Craig Zolan said:

JP - what do you mean by "two-up" TT effort? 

I was hammering on 9W solo, then joined up with a  second.  Then a guy came from River road, chased us down at the Closter Dock light,and the two of us dropped the third, rode as hard as we could to the GWB taking 1m pulls.

No,

Normalized power is an algorithm meant better determine the physiological strain of varied efforts. We typically do not use it as a reliable measurement for anything under 30 minutes.

If you want you can use 60 minutes normalized power from a hard race effort to give a good estimate of FTP.

Send me the workout file itself (not link) and i can give you a good estimate.


Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O. 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
tim@peakscoachinggroup.com
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

Barf

http://tpks.ws/HCm4

FWIW, 107.2 TSS for 1:10:26 where 67% was spent in PWR Z1 is making me feel pretty damn good right now... mentallly that is, physically still pukey.

Vlad,

Nice workout, you KILLED IT! Interesting effect going on here. Take a look at what I did below. You put out great power and have great “W” recovery rate (or you were holding back, of FTP set too low). This is a very good thing. Note the HR effect I point out and explain what you were feeling? Did it match your feelings in the one minutes? Did your HR “feel” less in the 1 minutes? Was your HR the limiter to going harder in the 1 minutes?


Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O. 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
tim@peakscoachinggroup.com
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

Hey Tim - How do you suggest one handle unplanned days off the bike? For instance, yesterday I was feeling pretty under the weather. Badly sore throat, some minor aches, and the works, and opted to just rest rather than try and squeeze in an evening ride -- morning was out of the question due to how I felt -- and then an early morning ride today. 

I still felt crummy today, but since most of the issue was above the neck this morning, I went for it. What do you suggest in situations like this?

Tim, 

Can you re-post your call-out comments to the chart of Vlad's interval set? I enjoy reading the commentary call-outs, but for some reason, don't see the usual attachment with your comments above.

Thanks!
Avi


TimCusick said:

Vlad, Nice workout, you KILLED IT! Interesting effect going on here. Take a look at what I did below. You put out great power and have great “W” recovery rate (or you were holding back, of FTP set too low). This is a very good thing. Note the HR effect I point out and explain what you were feeling? Did it match your feelings in the one minutes? Did your HR “feel” less in the 1 minutes? Was your HR the limiter to going harder in the 1 minutes? Timothy Cusick President | Peaks Coaching Group O. 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382 tim@peakscoachinggroup.com www.peakscoachinggroup.com

Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O. 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
tim@peakscoachinggroup.com
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

Adam,

When in doubt rest. You have to know when you feel bad enough not to risk it and sounds like you did the right thing. The above the neck thing tricky, old wives tale. Sick is sick …we too sick to train is sick.

So if you miss a day, don’t try to make up the day you come back. A way you can “make up” is in days 3 - 5 after the miss day, add about 10% more to each day (1 more interval, 20 more minutes, plenty of ways to do it) but avoid “stacking” or trying to do a double workout the day you are back.


Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O. 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
tim@peakscoachinggroup.com
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

So I started my sprint workouts tonight and on the 3rd set I snapped a Speedplay X cleat...and that's the story I'm sticking with

I couldn't get through the 50s interval in the first block. That was a short workout.

Team,

Working on next training cycle today / tonight.  Any feedback, thoughts or considerations?  Things going ok?

I kinda love the current schedule, it makes complete sense --- seems to basically be like:

• M: Rest
• T: Interval
• W: Tempo/Long
• T: Interval
• F: Prepare
• S: Race or Long
• S: Race or Long
• Repeat 3 times then rest/test/race

One consideration are the Tuesday and Thursday night races, but unless someone is targeting those, we can probably just interchange the interval workout for the race, or something like it.

Good feedback, will add the racing.....

Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

Thursday night races start this month and go through the summer. Tuesday night races start in May and also go through the summer.

They're generally intense 1hr efforts at or around FTP peppered with sustained VO2+ efforts (1-3min range).

I recently parted ways with  my coach and will be starting up with the next cycle. I'm looking forward to it.

For the time crunched cyclist on the weekend who can only get out for one endurance ride and who isn't racing are there other options such as sweet spot 2 or 3 x 20s?

Ok Peaks fans, time to renew for April-June
Same low price, same awesome coaching!

Almost done with new plans, except lots of suffering and dry heaves....love this sport :-)

Next cycle will really focus on the development of race pace speed and power built off the base of the last cycle. I built in alternate workouts on Tuesday and Thursday racing so you can chose one or the other as part of your training (but read my notes).

Looking forward too it!!

Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

I am also getting in on this, sounds awesome.

Team,

I posted the next four weeks of workouts for everyone.  Please confirm you received the correct plan (Cat 1-3 or Cat 4-5) by checking Monday April 13th as you will the plan noted.  

A few things:
1. I added racing on Tuesday and Thursday.  Too much racing is not a good thing!  This time of year is tough to write general training plans, as the athlete you need to balance training, racing and rest so you might need to adjust the schedule some.  Depending on age, try not to do more that 3 higher intensity or training race workouts a week.  Younger maybe 4 here and there, older, just me more careful.  Also READ ME TRAINING RACE NOTES!

