Dotan,

You want Lactate Threshold, Andy Coggan 5. 

Yes, a 20 minute test is an FTP test -- there are other FTP tests, but most common is 20 minutes.

For figuring out your last 15 minutes, you could just drag the selection on the analyze window, like below, Training Peaks will give you the averages on the right. 



hope this helps...

(as Kathy mentions, consider the investment for a powah meeeter, and also, consider a premium TP account, they are both worth it)

This is what I was looking for. However, in a basic Trainingpeaks subscription you cannot mark a section of your workout and find the data for that section. In this case - the heart rate average in a FTP test.

But, I found a workaround - exporting the workout data, cut it and put it back to trainingpeaks.

• In Trainingpeaks click your name on the top right bar --> settings --> Export data (on the left of the newly open window)
• Choose the date of the workout and export the GZIP workout file. It will download it to your computer
• Unzip the file, your workout extension file is .fit (myworkout.fit)
• Go to https://www.fitfiletools.com
• Choose Section remover
• upload the fit file you downloaded from Trainingpeaks, and hit Go
• You will see your workout data on the screen. Drag the section (or sections) you want to remove, when ready, hit Go at the bottom of the screen
• Download your new .fit
• Now go back to Trainingpeaks to add a workout
• Upload the new .fit file you edited
• Now Trainingpeaks will give you the averages of the section you selected
• Score!

Thank you @eloy , thank you @KathyWatts1

Flowers on your head,
Dotan

dude...
https://youtu.be/gN6kAfpQEEw

TimCusick said:

Patrick - sorry, that sucks.  Here is my advice, don't win a battle and lose the war. You can ride through so many injuries on a bike but if you think it is a disc, I would not push through as the damage cycling can do to a disc is big.  My advice is to let your body heal.  When you ride through painful injury two things occur.  1.  You protect or guard at the muscular level.  Training through a specific injury can really worsen imbalances and lead to other injuries.  2.  Your immune system is busy trying to heal your body / injury.  What most people do not consider is your immune system is responsible for the adaptation to training (think about it all training damages your body, it is the healing that makes it stronger).  When compromised, less response to training occurs. Best bet is to play it safe. 

So the good news is that My back is feeling MUCH better. After several weeks of taking it easy (including acupuncture, chiropractic, stretching, core workouts and long epsom baths) I can ride without back pain and same goes for yoga. I had a couple of weeks of less than 3 hours (per week) on the bike at endurance pace. Recently I tested myself with some harder efforts and longer efforts without any pain (during or post workout). 

The official diagnosis is that I had some mild disc herniation with slight impingement on the L5 nerve. I would have expected some leg pain given the impingement, but haven’t felt any. (Although I get some occasional tingling in my fingertips when riding - this is new). The back doc isn’t great help. He basically is saying to go back to regular activities and take anti/inflammatory meds if I have pain. 

So my current plan is to add some more unstructured volume then jump back into a polarized training plan. I am going to be attentive to any flare ups. If all goes well on the bike I will add squats (with a machine) in a few weeks. 

@TimCusick Any advice other than taking it slowly and being attentive to any back pain?  

eloy said:

dude...
https://youtu.be/gN6kAfpQEEw

I'm telling you, it doesn't work with the basic account

Actually I just realized, you can find the averages of your workout data, by marking a section or the workout in Strava (on the computer), just like you would do on trainingpeaks.

Patrick - take is slow, I would "block out" some time to build back and your plan is good.  To me, I would say "4 weeks of endurance rides".  I would look to progress the duration each week as the target.  So 8 hours week one, 9 hours week two...whatever you can do.  I would also look to progress the duration of your long ride EACH week.  Once you get 4 weeks of that under belt, re-evaluate.

I did the VO2Max test - how do I calculated the results?

Also, this week is my initial test week. I have FTP, anaerobic capacity, and sprint test. How do I calculate the results from all of these tests (I have a heart rate monitor, but not a power meter)? And how do I read/make sense of these results?

@TimCusick, I started the 26 week Stage Race place late February (all for being ready for GMSR) and for the last three weeks, things have gone a bit off the rails.  Intermittent riding due to work schedule and now unfortunately a perineal cyst / nodule that will keep me of the bike for at least another week or so.  I'll be seeing doctor later this week to see if I just need to stay off the saddle or something more drastic.

Let's say that I can get back on the bike full bore starting July 2.  Is there a plan that could tune me up for the GMSR, end of August? If so, any recommendations for cross training over the next 2+ weeks to keep my fitness levels up?

Thanks

Do you know your current CTL?  How many hours a week where you averaging till things broke down?

CLT after my last ride was 63 (Tuesday 6/11), its currently at 55.  I was following the plan quite well until it broke down, averaging 8 - 10 hrs per week.  

