40 Goals

Anaerobic Capacity is a mixed bag this season compared to all time, whilst most of the other zones are all as good as if not better than ever. This seasons training regime is definitely working better than any training I've ever done before.  PS: The dotted line is this season

Don't be too fooled by the charts - volume has been increasing over the 6 months so in real terms I am spending more time in AC this month than the chart suggests ... however ... High-intensity work in Jan has been low. This is largely due to spending so much time on the trainer because the weather has been so poor. Itching to hit the hills and stuck inside. Interestingly my weight has dropped after quite a plateau whilst gains in FTP and max power has levelled. To the hills tonto....... away!

I'm not going to pretend that I understand it all, but I've done a quadrant analysis of 3 recent 2 hour long spirited or hard tempo rides.    Outside Ergvideo and Highly Variable Power on Computrainer Constant Power on Computrainer You can draw your own conclusions, if any. I'mnot really sure why my cadence was so high with the ergvideo, maybe I'll work that out one day. Alex Simmons provides expert musings on this over on his blog , I just copied him :-)

My critical power numbers are getting better all the time, the chart below shows my mean maximal curve for now versus all time. The dotted line is now. I went out for a jaunt with my wife on Sunday morning and managed to put the hurt on her for a change and felt good too. I feel like I'm coming out of a cloud of unfitness and emerging stronger and stronger. Having lots of historical data has really helped to put this into context. I know there is a way to go (especially my 60 min watts per kilogram!!) but at least I have realistic targets - these are real numbers since they are what I was capable of only a year ago.

So, out for a "tempo-ish" kinda ride today. Working from home and could spare an hour or so as a break from Microsoft Office. I went for a ride in the hills with Samantha and watched her disappear over the hills. It was quite an eye-opener in many ways. My power output wasn't that horrible and CV system is starting to kick into life. I use cyclingpeaks and trainingpeaks.com so I am able to compare my critical power numbers against all time (well all time that is recorded in cycling peaks and training peaks anyway). So, my very best Critical Power numbers on file were captured on the 10th June last year on a fantastic ride between Alnwick and Jedborough and back. When compared with today's little jaunt things don't look quite so bleak. I just need to lose the 20kg strapped to my stomach!! (and work on endurance, obviously). CP.2 575 vs 502 CP1 388 vs 349 CP6 285 vs 272 CP12 255 vs 244 CP30 211 vs 207 CP60 203 vs 197 CP90 200 vs 183 CP180 185 vs 143 Now obviously on...

Mmmm. Blank post for a week - apologies for that, not sure where the text disappeared to for this post. Anyhoo it was a reference to the truly most excellent book "Training and Racing with a PowerMeter" by Coggan and Hunter. Read it again last week in readiness for my new toy arriving (its here, I'm trying to set it up). Funny how a season of cycling later I finally understand what the hell they're on about. Sometimes you just think you understand....... Not sure I noticed the fact that even the shortest workout in the book is still a 2 hour session. Mmmm, I might need a bigger iPod for the new turbo!

Weight and FTP Targets My 20 minute max power comes in regularly at about 280w during my 2x20 sessions making my estimated FTP about 266w (although I'm testing this specifically later this week with the powertap and turbo). Since my weight is currently 76.1kg this means that today, with no wind, I would average 7.9mph whilst climbing the 8.6 miles up the 21 switchbacks of the Alpe D'Huez - taking me 65 minutes. I'm currently out by almost 10%. There is under 3 months to go. I need to either improve my FTP to 292w or I need to drop to 68kg. Neither is a realistic option so a happy compromise of both increased FTP and reduced Weight is required - but what should the goals be? Doing the maths shows that every kilo that I lose will save me 3w on my FTP. Whilst the most optimistic sources suggest that the best I can expect from a 3 month dose of L4 training is a 10% increase in FTP and that is for an untrained individual - and that is not me. The chart below helps to illustrate ...

Power play Got the Powertap setup and working this evening. Had a quick play on the turbo for a few minutes and the numbers coming back indicate that the Tacx is not as optimistic as perhaps thought. Tapping out a cadence of 85-95 the Powertap and Tacx were very similar. I hasten to add that the Tacx had not warmed up and had not been recalibrated since the last time I used it. Far more encouraging than the Tacx accuracy was how I felt pumping out 292w (The sustained power output required to climb AdH in the hour). I'm not saying it was easy but maintaining it for 1 hour is a distinct possibility rather than an absolute impossibility. Of course, I'm assuming the PT is relatively accurate! Lots of long rides this weekend so expect to see reams of boring data over the coming days...

I've got the Power! Just ordered a Powertap SL 2.4 on a Mavic Open pro from Cyclepowermeters.com . Rental for 12 weeks should see me good through to July'ish. Much cheaper than buying one and then flogging it on eBay!

Normative Power Data I've been hankering after this for a while and finally got it from the friendly guys over at the cycling plus forums . The table helps to grade your power output per kilogram of weight either as peak power over a given period or as Functional Threshold Power . Anyway, here's the table, snaffled up from here . The chart below summarises a poll from the cyclingforums.com users, most of whom are obviously keen cyclists, albeit amateurs. There is an obvious sweetspot at 300w/75kg that correlates with the table above. I think this is a reasonable FTP target to aim for.

