cyclingtrainingblog
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Latest Posts by cyclingtrainingblog
FTP Increases vs Progression Level Decreases | Training Journal #4
I tabbed a big red button and now somewhat regret it.
After my Monday rest day, I completed a sweetspot and an endurance workout. Nothing special during those.
Then, after I finished last night's endurance ride, Trainerroad (TR) told me that an AI FTP detection was available. I briefly considered postponing it until the end of this week which happens to be my last "proper" week of base 1 (by proper I mean "not recovery" which of course is important as well). But then, you know, these red buttons are enticing. And so I tabbed.
The AI told me that my FTP had increased by 6 watts. Nothing spectacular. But in the TR world, FTP increases come at an opportunity cost: your progression levels (PLs) will go down. If you aren't aware of what PLs on TR are, you can read this blog post. The tl;dr is that PLs assess your capabilities in specific zones based on the workouts you completed and your responses to them. PLs are then used to pick adequate workouts for you in those zones.
Instead of only relying on your FTP number, this means workout selection can be more fine-tuned. PLs will, for example, influence the length of the intervals at a given intensity and the rest periods between them (indirectly, by picking workouts of certain TR-internal scores). And that's exactly where said opportunity cost comes in.
Once I accepted the FTP change - which I once again did have to confirm, so no one to blame but myself - my PLs dropped rather significantly. While I don't know the algorithm TR uses, a Threshold drop from 5 to 3.4 seems significant, especially given the rather small increase in FTP watts.
Those PL drops, then, resulted in a change of my next workouts. I had finally trained up to the point that my upcoming sweetspot workout would have included 15-minute intervals. The workout it was replaced with only has (more) 4-minute intervals.
Why is that bugging me a bit, you wonder?
Well, the below episode of the rather brilliant Empirical Cycling podcast explains why there is a minimum duration that your FTP/Threshold intervals should have in order to effectively stress the targeted energy system and trigger the intended adaptations - around 15 minutes, according to Kolie Moore.
I assume that the same logic applies to other zones/energy systems too. Moreover, the lower the zone/intensity, the longer the minimum time should be. So in the case of sweetspot intervals, 15 minutes is really the bottom end of effective SS work.
Now, don't get me wrong, it's certainly a good choice by TR to ramp people up to higher interval durations. Progressive overload, target audience, and so forth. And the PL system makes a lot of sense to me as well. It's just that I would have certainly preferred to finish my training block with longer intervals, even at slightly lower watts. And I have the hunch that it would have been the better choice in terms of physiological adaptations as well.
As said, Trainerroad gave me the choice and I did have some doubts about going ahead. So I should have postponed the AI FTP detection by a few days. But then, from a system design aspect, it would maybe make more sense, in a situation like mine, to postpone the prominent call-to-action ("new AI FTP detection available") until the recovery week. After all, it's hard to resist the curiosity and potential gratification that might come with a higher FTP.
Family-Friendly Endurance Rides on the Ebike
I sometimes train on an ebike. That's right I said it.
Some parts of the cycling world are still anti-ebike - you might wanna call them purists or snobs, depending on your PoV - but I think the sentiment has shifted a bit lately. Mine included.
We got our family ebike after we had our first kid. Initially, I really didn't like the idea of getting an ebike. I always considered it something for the old or handicapped, not for young(-ish), fit adults. But I agreed to get one anyway as my better half had a convincing case after all:
As we live on a small mountain above our hometown (with some 10+ % gradient segments), an ebike is kind of necessary if you want to go shopping with the kids but without the car. And even if you don't have to carry the additional weight of kids plus shopping, it's sometimes nice to be able to come home without having to jump straight under the shower.
Long story short, we got our family ebike.
Later, not so long ago actually, I discovered something that would change my view on the bike completely: it has a power meter built-in! Suddenly, the ebike turned from a convenient mobility solution into a potential training tool. And a brilliant one at this.
Not only do we live on a (small) mountain. We are also surrounded by even more small mountains. The Odenwald area is a low mountain range that contains some of the nicest gravel/offroad routes you can ride around here.
Before discovering the ebike's power meter, all this natural beauty was off the limits on easy days (thanks to a lack of power and optimized gearing). And as I was lacking a power meter on my "real" bike, I couldn't do structured hard workouts outdoors either. (Plus, I often only find time to train after the kids are in bed.)
All in all, I ended up doing most of my rides on the trainer for the last year or so. I aim to change this trend again going forward. One key piece to this puzzle is the ebike-turned-trainer. It unlocks a wealth of new ride options, in particular for my easy days. That's especially great on the weekend, because I can ride during daytime and even take the kids.
What a great, family-friendly training option.
Sick Weekend Workouts | Training Journal Entry #3
My kids got me. Last week, they brought a cold home from their nursery. By Friday I felt the cold coming myself. Luckily nothing severe, just a congested nose and a little cough.
Earlier this year, I had two severe stretches of coughing for weeks. During both, I had decided to not train until fully recovered. Which took seven(!) and 4 weeks respectively as the cough simply wouldn't go away completely.
