Trainerroad

Need a decent warm up if getting straight on after waking otherwise you'll do yourself a harm.

im absolutely awful at this rollers and trainerroad lark

warming up for 5 mins or so from 70-90 or so on the 'virtual power' thing,

can only hack 15 minutes at 90-110 before I'm on the floor

This is why you are 'training'.

i seem to be getting worse

I regularly start mine at 7am but need to have up for an hour for a coffee and a banana. Couldn't get on straight out of bed.

Well, I'd been up for half an hour and had half a cup of tea and a bit of cereal whilst setting everything up, but it was grim. Definitely need some more time to get the body to wake up.

I think part of the thing with TR is it's quite mentally exhausting - you seem to spend a lot of time staring at the power meter to see if you're 'hitting the numbers' which is kinda tiring in itself!

That gets easier over time as you become accustomed to the way generating a particular power level feels. Obviously it's harder to settle on a consistent power output if you're thrashing madly to try to hit the numbers.

Rogan, have you done the 8-minute test and set your ftp properly?

I think part of the thing with TR is it's quite mentally exhausting - you seem to spend a lot of time staring at the power meter to see if you're 'hitting the numbers' which is kinda tiring in itself!

Turbo training is mentally exhusting full stop. But I tend not to worry about following the graph every second. Power fluctuates anyway. Aim for the average.

Been doing my turbo work on the fixed gear. My FTP is at around 80rpm with my current set-up. Which is less than I'd like. Plus I cant vary cadance and power independantly of course. But there is a nice simplicity to it.

Might try setting my turbo to a shallower resistance curve tonight. Should up my cadence, while making it trickier to hit the high watt intervals.

^ ditto, the power fluctuates so much I normally focus on a cadence that allows me to hit the target power. Staring at the power or the timer on a 140% FTP interval while dribbling gets demoralising

Did the 8 minute test again last night after 4 weeks using it. My FTP has gone up from 207w to 231w - whoop. Probably more due to the fact that I've learned to go harder and pace myself better than a 12% increase. Either way I'm happy with that.

Might try setting my turbo to a shallower resistance curve tonight. Should up my cadence, while making it trickier to hit the high watt intervals.

Scrap that. Wasnt simple. But did some calcs. The cadance around my FTP will be too high I reckon.

SuperMagneto pro trainer.

Set to 'Interval' with a 48x16 fixed gear.
64rpm - 108rpm = 127w - 403w
FTP (275w) = 91rpm

Set to 'Road' with a 48x16 fixed gear.
64rpm - 108rpm = 118w - 308w
FTP (275w) = 101rpm

Yes - you have to watch the numbers when you're doing short intervals stuff, but on a lot of rides, the intervals are longer so not as much attention needed.

I tend to set the TR screen to horizontal so its along the bottom and I can watch cycling vids on YouTube in the main part of the screen. Put some banging music on and you're away.

What workouts are you doing? Are you sure you haven't got your FTP set too hard?

i seem to be getting worse

Curling seems to be popular with the British at the moment.. maybe give that a go instead?

Otherwise, take a day off, then get back on and try to last a bit longer.

#htfu

I tend to set the TR screen to horizontal so its along the bottom and I can watch cycling vids on YouTube in the main part of the screen. Put some banging music on and you're away.

This^

99% of the time I'm beasting myself with a sufferfest vid. But I have done the odd free-ride, with a TdF stage on in the background when its not a focused session. Somehow doing a half-arsed spin, while watching the pros suffer is cruel fun.

I've been using videos from this guy (Tour stages & classics): http://www.youtube.com/user/pompeyupompeyme/videos

Also the odd episode of QI or League of their Own, last night though I just stuck on Spotify on shuffle with headphones and found it better to work through intervals with music so I'll probably stick to that from now on.

^ It's handy being able to skip tracks at easy reach though. The Smiths - Asleep isnt quite the track you want kicking in just as your starting an 120% FTP effort.

I have angels planned for tonight. Should be doable on the fixed gear. Although I think the climbing interval asks for low cadence. Whereas I'll just have to go with whatever achieves the target.

(pic stolen)

My first TR session in a good while this evening. Working 12-15 hour days had left little time for riding and my fitness has taken a bit of a knock, so time to get back on track.

I have a question, and more general training than TR specific, but am I better getting up early and training before work or after? I'm not a morning person at all, so my preference would be after. But I'm so tired after work that I can't imagine putting in an hour of sufffering before sleep.

Any pros/cons to either?

Obvious answer is htfu, both.

Realistically, morning turbo sucks as you need more time to warm up, whereas evening just requires mental fortitude to do it.

I always find it hard to sleep after turbo sessions though so be wary of that factor.

I know what you mean. That wired feeling takes a while to subside.

I think I'm leaning towards post work and will just have to work on overcoming my natural inclination to head for a beer before hitting the hay.

I'd regard myself as a morning person, but I find turbo training first thing is pretty hard. I did do a session before having much in the way of breakfast once and it was way harder than it should have been. HR was higher for a given output compared to the evening. I'm sure science can explain why.

I too am what most would consider a 'morning person' and can get up and start doing most things without too many problems. But turbo work first thing is really tough.

Last time I tried it I'd been up half an hour and had a cup of tea and a banana and it was much harder than normal. And time goes even slower than it normally does on a turbo, which I thought was nigh on impossible

^ Last night has proven that an evening turbo session just means I end up going to bed hungry, even though I ate after, and still hungry the next day even after a big breakfast. Or maybe it's just me that gets this.

Tried another morning session, an hour and a bigtof over and under intervals. I failed.

It has to be evening. I think part of the problem in the morning is niggling stresses about the day of work in the back of your mind. And being half asleep.

The Sufferfest Angels vid has over'n'unders. Really worked me over. I've upped my FTP of late. But I still think its a sign of my blatant inability to maintain decent effort. Using the fixed gear on the turbo means no spinny recovery. So over the course of a workout I simply slowly melt into my bike. Untill the target watts are wholely unachievable. Starting to think this something I need to work on outside.