Wow. I am amazed at how far I've moved forward on a single block of training. Admittedly I was starting at a fairly low base but nonetheless its very very encouraging.
At the end of the 'down' week of each training block I would typically run an FTP* max test on the Saturday since that's when my legs would be freshest. Since it was only the first block of training (and Christmas day!) I opted not to go the mountains for 20 minutes of pain on my usual climb but do three 10 minute intervals at 95% of what I thought was my FTP.
Well either it was all the Christmas chocolates, Santa made me superman! or my powermeter is badly calibrated but my intervals were at +30 watts, +40 watts and +60watts!!!! So I'm pretty happy about that, especially since I did feel really good, I was obviously fresh and I did get up on my TT bike which always makes me feel fast.
I've had to reset my FTP in the software without doing the test.
Today was the first day of the second block of base training and even with my FTP increased to reflect a new FTP, I managed to over achieve on each interval so that extra rest day seems to be really paying off.
"Less is more" so they say!
*FTP is Functional Threshold Power and is the theoretical power output I could maintain for a one hour Time Trial.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
22nd December 2010
Well one training block into the 2011 programme and I am so pleased, the bug that plagued me earlier in the year hasn't re occurred (yet?) and the extra rest day in the weekly programme seems to be paying big dividends.
So three weeks of training completed and I'm now in the middle of a recovery week prior to starting the next block of base training. Each session I completed, was done achieving or exceeding the power numbers I was aiming to hit. Admittedly this is Base training and I am therefore doing 'diesel' type power outputs but with intervals up to 40 minutes, I am happy with that achievement.
My CTL* is creeping up nicely, perhaps a little slower than previously, having knocked out a training day, but I am moving forward at about 4 points a week, so progress is progress and assuming positive things I can predict where I'll be as time goes by and be able to adjust the training load if I need to as the season moves forward.
Whilst my CTL is definitely moving in the right direction, more importantly I feel reasonably fresh to start each training session, which means that I achieve my planned workload, at good power levels for each ride I do. In past years, my achievement of each session goals might recede as the days rolled by in a week, which is demoralising. At the moment I am looking forward to each session with confidence.
I'll see how that pans out as I move from Base phase to Build phase where I start to introduce some 'top end' work. In the meantime I have one more block of Base training to complete.
(*CTL is Cumulative Training Load as defined by the software that I use to log my training. It is an indicator of the effects of the training I carry out and very broadly helps me with overall fitness indications. I know my absolute personal ceiling in CTL terms so would help me prevent over training. )
So three weeks of training completed and I'm now in the middle of a recovery week prior to starting the next block of base training. Each session I completed, was done achieving or exceeding the power numbers I was aiming to hit. Admittedly this is Base training and I am therefore doing 'diesel' type power outputs but with intervals up to 40 minutes, I am happy with that achievement.
My CTL* is creeping up nicely, perhaps a little slower than previously, having knocked out a training day, but I am moving forward at about 4 points a week, so progress is progress and assuming positive things I can predict where I'll be as time goes by and be able to adjust the training load if I need to as the season moves forward.
Whilst my CTL is definitely moving in the right direction, more importantly I feel reasonably fresh to start each training session, which means that I achieve my planned workload, at good power levels for each ride I do. In past years, my achievement of each session goals might recede as the days rolled by in a week, which is demoralising. At the moment I am looking forward to each session with confidence.
I'll see how that pans out as I move from Base phase to Build phase where I start to introduce some 'top end' work. In the meantime I have one more block of Base training to complete.
(*CTL is Cumulative Training Load as defined by the software that I use to log my training. It is an indicator of the effects of the training I carry out and very broadly helps me with overall fitness indications. I know my absolute personal ceiling in CTL terms so would help me prevent over training. )
Saturday, December 4, 2010
December 5th 2010
I thought I'd push my luck and start my blog early and take it through the training and planning for my racing trip to Belgium in July 2011.
Since I had to cancel the 2010 trip, the bug that affected me seemed to keep coming back every time I got into some serious training which was incredibly frustrating. So I decided on the drastic step (for me anyway) of not riding my road bike for a complete month to try and get rid of the bug. So that's what I did and the only activities I got into where some bush walking and a few mountain bike rides.
So I've had my months break and and have now completed my first week of what will be 8 weeks of base training. I've added an extra rest day into the programme, I guess I had to acknowledge my ancient legs and body can't grind it out everyday anymore. This seems to have been very effective in week one, but I also suppose I was pretty fresh as well. So we'll see how the new approach goes as the weeks go by, previously on a 5 day schedule the 'numbers' I was achieving definitely drifted in the wrong direction as the week went by. This week I've stayed on track all week. So far so good.
I'll show some of the power charts as time goes by to show the progress, or not, that I make.
Since I had to cancel the 2010 trip, the bug that affected me seemed to keep coming back every time I got into some serious training which was incredibly frustrating. So I decided on the drastic step (for me anyway) of not riding my road bike for a complete month to try and get rid of the bug. So that's what I did and the only activities I got into where some bush walking and a few mountain bike rides.
So I've had my months break and and have now completed my first week of what will be 8 weeks of base training. I've added an extra rest day into the programme, I guess I had to acknowledge my ancient legs and body can't grind it out everyday anymore. This seems to have been very effective in week one, but I also suppose I was pretty fresh as well. So we'll see how the new approach goes as the weeks go by, previously on a 5 day schedule the 'numbers' I was achieving definitely drifted in the wrong direction as the week went by. This week I've stayed on track all week. So far so good.
I'll show some of the power charts as time goes by to show the progress, or not, that I make.
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