Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

you are right, I was looking at AP, used the formula above and got the same figures TP reported, I guess the perceived effort of ride 2 was much greater and the AP difference threw me off.

sorry guys, as you were.

Probably been covered before, so apolz:

How does the recovery time estimate on the garmin actually work? is it based on time in HR zone? I know it's best taken with a pinch of salt but interested nonetheless.

I was quite satisfied to get a '50 hour' time this morning after a 50 min turbo session. 1 hour per minute. my HR was through the roof however.

I think it's some aspect of cumulative calculated fatigue (a la CTL) but mostly it's the HR Variability (HRV) stuff they bought from FirstBeat.

The more regular and evenly spaced your individual heart beats are the more stressed/fatigued you are.

I got a '60 hours' from just 40 minutes of 5-a-side (and only an hour or so of light stuff in the 7 days before that) but I've got a heavy head cold at the moment so my body is all over the place. Only 9 days until IM Wales. Joy.

I thought it was based on heart rate varibility (HRV). Which is and indication of how quickly Your heart reacts to stress, and how quickly it recovers.

I find it pretty spot on. Sometimes a low TSS workout will give me epic recovery time if its poorly timed (when I'm already fatigued). I can feel it too. Used together With TSB its a great indicator of freshness.

https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/heart-rate-variability/

I had 3.5 days the other weekend. Which seemed harsh.

The NeXT day I was in the Mountains and low and behold I could barely pedal.

Thanks @Smallfurry and @Greenbank

I knew the pointless recovery checker at the start of a workout (the one that ALWAYS says 'good' even when i feel like a dead man walking) was based on HRV, didn't realise it was for the post-workout one too

I often get fair.

Mid triathlon on Sunday I restarted my garmin after only 2km of the bike leg and it said 'poor'. Fuck you Garmin, way to Cheer a tired man on......

I've had "good" from the recovery checker when I'm feeling great and rested, and when I'm feeling shattered for seemingly endless training, but I've always managed to get through whatever I needed to do that day.

But, on the rare times the recovery checker has said "fair" (I've never had poor) it's been utterly horrible and I've often had to cut short what I'm doing, back way off on the intensity or plain stop.

After this mornings commute in I'm down to 23 hours recovery time, which is good since I've got an hour of 5-a-side in 7 hours' time. My guess is the recovery will be >48 hours after the game. Fecking head cold.

I have 'fair' loads.

I did a 60min turbo session on the tri bike then headed striaght out for a run. When I started the run garmin said 'fair' and I went on to set a 2016 5km PB. I suspect I'd have struggled to do anything longer though.

I also get epic recovery times.

My peronal feeling is that something in the nature of my heart puts it somewhat outside the assumptions firstbeat made. So while I take nterest in the data. I dont follow thew specific numbers.

Using trainerroad, and will be doing 2/3 morning fasted sessions per week, at around an hour each.

Does anyone here have a recommendation for particular TR workouts to use? I want to increase endurance, muscle strength, lose some weight and increase my v02max.

An easier V02 max to ease yourself in is Raymond. Or if you want to check your FTP then Goethe, the 4x10 threshold intervals.

brodouevensearch?

There's chatter about it back here..
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/171238/?offset=1200#comment12924364

Thanks - I'm assuming these won't be too OTT for doing fasted? I'm assuming I can do slightly harder sessions after getting used to doing fasted workouts.

Hmm, it might be to fair - I did them most recently after work, so definitely not fasted. Maybe try Mount Field and see how sweetspot stuff goes?

I'd definitely look more towards sweetspot intervals.

Wont do much for VO2 max. But With a few short low cadence/ high torque intervals mixed into the sweetspot you can work the muscles a bit.

Yeah, I wouldn't go much over 95% FTP when I'm half asleep and fasted, but then I'm a pussy.

Just worked out that my base training up to January (not starting till well into next month) will be ~220TSS of turbo, 100TSS of commuting and 200TSS of outdoor tempo rides. Would get my CTL up to around 75 before getting into the build.

Sound sensible?

That sounds really good.

If you can commute at recovery. Even better.

SS can do a lot for Vo2 max. Depends on your body.

I never do Vo2 work anymore and my Vo2 rises a lot.
I did like 1 Vo2 workout last year and still set my best ever 5 min power.

Genetics.

hello fit people

i went to give blood yesterday and was told my Hb was too low (125g/l). never happened before in 10 years off and on of donating.

I've been riding much more this year, and wondered if that was to do with it. I did 200k at the weekend and then commuted to work in the week; probably the most i've ridden in 7 days since my teens.

any advice on what i should eat / drink / other stuff to do? I sweat a heluva lot and i've read that can reduce your iron levels.

i had a full medical last year inc bloods and organ function tests; all was ok at that point

thanks for any advice.

Eat more hamburgers.

Consume orange juice or anything else high in vitamin c when you eat your greens.

Great, i love hamburgers.

I've stocked up on cavolo nero. will find some vitamin c stuff to go with it. and parmesan and garlic and pasta.

I've never found any use to that garmin recovery time. It always says I'm good once I get going even if In the morning it said 24hrs recovery and then I commute home.

Consequently by the time I have commuted home it then says '12hrs'.

And I've definitely felt like garbage and not 'good'. I'm sure my zones are set up rught too.

On another note.

How common is DOMS? I seem to get the bulk of my muscle soreness days after training.

For example, this week I did some high intensity intervals on tues, felt fine and so repeated on weds. Thursday easy commute then by Friday felt like I was pedaling through treacle and could hardly walk up stairs. Today feel fine.

I've noticed this a lot and often been confused as to why I felt awful the day after an easy ride when it is probably DOMS from a couple of days ago.

Is DOMS a sign of anything, like not recovering properly through rest or eating? Does anyone else get DOMS, all the time?

Enjoy your DOMS while you have them, they will disappear when your body adapts to your efforts.

@apc as @theukr refers to, i used to get DOMs when i first started riding harder and longer (i.e., 'training') rather than just using a bike as transport.

i sometimes notice more of an ache in the legs if i didn't eat well during or after a ride, so consider that. and try some stretching

Back to back interval sessions? Are you mental?