[cderalow]

i just need to sort out the bluetooth 4 dongle on my mac mini so I don't have to drag my laptop downstairs to exercise now.

[Poolie]

I'm starting week 3 of the Intermediate Base plan tonight and I've already seen my 20 minute output go up 43 watts.

[Xela]

Originally Posted by Poolie

I'm starting week 3 of the Intermediate Base plan tonight and I've already seen my 20 minute output go up 43 watts.

Wow! Fantastic!

[robuk794]

I've just finished reading Sir Bradley Wiggins' autobiography (Complete National Hero over here) and its mindblowing to read that he can put in a solid 450 watts for a full hour for his TT runs. I can manage 78 watts less than that for a full.........5 seconds :-)

The spinning/high cadence stuff on the 8 minute test was ok for me, it was the power in my legs that drained during the 8 minute workouts. As a plan, I'm going to try to keep my cadence at 90 for most of my steady state workouts, and just adjust gearing accordingly. Eventually, I assume I'll gradually be able to increase the gear I turn at 90rpm.

I'm looking at you more more experienced riders for tips on this one. Is that a reasonable approach? If its foolish, I'd rather have the plan pulled apart and destroyed in favour of a smarter option than waste my time on it.

[robuk794]

Originally Posted by Poolie

I'm starting week 3 of the Intermediate Base plan tonight and I've already seen my 20 minute output go up 43 watts.

I'm looking for the Intermediate Base Plan on TrainerRoad as we speak and can't find it. Am I being an idiot here? :-)

[mars_yeldir]

Up at the top of the screen on the right you will see PLANS. It is in there. I thought PLANS was about payment plans but it is training.

[robuk794]

Awesome, got it. Just done Gayley to start Intermediate Base plan 1. I now have a training plan

www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/200744 - Try not to chuckle at the impossibly low threshold LOL

Couldn't resist the last little part, just to see how I could do, knew I didn't have to keep anything left in the tank, so max'd it out.

[Poolie]

Originally Posted by robuk794

Awesome, got it. Just done Gayley to start Intermediate Base plan 1. I now have a training plan

www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/200744 - Try not to chuckle at the impossibly low threshold LOL

Couldn't resist the last little part, just to see how I could do, knew I didn't have to keep anything left in the tank, so max'd it out.

Good job! The base plan is teaching me that high cadence/low resistance truly is the way to go. When you get to your first workout with 20 minute intervals at the end of next week you'll see what I'm talking about.

[robuk794]

I thought I'd give a brief review on how I'm doing here. Mainly because I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now. But also because I think for amateurs like myself, starting up on this, doing what I've done is worthwhile

I got my TrainerRoad account up and running about a week ago now, and the first thing I done was the 8 minute test. The default threshold is 200, and as I had no idea, I left it at that, and cracked on with the workout/test. Safe to say, I blew up early during the test. The target was too high for me, and I overcooked myself (I was probably toast before I even hit the first session, truth be told). Anyway, the results can be seen on my performance, I lasted about 15 seconds at 200, then just faded away.
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/199053 I ended up with an FTP of 130

1 week on, and I'd done 3 more monitored rides with my FTP at 130. I got 2 new tyres fitted on Saturday, and felt I should recalibrate myself for 2 reasons.
1) New tyres.
2) With a more realistic FTP to work with, leading up to the actual 8 minute efforts, I thought I could increase my threshold.

I began at 100% of FTP effort, after clearing effort 2 I upped it up to 110% to see if I could hold it during the tests (Hence the clearing efforts are below required effort levels)

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/208761 I managed to increase my threshold by 40W over the past week. From 130 up to 170

I think my body is back into my cycling mindset with a little recovered muscle memory fitness, I was working with a better starting point, so I didn't burn out too quickly, but most importantly, I'm starting to learn about gearing a bit better. As you mentioned, I cranked up the cadence, but on a lower gear ratio, and I didn't burn up my quads as quickly as before. I managed my effort a lot better than last time.

I definitely think one week in, a recalibration of your ability is in order if you're a relative newbie like myself

[clappd]

If you want to take it to the next level, download Golden Cheetah software and start compiling and analyzing masses of data from your trainerroad sessions. It's free, but you won't figure it all out in a few minutes. But it's worth the time it takes.