Our Save Your Season Plans would work well for your July comeback.   We offer them in Road, Mountain, TT and Gravel..in Coggan Classic and WKO ilevels.  Here is the link to all our plans on our velocious site as I think it's easier to see all of them than the TP site
https://www.velociouscyclingadventures.com/training-plans-and-endurance-coaching

As per cross training...walking, hiking and running are all good choices.  Off road will be easier on the knees..find some trails with some good elevation gain and loss for building leg muscles (that you didnt know you had:))  It might be a good time too to work on core muscles too at the gym or at home on a mat.  Cyclist notoriously have weak core muscles so working them now will help once you are back. 

Random question- I'm going to do the Save Your Season Plan at @PatrickGrehan and @KathyWatts1 suggestions based on my goals for the balance of the road season. Should I be submitting my request for the iLevels or the Coggan Classic version? (I'll hopefully have my powermeter by the time I start the plan next week but will be using heart rate until then)

@Matt Budofsky use Cogan Classic plans unless you are using WKO and are well versed in iLevels. 

Most people use classic plans. Plus they have benefit of structured workouts that you can load to your Garmin or Wahoo

Plan's loaded up and ready to go- going to take it easy this week, let some of this rain pass and go live next Monday!

So in looking at my FTP test I did in PP, I think the downhill sections skewed my numbers a bit (there are sections where my power numbers dropped off a cliff). Does anyone have a place they recommend that I could redo the test so I'm working off more accurate numbers?

Headed north on 9w there are very few interruptions.
Ditto for your trainer

Matt Budofsky said:

So in looking at my FTP test I did in PP, I think the downhill sections skewed my numbers a bit (there are sections where my power numbers dropped off a cliff). Does anyone have a place they recommend that I could redo the test so I'm working off more accurate numbers?

This is one of the cruxes of FTP tests, regardless, the test will yield a number that is somewhat specific to the course. So, if you were to test on Bear Mountain, for example, you would likely get a higher number than Prospect Park.

That said, the difference is kinda small, and for training, you can just use the number you got. You'll be doing most of your training in Prospect anyway.

If you wanna test again, 9W could work, FBF is an awesome place when empty, I sometimes head there when I need to do intervals on weekends. Just like the hill in PP, the FBF wind will have an effect on your test. 

Matt Budofsky said:

So in looking at my FTP test I did in PP, I think the downhill sections skewed my numbers a bit (there are sections where my power numbers dropped off a cliff). Does anyone have a place they recommend that I could redo the test so I'm working off more accurate numbers?

I used to do FTP tests in Central Park.  It's now crazy to think of going out to CP at 9am and putting in an all-out 20m effort there.  the park is too damn popular.

What I'm getting at is the following: why are the numbers dropping off a cliff?  Is it because you're slowing down for people or because you're not good at pedaling all-out downhill?

I'd say it's a little column a, little column b. I did the initial test in the early afternoon so it wasn't too crowded, but definitely required a bit of maneuvering around people.

I ended up rerunning the test on my trainer the tail end of last week and the numbers were more what I had expected. I've been doing my workouts each morning since and am a big fan! 

I'm a bit frustrated with Trainingpeaks lately.

It is unclear where are the boundaries between the free and the premium version. I want to create a workout in my library, and only when I finish and save, it tells me that this function is only available in the premium version. Now, I find it a bit strange because I've been creating workouts for my library for a while... Suddenly this stopped. This issue of random banned features has expanded into calendar functions as well. Some are limited and it is unclear what functions works on the free version. Adding a workout, editing a workout, dragging a workout from the workout library, switching workouts within the calendar... some worked in the past, now it's just random.

I'm spending too much time figuring out this website. I would love to hear how you deal with these issues. Do you all have the premium version? Is there a Kissena discount? I do have the Kissena logo on my top right corner, what does it mean? is this a sign from above? Did you find good alternatives for Trainingpeaks? or perhaps you tried all that's out there and you are convinced that Trainingpeaks is the bomb?

Sunshine to ya'll
Dotan

Here's a list of free features vs premiun features

https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us/articles/204074014-Basic-vs-Premium-Athlete-Account-for-Athletes

TP as software leaves a bit to be desired, specially on user experience. That said, it is still the state of the art, and ubiquitous when it comes to training for endurance sports. You ride a lot, are training ton, just buy the subscription. (get the yearly, save money)

The list of competitors continues to grow, but TP definitely has the bulk of the coaching market at the moment.

@TimCusick
Thank you for your suggestion late last month.  Ultimately, this has been a tough year for staying on track.  Let's say that my goals for the season went a bit off the rails (cyst, life, work), although I'm still getting out on my bike for fun and epic rides.