This time around, I decided to take a different approach. In an episode of the Matchbox Podcast that I had recently listened to, the hosts mentioned that short-duration (below 2 hours), higher-intensity workouts can actually be helpful for the immune system at least if the sickness isn't too severe. Given that I felt quite good apart from the congestion, I figured to give it a shot.
On Saturday, I completed my 1.5h threshold workout - which even included little spikes into VO2 Max territory - and it worked very well. When I was done, I even felt better than before as the workout had cleared some of the congestion.
On Sunday, I put our kids in the bike trailer and used our ebike for a 1.5-hour zone 2-ish ride in the sun which, as a little bonus, made the little ones fall asleep. In short, a great success, especially as we enjoyed the playground and pizzas afterward. Back home, I even got my strength workout in to finish the weekend training off.
All things considered, I'm happy I trained. I'm still congested and obviously, it's impossible to know whether or not I'd be in better condition if I hadn't trained. But at least I have the feeling that the training didn't hurt. So unless my state worsens, I'll keep on keeping on this time around.
Dialing in Zone 2 | Training Journal Entry 2
Yesterday I did another endurance workout, Navetta. As mentioned last time, I'm currently trying to dial in workout intensity to hit Z2 in terms of power AND heart rate.
After raising the intensity by 5% I got my HR into the lower end of Z2, so that's the approach I'll stick with for now, i.e. until my FTP is updated and/or the TR Progression Level increases result in slightly more intense workouts being selected.
I started a fun little thread over on the TrainerRoad forum to discuss this a bit. The most interesting questions that I need to research in a bit more detail are:
How important is it that HR is not below HR Z2 for workout effectiveness?
What adaptations are specific to Zone 2 or most efficiently/effectively triggered by training in Zone 2. Keywords are certainly "growing" mitochondria, increasing the efficiency of mitochondria, fat oxidation, etc.
Strength Training for Cyclists (Mostly Bodyweight)
Strength training is essential for cyclists. Besides the obvious, leg strength (quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves), core strength is also highly important, e.g. to improve stability on the bike and, thus, the efficiency of the pedal stroke, as well as to prevent injuries.
As I haven't done strength training in quite some time - and serious weight lifting never even - I started to implement a bodyweight-based workout routine (to which I slowly and progressively add external loads).
As YouTube is a great place to find exercises and workout routines, I started my journey there and found the following videos quite helpful. They contain some really cool exercises that I currently use and combine to create my workouts.
If you have any exercises you recommend that are not mentioned in there, let me know.
Adding Zone 2 | Training Journal Entry #1
A bit of housekeeping at the beginning.
What? My cycling training blog, as the name suggests. Old school blogging style, personal journal of my cycling training.
Why? To keep my thoughts, track my journey, maybe be helpful to others on their cycling journey
Who? I'm a husband, daddy of two, founder of a software company, 37 years old, based in Germany. When it comes to cycling, I mostly ride gravel. I started to take cycling up as a sport about 2 years ago (in my teens I rode road). So far I haven't participated in any competitive events but am interested in doing so next year if my other commitments allow me to do so.
Current status
I've been training on/off with Trainerroad for almost a year now. This year I had several multi-week breaks due to sickness, mostly long-lasting coughs.
I restarted a plan from Base 1 3.5 weeks ago, so I'm currently in Base 1. I decided to give the low-volume sweet spot base plan a try this time around. For now, I don't train for a specific event. I'll pick some goal events in 2024 a bit later. I'm currently just interested in improving my fitness and building a solid base I can utilize next year.
As often suggested by the TR team, I started to add in Zone 2 endurance workouts. I did a 90 Min, 49 TSS, 0.57 IF workout (Little Park) on Sunday. I realized that the power targets TR prescribes (between 50 to 59% of FTP) are barely touching zone 2 (Coggan has it starting at 56% of FTP up to 75%, Inigo San Millan at 55% [but allegedly tends to favor training on the higher end of Z2]). Also, my heart rate didn't reach my zone 2.
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Finding out your Zone 2 HR zone
There are different ways how HR Zones are defined (Jeff Winkler has a good overview here). The simpler way is to go of your max HR but the approach people like Seiler recommend is to use your HR Reserve (HRR) which is your Max HR (MHR) minus your Resting HR (RHR). If you take this approach, Zone 2 is as follows
Zone 2 minimum boundary = 61% HRR + RHR
Zone 2 maximum boundary = 70% HRR + RHR
In my case with a MHR of 186 and RHR of 46 that leads to Zone 2 lying between 131-144 bpm.
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In the Little Park workout, my maximum HR was 129 and the average was 120. All that is to say, I am monitoring the TR endurance workouts and might have to make them a bit harder. Today, I have scheduled a 2-hour, 72 TSS, 0.6 IS workout (classified by TR as "Stretch") which has power between 55-65% of FTP which I think should do the trick.
Of course, overall I have to be mindful of the general training load and stress. Famously, the TR plans are quite high in intensity. While adding Z2 volume is the safest way to go, even upping volume at lower intensities ought to happen mindfully and with a keen eye on the body's response.