2.  You will note I put "drop" days into the plans if you do not have 6 days a week to train, look at them, should make sense.

3.  I put alt workouts on Tuesday and Thursday for those not racing, same with each weekend.

4.  I tried to limit time as i know most on this list pretty maxed out.  Do what you can in the order written if too long.  

5.  As always I will answer questions to plans and workouts, just let me know.

For the next few months, will keep writing plans in 4 week cycles so i can tweak and adjust as we go.

Good luck, looking forward to your feedback!

Tim

TRAINING RACE - TRAINING ADVICE:
This is good advice for everyone, but really important to Cat 3 and up to better prepare for upgrades and/or success in our cat.  Try this as your focus of the next three (3) training races.

1.  DO NOT TRY TO WIN, TURN THAT OFF IN YOUR MIND.  Winning breaks down the ideas of learning tactics as it leads to a lot of mistakes.  I know, crazy but think about it.

2.  GOAL:  For the next three training races, focus 100% on learning to stay in the front 10-15 riders WITHOUT doing much, if any, work.  DO NOT THINK ABOUT WINNING FROM THE FRONT just totally focus on staying up there.  This is a CORE base skill that all racers need to stay in the mix.  You can practice your great sprint or lead out all you want but if not there AT THE FINISH, wasted time.  Sometimes I have clients use the lap button to track time in TOP 10 (be careful).

Can you spend more than 50% of the total race time in the top spots?  60%?

This is really hard to do (and wont always make you popular) but efficiency and economy wins races and too often riders focus on pure power.  Yes, you must be strong to win but learning to maximize what you have is key.  In the forums I have seen some pretty sharp tactical advice from a team member, maybe they can help you figure out "how" to do this.

Thanks, Tim! new plan from April 13 looks good. Looking forward to it.

Also, completely love the simple but hard goal to stay at the front of the race.

Tim, 
     I've been uploading ride files to training peaks and the files get slotted in to different places and then colored in.  IS there a way to slot the rides into the proper places?  What do the colors mean?

@mugwump

• Open the workout you want to upload to, click on upload:
• Once you upload, ignore the recalculate screen, it is bad interface design, just click anywhere to continue.
• Alternatevely, if you delete all the workouts except for the one you did, the upload should probably work -- also helps keeps the weekly schedule tidy
• RED: Didn't really do it
• YELLOW: Kinda did it
• GREEN: Nailed it
• Tim can provide detail on where the actual thresholds are, but I would focus on getting a good solid workout, and ignore the colors.

cheers!

Tim (aka Eloy),
     I've been using Device Agent.  Simpler.  I don't want to take the time to do them all individually.  

Then just delete the workouts you're not going to do so that device agent only has one to auto-upload to. 

Team,

 

Sorry slow reply, buried in software stuff.  The simple answer is to use Device Agent and just select the rides you want to load.  As pointed out, can delete files off your device if don't want to see them in list.

 

For those using Garmin (particulary newer ones with Bluetooth or WiFi) Garmin Connect / Express is automagic, read here:  https://connect.garmin.com/en-US/start/

 

To auto link to your TrainingPeaks account, read here: https://home.trainingpeaks.com/garminconnect

 

I am supposed to have a special code today to allow you to update your TrainingPeaks account to Premium for a discount, look for updates tonight.

 

Also, have time tomorrow to do 2-3 file reviews in the morning, anyone have something to be reviewed (I know I owe one)?  Something you want answered?

 

Team,

Sorry slow reply, buried in software stuff. The simple answer is to use Device Agent and just select the rides you want to load. As pointed out, can delete files off your device if don't want to see them in list.

For those using Garmin (particulary newer ones with Bluetooth or WiFi) Garmin Connect / Express is automagic, read here: https://connect.garmin.com/en-US/start/

To auto link to your TrainingPeaks account, read here: https://home.trainingpeaks.com/garminconnect

I am supposed to have a special code today to allow you to update your TrainingPeaks account to Premium for a discount, look for updates tonight.

Also, have time tomorrow to do 2-3 file reviews in the morning, anyone have something to be reviewed (I know I owe one)? Something you want answered?


Timothy Cusick
President | Peaks Coaching Group
O 717.467.5078 C. 717.515.5382
www.peakscoachinggroup.com

Also, to answer the color question:

Color coding in the new app is as follows. This was available in the classic app but not set to default. 

• Green: Completed time +- 20% of planned time
• Yellow: Completed time between 50%-79% or 121-150% of planned time
• Red: Not completed or Completed time less than 50% of planned time or greater than 150% of planned time

Tim...my file from April 4th...It is 20 miles worth of a park race (flat tire ended my race).  The race was in a park that I do most of my races in.  The file should provide you with some info concerning the route and the effort required to stay in the pack.  Can you provide any specific training info to prepare me for this course?  The race finishes after a short climb so the legs are sapped coming into the sprint.   Thanks