Trainerroad

I meant to begin winter training last week, but half term and in laws sleeping in the turbo room meant it was delayed.

So, Sunday was the day and I started with a hundred hard earned miles in wet and windy Kent. I then fired up TR last night for the first time since before summer and put in two hours of endurance work, mixed with a few sets of over/unders and capped off with some tempo. I was expecting the legs to feel worse than they did, but it still hurt in places.

Anyway, I'm after advice about how best to plan winter training from those experienced in such matters.
The thing is I don't have any focused goals I'm training towards really. I don't want to race, I guess I'd just like to be a better cyclist next year than I am now.

For want of anything better to focus on, I'm planning to work on increasing my FTP over the winter months. It's currently at 330, which is 4.6 FTP/Kg and I like to see if I can get it to 5 FTP/Kg. I just thought having a target to aim for would be good motivation.

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

General advice is base miles until January/Feb, then throw in some intervals. My winter will be mostly sweetspot and tempo though.

This might sound daft, but should I be looking at putting in a certain number of miles a week? I'm aiming for the following each week - 90 miles commuting, a 100k club run and a two hour endurance paced turbo sessions in the week, which would put me at just under 200 miles a week. Should I be aiming for more? Or adding a few miles extra each week?

Pretty damn unlikely.

Edit: depending on ftp obviously.>

?

FTP of 300 watts, minute power of 450?

Hours probably more relevant than miles. 200 miles is, IMO, fine for winter. Mind you, with 4.6w/kg I should probably be asking you for advice!

To be clear, 4.6 isn't real power data. I don't have a PM, so this figure is the virtual power generated by Trainerroad.

3.48 w/kg now .. need improvement :|

To increase FTP 2x20.

Which I suspect Works partly because you get good at the 20 minute test. Which would make the resultant FTP less reflective of Your true ability. But 'Close-enough JPeg'.

I plan to do loads of 20 minute supra threshold work, and loads of base miles. Threshold when time is tight, and base when I have have more. I really need to up my FTP. I have great endurance, and short term Power. But I cant use these without an FTP that lets me keep up With the decent Groups (decent as in other fast Heavy mamils).

If I had the flexibility to follow a training plan. I'd just buy one off sufferfest. Mainly because I have the vids, and know them well.

For what its Worth my FTP is 290w (unfortunatly I'm 78kg though). Which is great and all (for a MAMIL). But I can't help but feel its my weakest link. As I intend to do a lot of races over 1km, and less than 400km NexT year. It needs addressing.

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Yeh, 4.6 is great!

I hate winter. Always inevitably lose form. I find that whatever I do on the Turbo, it's just not the same as being outdoors.

And I really struggle to get my heart rate up on a turbo, even if my legs are screaming at me. Does anyone else find this?

I was looking at your power curve on TrainerRoad and thought it had a rather sudden, sharp rise to it. All that rugby training, I guess?

#stalker

Your upper body isnt being used on the turbo. So youre asking your legs alone to demand enough oxygen to stress the heart.

I dont do much endurance stuff on trainer road. So the data is a bit off.

But you nailed it. Ive spent decades playing hooker. My legs being asked to perform agonising efforts for a handful of seconds. Then recover while I move at 'fast jog' around the pitch. Endursnce being key for a forward.

I suspect my low FTP relative to everything else is a result of this conditioning. I guess it'll chsnge over time, now that my training has changed to cycling.

I could do with just the opposite really.

Don't think I'll use rugby training to achieve it though D:

Now that I've realised the sufferfest workouts can be used without videos, I can see a lot of violation in the near future.

notaeuph

Nail your turbo to the floor!

I ended up moving around the workroom. Laptop fell down, skiis feel over nearly hitting me, poorly placed tools fell off the walls.....it was carnage.

This is why climbing is so hard gor me. Gravity wont allow me to just use short bursts to maintain pace. Feels brutal. Which is exactly why I do so much now.

The road machine is a lovely, stable platform and I've got it on a proper thick, weightlifting mat too ( I don't even lift, bro . ) Hopefully moving to the larger chainrings will help a bit, as the kinetic doesn't have the option of increasing the resistance.

poorly placed tools

I don't have those ;-)

I've never understood your HR data to be honest. Have you always used the same monitor/strap? I have a Garmin strap that consistantly adds 40bpm to whatever my real HR is.

If it is accurate, I'd live to see you do a max hr test.

I've always used the same unit/monitor, but had a few straps.

My HR seems to read ok when I'm on the road, but not a tall on the turbo. Also, it seems to be way more accurate when I'm mega sweaty and riding outside (even though I'm super sweaty on the turbo). I always pre-wet the strap and my sternum before putting it on.

I do have a low resting HR though (40-45bpm)

@jim1985

A lot of people try to carry summer fitness as far as they can. There is another way - detrain early (slowvember).

http://www.flammerouge.je/factsheets/heartbeats.htm

@amey, while I might occasionally mock the 'born-again Scherritans' one good use of the turbo is testing out any little changes you might want to try in your position and seeing how your power output is affected by them.

While these things would be done in some bike fits anyway, you now have the luxury of experimenting/fine-tuning in your own time.

Thats true. Although I know my fit up to a decent level missus has to do it on the road and give me feedback as she is petrified to ride on the rollers; if I had a turbo we could've got her fit better and faster ..

I will be doing the 20 min test and the workout that miro told on rollers this week and see if rollers are really working or not. I like the idea of rollers vs turbo. They are less noisy and dont need extra wheel/tyre. Space is of premium in my scenario. Someone is selling resistance rollers on BR atm ..

I disagree With that somewhat.

On the turbo my Reach feels far to long, my saddle to bar drop too big, and my saddle too hard. Out on the road I'm happy as.

So I cant judge comfort on the turbo. Also my most powerful position isnt my most aero. So I need to be moving to check efficiency. Much as big Power numbers look great in my training peaks files. I'd rather be moving quickly, With the minimal of Power output.

Yeah, there is always going to be a bit of that, particularly with the turbo not requiring any upper-body stability and yes, aeros ( non-chocolatey kind ) can't be effectively tested in the average garage/spare room :-)

Perhaps because I'm 'training' for off-road stuff, the aero gains & losses become far less of an issue?

It's certainly helped with fine-tuning my position for comfort & injury prevention though.

Tldr- ymmv

I'm running the planet x resist rollers (only £160) which have got quite a lot of room for me to progress (the whole larger chainring) on the roadbike.

they are apparently made by SportsCrafters, thought having to balance would make it less boring than turbo (and quieter for housemate)

they definitely seem to under report watts on virtual power though (could be my legs are under reporting maybe....)

Does Virtual Power know what resistance they are set to?

IME what works on the turbo feels completely different on the road. Had my TT bike on the turbo for 2 months no problems, then took it on the road and it felt unrideable.