So I’ve come to the end of a big chunk of SSBLV training and had a week of proposed low key spins on the turbo - I skipped these a bit and had a few rest days / couple of mtb rides.
Tomorrow sees the start of a few weeks of vo2 then sweet spot, before a ramp test and then a solid block of vo2 training leading up to the ‘event’ I input as the training plan purpose.
The SSBLV has made a really good difference - I’ve never felt fitter tbh. I can hold a higher intensity for longer - on a group ride last night with a pretty decent pace up the fireroad climbs between off piste trails I kept up with the group nicely - last year I would have failed horribly and been dropped off the back / bonked in short order.
What can I expect from the vo2 sessions - is this just going to build higher effort capabilities or bump up my watts etc?
Get yourself over to the Trainerroad forum. They'll answer everything for you.
Ability to press on over threshold, sustain and repeat it.
Consequently you should see a bump in FTP particularly if using the ramp test protocol.
What Haze said.
For me the VO2max part of a plan doesn't do much for my FTP but I do find the workouts just make me better at riding a bike. All those little surges you do on hills, corners, whatever just take less toll on you.
I found the V02 workouts helped with recovery on the short sharp climbs and short sprints. Really liked the workouts with really high intensity 1 min or 90 second intervals.
Cool - did my first vo2 workout of this block but was time limited so did a 45 session: Sleeping Beauty -4
Found that relatively easy - whilst you can feel the pressure of the power output / resistance there are so many breaks that I find it mentally easier.
I find the long sweet spot intervals more brutal - anything 10 mins or more is horrible. That said, I’m sure it’s those increasingly long efforts are what has given me so much improvement. To date my ftp hasn’t gone up loads - up from 225 to 244 - but the improvement in mountain bike fitness feels so much more than that.
Hoping at the next ramp test I see at least 250 but ideally 260 - just for my mind more than anything else!
Edit - over that period of improvement my weight dropped from 84kgs to hovering between 74-75kgs. Prior to this training block I’ve sort of followed plans but a bit ad hoc with what sessions I did / shortened them. Plus I put weight on being ill between Oct-Nov then the run up to December. Feel like this is the best followed block of training I’ve ever done.
Is the increase in FTP not a 10% improvement - you should be pretty chuffed with that shouldn't you?
Maybe 8.4% if I’ve worked it out right. I guess 19 watts just doesn’t sound that exciting to me!
Tbh the improvements on the trail exceed my expectations already - I can just spin it up nice and fast on the fireroad climbs - turbo has increased my cadence and it seems to fatigue the legs less quickly.
The place I still find hard is Cwmcarn and that Cafell climb - it just doesn’t let you get into a rhythm. I think once I’ve done the vo2 block I’d hope to find it a bit easier from what people are saying.
My ultimate target is 4w/kg but my issue is that I’m not going to drop below 74kgs without some drastic dieting and I just cba with that. So I need to get to 300watts ftp so achieve that aim and that’s quite a lot. Not sure I can fit enough training in, but going to give it a good go this year and see what happens - need to stay injury free and try not to plateau.
Well if your FTP of 225 was when you were 84kg then your improvement in W/kg is 20%.
It was - that’s a fair point I hadn’t really considered. Last year was all about losing the weight - this year is very much about maintaining that weight and improving ftp pretty much.
I try not to get too hung up on FTP gains, concentrate more on dialling it in accurately for setting training zones and the rest will follow.
That said it's useful for tracking fitness gains over time, generally an upward trend is good...though a shorter term 10% gain is not to be sniffed at!
I’m hoping for 260w on the next ramp test - might be a bit optimistic but we’ll see. Would be just under 3.5w/kg which probably represents good progress.
Especially as my fs bike now weighs around 34kgs.....
I think my favourite thing about VO2 intervals is that once you get a sense of the effort required for the power you can do them outdoors way more easily than the long steady state ones (unless you have some biiig climbs nearby). If you’ve got the time and motivation to go and do some short hill reps it makes a nice change from the turbo.
Ah - I do kind of have that option near me - did it a couple of times last year. Literally one brutal hill of a few mins long that starts steep, slightly flattens out then goes steep again. Then one more gradual climb followed by a steep descent, then repeat on a short loop. Didn’t take many of those to ruin myself within an hour.
I don’t have time for a proper mtb ride this weekend so I’m going to grab a couple of hours on the road bike from home - I live not too far from Lansdown Hill - I’m planning to go up Lansdown Lane twice and another climb out of Landridge which isn’t very nice either. Should hurt my legs nicely in a short period of time.
The Vo2 will give you a load of punch, and you'll feel super good Joe - but after a few weeks you may find that your FTP & endurance starts to drop off, and you get tired, and then you'll need to go back to a build or base phase. Unfortunately, it's hard to keep going up and up in fitness once you get to a certain stage. You need to back off, rest up, then start again to get higher. Or at least that was my experience when I used to train. By the end of the summer I used to feel knackered and looking forward to a bit of base again.
@ianpv - cheers Ian - I know you’re a lot more experienced in this stuff than me. I was beginning to feel fatigue’d from all the training towards the end of last week so made sure I had a gap with no turbo and a few days today test for my legs - felt back to good on the Staunton ride Tuesday night. I’m not honking I’ll end the vo2 block a little earlier than TR has scheduled it to because it gets a bit too close to the tough weekend at the end of June. After that weekend I think I’ll have an easy week and then decide what to do next. Perhaps another block of low volume base type training.
I’m relying on the turbo / cycling to keep my weight in check and allow me to eat more cake.