One thing I noticed while trying to push through the stage race plan was the amount of time required for training.  It left little for other activities.  And I noticed that my overall strength deteriorated.  Trying to incorporate strength training into the training plan once the hours picked up was too much.

I'm taking the next month as a bit of a reality check to get my fitness and goals back in order.  More time for cross training / strength training, less hours on the bike.  A 10 - 14 hour training structure is tough to implement successfully.

Do you have training plans that are more in the 6 - 10 hour range?  I understand that actual FTP gains may be limited, but I'd rather trade that to be a well rounded cyclist and incorporate other training into my life.  I'd like to get back on a plan for the fall to take advantage of the CA road race season that starts in January.  Do you have any suggestions?   Thank you 

Hi Scott,
Kathy here, Tim is over in England preriding the Worlds course (they have had crazy rain, flooding and hail where he is in Harrogate).  Any way, I can help you...First of all the Stage plan that we have at 10-14 hrs a week is one of our highest TSS and hours plan (as stage racing needs a bucket of time in the saddle)  But most of our plans run 8-12 hrs a week as we are catering to the working person who only has an hour or 1.5 during the week and has more time for some long rides (2, 3, occasional 4 hr) on the weekends. 
But for many this is also too much...so 
Last year we  developed the Undulating Time Challenged Periodization plan in both Classic and Ilevel versions.  This is a 6-8 hrs a week program and think it would be perfect to balance your life and allow you time to do some strength and other activities.  

Here is the classic link but we have an ilevel version as well.  Just give us a shout if you want the code for this plan.
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/cycling/road-cycling/tp-151935/time-challenged-cyclist-undulating-periodization-base-and-build-20-week-plan-cla 

I have also attached a pdf. on how to gently trim the standard Tim Cusick 8-12 hr a week plan to those that want to try for 8-12 but might need to trim a few hours here and there when necessary. 
Good Luck and have a great weekend.

Kathy

Great advice Kathy!  I was going to suggest the same plan! 

@KathyWatts1 , @TimCusick

I have another training plan related question. I've been on the Full Season plan for 10 weeks now, building my fitness though Base (1-4) and Build (1-2) training. The program works great and I exercise religiously according to the plan. 

However, for some reason, test weeks are not written as structured workouts, like all the other workouts in the plan. The VO2max, FTP, Anaerobic Capacity and NP Sprint tests all have a written description, but no programmed structure that can be synced to my bike computer. A day before the workout, I go to my Trainingpeaks account and I build the workout according to the description. But, the time frame and the TSS level do not match the description. Here's an example - in the first test week NP Sprint test was about an hour. Later on test week 2, the same NP Sprint test became 1.5 hours, now (test week 4) its 2.5 hours with 125TSS but the description did not change from the first time the test was posted on the training calendar:


If I follow the description above, I would do warm-up (WU) and the Main Session 1 (MS1) for about 40min... then the description says that for MS2 I should "Ride remaining time in your Endurance zone". Meaning that for the 1 hour or 1.5 hours workouts it sort of make sense to fill the remaining timeframe with an Endurance ride set. But it seems very strange to follow this description for a 2.5 hour workout.

1. Is there a reason why on test weeks the workouts are not structured?
2. Do the test workouts follow the same pattern every test cycle, or should they change in content, intensity, and length as the training plan advances?
3. In order to achieve the goals of the test while not overtraining, what is the right way to ramp up the intensity that the training plan requires (if that's the plan's agenda)? Should I repeat the sets in the test?  Or should I do a different FTP test for example?
4. Is there a good resource you can point me to where I can read what to make of and how to understand the results of these tests (VO2Max, Anaerobic Capacity and NP Sprints in particular)?

Thanks!

So the "TEST" is how hard you can go so think it out.  To make that a structured workout, well that would only tell you that you followed the workout....   The goal of the test is MAX :-) 

TimCusick said:

So the "TEST" is how hard you can go so think it out.  To make that a structured workout, well that would only tell you that you followed the workout....   The goal of the test is MAX :-) 

I understand that I should aim for the MAX, but I don't understand your response. I can do my max on every sprint/interval but what does it mean? There must be a reason for doing 50-yard small ring sprints (50 or 250?) 6 times and not 1 time. I mean, I can do more intervals until I drop, but A. I want to stick with the prescribed test since you as a professional coach designed it, and.. who am I to change the test B. I don't want to overtrain. As you mentioned in the webinar, it's a common mistake people do. C. The training plan notes that the intensity goes up, and so do the tests (longer and more TSS). But it's just unclear to me how to meet these demands. D. How do I analyze the results of these tests?

Thanks!