clock seems to move so slowly. Anyway, I got through my first 20 minutes ok: Average pulse was 164bpm and average power was 280 watts. I then had a few minutes off and got ready for the next 20 minutes: This 2nd set was harder than the first. I really had to dig deep to get to the end, but I was determined. Thankfully I got through it and my average pulse was 169bpm (85% ) and average wattage of 277w. I hope in the coming months that I can drop some weight and that my watts will go up a bit. I’d like to do 2 turbo sessions a week and see how things progress. Ideally I’d like to hit 300 watts if I can.

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