Time Crunched Cyclist questions

daniel_b

Fine work BTS, going really well for you.

I think I am a tad behind you in terms of power, but have a target in mind of 260 by the end of this, or the very beginning of next year. If I can maintain my weight, that would get me to over 4w\kg.

I have used TCC in the past, but am achieving this on TR.

burnthesheep wrote:

It's a magical time to be on the "fast gains" side of training. I'm not looking forward to reaching the point where the gains start nearing nothing.

Am dreading that too :?

Hoping it is a little way off, but I have a feeling that must hammer your motivation, well unless it just strengthens your resolve, but then I guess at that point it's only going to be a case of the odd watt here or there.

I ave half been toying the with trying Zwift, as I do quite fancy racing, and it would be an easy way to see what it was like.
Two things putting me off are the initial and monthly cost, as my laptop is almost certainly not upto the job, plus I would have the monthly cost plus I would stick with Trainerroad for the usual workouts.

burnthesheep

Good work as well!

I don't think I'd look too great below 155lb. That was when I played golf, futbol, and baseball pretty much year around in my school days 15 years ago. I was skinny.

So, my only way to where you almost already are at the 4.0, is to add more power. :-(

I don't think it would be "that" bad just maintaining a 4.0. I really don't mind doing SS intervals and over/unders that much. In my head, it's an hour workout most times. I can do most anything for an hour. And a few of those workouts a week isn't horrible.

I think for me, the most difficult thing will be if I decide to join the 2018 time trial series local to me as a Cat 5 rider. US has 5 categories. It's one race a month for 6 months. Getting the same power out on the TT bars hurts a lot more than sitting in the hoods or drops for 25 minutes. I think I'm already at a decent fitness point for a Cat 5 road race. I've ridden with some 5', 4's, and 3's in a sportive and kept up with them all and took some turns.

And those TT races are at a car race track 3 hours drive away, on a week night. So I'd be getting home around 1am each time I do one of those :-(

burnthesheep

I need some help looking at this power profile and seeing what I could do better. That may help me focus by choosing the next plan. I have lots of choices in the book that could cater to different things. I feel like I want more 3 to 5 minute power. That's hard here as the longest hills to climb are around 3 or less. And some of the safest straights I know are out of town far. And real world 3 to 5 min is different than the controlled trainer.

The relevant data:
-now at 250w @20min
-now 165 lbs or 74.8 kg
-~3.34 w/kg

How it feels:
-I feel lighter having lost some weight
-I feel stronger/faster
-I'd like my 3 to 5 minute real-world power better
-I feel like my 20min/1hr or my nominal power for rides in the length of time I may ever do a race in is adequate

Power graphs: if you see something, please share input :beer:

Falls Lake race course, 400 ft per 10 miles, kind just trying to see how quick I could do the 10 mile laps:


13 of Raleigh's little hills as a a hill climb ride:


A little 20-some mile loop from the house, a few hills, some flat, some pathalete:


A 30ish mile loop from the house, some hills, some flat, some pathalete:

VamP

I don't think anyone can give meaningful comment on those. As it stands they are just a series of individual ride power curves.

To get a true power profile, you'd need to test specifically at various time durations and then plot the data from that. They would have to be true maximal efforts for each time duration.

But if you're looking to make your program more focused towards developing your zone 5, just substitute one of your weekly sub-threshold workouts with a zone 5 workout. I'm sure your book has plenty there to choose from.

burnthesheep

Now that you mention it, yeah, you can't really take much from that. I didn't think about it before posting it.

I can arrange that. I know 20min for sure, as I did it as the recent test. So just need to do 5, 3, 1, and 5 second. I had assumed I could use those ride curves somehow.

Thanks.