250 watts at 155 BPM I followed the same protocol as yesterday, warmed up with 20 minutes at fat bump and then did 20 minutes at 250 watts (yesterday I did 30 minutes of 200 watts). I saw lots of cardiac drift but the average was 155. I suspect that 250 is a real limit since as I was finishing the 20 minutes my heart rate was climbing faster and heading off to 160. I know I said I'd do 220 but heck that was too easy. Tomorrow I'll take a crack at 15 minutes at 300 watts, hopefully I'll make it under my miserably low max heartrate of 181. Then I can look forward to doing this all again in Jan then Feb then March then ... you get the picture ...

200 Watts at 138 BPM Over this week I'm going to do 30 minute tests at different wattages to measure heart rate to power output. Today I sustained 200 watts for 30 minutes at an average heart rate of 138. My cadence varied from 88 to 95 as I lost concentration. Interestingly the higher cadence also brought the higher heart rate. When I focussed on pedalling efficiency or 'circles' my heart rate went down. Tomorrow I'll increase by 10% to 220 to and see what my heart rate does. I'm still putting in the miles at my 'fat bump' of 136 too, so this is just a side-show. These tests are just to baseline my heartrate to power output so I can track progress over the course of my programme. It was triggered by this which intrigued me, especially the idea that from 200w at peak heart rate over the course of 6 months you could progreess to being able to knock out 300w plus and stay aerobic (!) - if I could do that, well ... Anyone got a cheap set of SRM cranks ? ;-)

The 1 hour Power Plan Getting back to the power output, not that I'm obsessed with numbers or anything, I've done an analysis of the ascent by kilometer looking at the power output I need to sustain using this calculator. The table below is based upon my forecast stats for July 3rd; Height 73 inches, Weight 165lbs, Bicycle weight 20.9lbs (I have no idea but this seems reasonable for my Madone 5.9 SSL), Air temp 68F. I took the profile from here . So that equates to an hour workout which rather handily incorporates a warm-up and a cool down at the beginning and end. Heck, the AdH is a pretty good training ride (!). The hour long work out is basically (ok so its 1 hour and 5 minutes, I've rounded up): 5 minutes at 130 watts 10 minutes at 380 watts 30 minutes at 310 watts 10 minutes at 340 watts 10 minutes at 170 watts Obviously the 380 watts for 10 minutes is tricky given my max output is 334 (!). I'll be seeing what I can accomplish over the next week or so and post som...

302.4 is the magic number According to this page a 75kg rider climbing the Alpe D'Huez (13.84km at average of 10%) in 60 minutes at a speed of 3.84m/s the rider will need a sustained power output of 302.4 watts. Given my max power output calculation from my Cyclefit fitness test in October was 334 this is a big deal. And then this page calculates the magic number at 350 watts. Maybe I need to go there and have a trial run. Needless to say the dramatic increase in my sustained power output is helping to focus my turbo sessions, I'm getting stronger but I'm under no illusions to the scale of the task I have taken on, and yes its only November. I picked up a CTS train right DVD recently too. More painfull turbo time. I noticed you can download training "podcasts" from the CTS web-site too, looks interesting ... Oh yeah, and I also thought this ibike was interesting, since we are on the topic of power. Need to see if it flies, cause the Powertap and SRM solutio...

DISASTER STRIKES! Not only have I lost the chest strap to my beloved HAC4 cycle computer , but the TANITA scales have given up the ghost this weekend. So, I can't record my HR zones as I train and I can't track my weight loss. Hell, the HAC4 is one of my favourite gadgets, I used my own software to import data into my training log software . So I spent Saturday trying to decide what to do about my cycle computer, given the HAC4 is discontinued and getting a belt is quite a challenge (I wish you could 'watch' on ebay for stuff being listed). I narrowed it down to the Garmin Edge 305 versus the Polar S725X . The Garmin came out top for ease of use and innovation with the mapping software like memory map . But when it came down to it I'm looking for a cycle and run heart rate monitor not a GPS tool. The Garmin has limited battery life and limited data capture according to most reviews I've read, so I bought the Polar and am waiting for it to arrive. I went for the ...

Up and running, just 36 weeks of staring at a blank wall

On a scale of one to ten where ten is Lance and two is a couch potato, I scored 4. So last week I had a fitness test with Cyclefit and the results were relatively encouraging, for a 39 yr old, 6' 1" male ... Weight: 85.5kg, 21.4% body fat. Well actually this is from my dodgy tanita scales. 85.5kg is pretty reliable, the 21.4% seems a little flattering. I enjoy Marks and Spencers wine gums, Dunking biscuits and Crunchy Crisps Selection a little too much - they are gonna have to go. Heart Rate Min: 47 Max: 181. I was most disappointed with the max heart rate, having taken all that time and effort during the test to get an accurate measurement (ie. terrible nausea with screaming lactate pain) it was most disappointing to find out my maximum is exactly 220-my age!!!!! Maximum Power Output: 4w/kg. I also found my max power output is woefully low at 343 watts, my watts per kg is 4.0. I need to seriously work on this. We reckoned anything above 5 would be good. Fortunately, I can im...