Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

I'm having a mild panic at the moment because my ramp is slightly negative despite an increase in sessions. I'm doing the trainerroad sweet spot base mid volume, and hitting about 550 TSS a week through a mixture of sweet spot (obvs), threshold and over unders + an endurance/tempo ride on a Sunday. I did recently change my FTP as it was wrong in TP, and my mFTP in WKO4 was higher than my tested FTP (which didn't surprise me much).

Could the negative ramping just be a result of the sharp changes in FTP and not being able to backdate it that accurately, or should I be doing more (same sessions at a higher FTP) to prevent a loss of fitness over the winter?

I thought I'd trial trainingpeaks for a couple of weeks and got a snide copy of WKO4 but that graph is just making me anxious now...

I've put a chunk on my mFTP over the summer which explains why my recent trainerroad sessions are perhaps feeling easier than they should. Is mFTP more reliable than a proper FTP test? I don't think I test well, so I wouldn't be surprised if my actual output was higher than what I put out in a rollers FTP test.

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Heh

Too much information isn't good for me. Maybe I should just stop worrying and ride on feel.

The mFTP graph in WKO4 is really satisfying though. 30w gain over the summer.

I see plateau. Decrease workload of course your CTL will fall.

If looking at graphs is making you anxious you should put them away and ride your bike more.

that would solve falling ctl

Yeah, win win.

That'll be £300 @dglshrn. £50 off hippy's super duper fabtastic coaching if you recommend another victim client.

Ha. The graph was so pretty before I corrected the FTP. I feel like I'm training more, but TSS from 1hr indoor rides doesn't really compare to the 4 hour hilly midweek rides I was able to do in the summer.

I'll throw an extra midweek session in and see if that helps. I'm like a moth to a flame when it comes to data. I don't know quite what it means, but I'm fairly sure I could be working harder.

Don't chase CTL numbers, it's not the be all and end all. Composition counts.
You've changed composition, so losing CTL isn't necessarily a problem.

That's what I need to hear, thanks. I suppose it's inevitable that fewer long rides, plus having a correct FTP will have an effect on CTL.

It's always a little inevitable that CTL is going to drop a bit over autumn / winter anyway, surely? Not able to ride so much + maybe riding at less intensity?

And you can't have that line going up forever or you're not really going to start increasing in spring when you want to be smashing it.

But all of that may be wrong.

Rinse, repeat.

Is that 3 hard:1 easy then (rinse, repeat) until tapering? Do you reset your FTP after each easy week?

Am I being dense here or should your TSS not theoretically stay the same if your FTP is increasing as well, or is it that an increase in base fitness allows you to spend more time at threshold and beyond? I'm being dense I think.

That's not my chart, it's an example of a growing CTL which will then fall in the off season and you start again next year. No, I change my FTP based on feel, racing, testing.

OIC. Thanks again. I'll go and read Joe Friel and stop with all the inane questions.

I am planning to use plenty of them as part of my base training for next year. Basically starting around 88% for 2x20 and working up to 95% for 3x30 with progressive interval length, shortening rest interval and intensity.

It means the sessions will end up going over an hour but it's a lower stress session that doesn't smash my eyeballs out but is enough of a TSS filler - I'd love to just do long rides all winter unfortunately not feasible for me.

I'm doing the TrainerRoad Rolling Road Race programme, it's two hour-long interval sessions during the week then a slightly longer 1.5hr on at the weekend. I'm skipping every weekend ride as I'm racing - very unstructured, usually a train to the HQ, 4 min eyeballs out effort then a bimble home.

Should I actually just search out TR workouts that feature 2 to 4 minute all out efforts that mimic HCs and arrange two during the week as I see fit? I'm only following the programme to give some kind of structure, but as I'm also almost ignoring that it seems pointless. The taper / TSS rest week etc are out the window as I'm racing every weekend from now until November and want to perform well in all of them.

Eyeballs-out 4 min intervals to make me stronger doing eyeballs-out race efforts. Makes sense right?

Or should I do a hard one at the start of the week then a recovery type less hard session later in the week?

This looks pretty ideal

https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/1379-rattlesnake

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It seems like it would make sense to do intervals at a cadence and power that mimic what you're doing on a HC, but I know nothing. Maybe mix it up with Russian steps or something? And surely sticking some sweet spot/tempo 'recovery' stuff would be good to maintain your base fitness.

But maybe doing longer threshold intervals that dip into VO2 max would be more beneficial. As far as trainerroad stuff goes, have you looked at the crit specific plans? They would presumably offer more short, hard effort specialism.

I may be over complicating this but:

I want to do some sessions where the first half is very easy and fasted, the second is hard interval stuff, which I want to be fuelled for.

How would you advise fuelling for it? Eating something small as soon as I start the whole ride so it's digested for the hard second half? Or something very quick digesting like a gel as soon as the going gets tough?

I know the obvious solution would be two desperate sessions but I just know I won't get on my turbo twice in one day coz,well, CBA really

What are you trying to achieve by these double sessions?

I'm a bit concerned. I've given up riding on the road for the time being (work and baby) so am entirely tubo based. I'm on a smart trainer with a heart rate meter for the first time and I'm noticing stupid high heart rates of ~220+bpm.

I'd figure equipment malfunction, but there are no irregularities, no spikes, gaps or jumping around, it's all totally fine and reasonable when I get on the bike and for all of my regular intervals and 'fun' sessions. The graphs tallies with RPE, climbs as you'd expect and recovers as you'd expect, just goes up too high.

Equipment calibration issues? Freakishly high, but natural heart rate? Some kind of irregular heart activity at extreme effort the meter can't track giving a high reading? Would my GP be interested in this?

Just achieving two things at once really - a bit of technique and cadence stuff first, whilst doing the fat burning stuff, and then the hard power development things.
I bet you're going to tell me either they need to be kept separate and / or that i'm trying to achieve two contrasting goals.

First thing to do would be press your finger against your neck and find out what your pulse actually is!

Yeah the last sentence.

Just concentrate on one really

I do like doing 4h rides, where I fuel but not quite enough. Then come the last hour, I'll do a 20-40 min effort at about all I can manage. Until I bonk. Then I'll ride home for whatever it takes totally depleted. There good.
But if your doing short turbo rides, just fuel up and train hard. Training hard does not mean your body isn't becoming better at burning fat.