My training goes Build, Base, Base and repeats. The build week has the over/unders, but base goes back to L2 only.
And you’re right. I’m not knocking SE, and I know it’s something I need to spend time on, and yes L3 takes more out of you. But when the only legitimate planned time I get in L3 is also SE, I had to make some tweaks to make sure I was getting a well rounded training in.
Athletica up-adjusted my AE session from 1hr to 2hrs today, despite my training constraints specifying 1 hour max.
I got my planned hour in, at the mid point of my Z2 for the duration, kept my HR at the midpoint as well. I felt good and didn’t experience any issues. Getting some base in there to round out recovery week before build 1 next week.
Sleep schedule was a little disrupted due to the 58th Superbowl last night. Got to bed later than usual and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel today for the threshold session. I was tempted to just do Z2 this morning (it’s been a very long time since I did a workout before 9a) instead.
Very interesting comment from OG today. I only filled out the RPE scale and “How did you feel?” part leaving the comments blank. OG noticed and said: “To help fine-tune your training, please share how you felt during the tougher intervals.”
Well, here’s now the tougher intervals felt:
The first 2 threshold intervals were pretty tough, my legs felt heavy and were complaining a lot. The third and fourth were relatively comfortable and a good song (Skillet - Invincible) came on for the 5th which really helped finish off the set.
I have a question about bodyweight changes. In Garmin Connect, I record my weekly weight. And since training with Athletica I have had some body composition improvements. Under my Athletica Profile the bodyweight value has not changed since I initially submitted my data. Does Athletica not detect changes in this metric? Many thanks, Joe
Hi @KinesioMS ,
That’s pretty cool on the body comp changes with Athletica. Congrats!
And even cooler for us that we might attain such data from Garmin. I didn’t know. We just have our initial onboard value in settings but it is static. Makes sense that we can allow that variable to move with the individual. I’ll add that to a dev ticket.
Thanks so much,
Paul
After the @Prof had the recovery week schedule changed to have the intensity increase as the week progresses. I swapped the endurance and strength endurance around, as I’m meeting a friend tomorrow for lunch and the endurance ride suits that outing.
The Workout Reserve datafield obtained my latest profile, within seconds of turning on my Edge. Strength endurance was just 2 intervals today and I worked it to a mWR of 16.9% on the Workout Reserve datafield with the website summary concurring at mWR 17%. You’ll see from the chart, that was on the second interval. It was a wet outing but I don’t mind those and it’s good practise as I’m always guaranteed weather during my long events.
Endurance tomorrow then VO2 Max on Thu.
Another solid z2 ride. I even managed to increase the watts a little bit for the final 15 minutes since I had head room to increase my hr.
edit Had my watch running for mWR at the same time. 33% on the Garmin, 32% in Athletica. Nice!
Since I’m not being prescribed a full hour in my sessions, my plan is to round up my rides with more z2 work (lower end).
Secretly, I’m still working towards the Tron bike in zwift, only somewhere the range of 55 rides at 500m a ride left!
Short HIIT tomorrow morning, a quick one at 2x6.
FTP Test today, I worry it quite alot.
my old FTP is 287, I try to go to 300.
So for 300 I need todo 315 for 20 minutes. I don’t think that I’m capable of doing so.
I start with 5% less in the first 10 Minutes, so 300W for the first 10 minutes.
Very theoretical, but I will start like that and then go with feeling 
Worried that will be very long 20 minutes lol
VO2 max long hiit today on my usual hill. Turned mild and didn’t need windproof or gloves. Very pleasant.
It’s a recovery week and thus just two intervals. With real time WR I paced it to -2% on the first interval and 2% on the second interval. Having these later during a recovery week definitely enabled that.
I figure that with fewer intervals I can push a little harder in the range proscribed. Next week it currently has me doing 6 intervals. For those I’ll likely keep mWR above 11% to ensure repeatability across all 6.
Let it be what it will be… then get stuck into your daily training process and be patient… it will rise again and potentially be surpassed…
love your tinkering with this @Phil and following you along…
I always get really apprehensive about fitness assessments. Almost as if my identity is defined by the result.
It’s taken a while, but what I do now is call them assessments and not “tests”. I also give myself an ideal target and then push it aside. During the session I’ll focus on getting into a rhythm and concentrate on the cadence.
I’ve done enough to know that I need to feel “tough but doable” at the start, to “this is crazy” for that twilight zone in the middle to “only 5 min left, my legs burn bad but I can do it” at the end. Music is a must!
100% the same. I dread the FTP test. CP can’t get here soon enough!
I actually do want to try the ramp test this next go around to see if it causes less stress for me.
General question for the duathlon workout program.
Is there a specific reason the SE workout is on Monday and the Intervals is on Wednesday? What I’m finding is that the combo of SE bike on Monday + Hard run Tuesday is leaving quads tight and maybe more rundown than normal which when trying to hit Z6 is unpleasant!
My historical workout has been Monday the harder ride, Wednesday the “easier” and unless there’s a big reason for the structure, I’m tempted to swap them.
Tough but great VO2 session today. I kept the same power for the quality intervals and increased the power for easy intervals slightly to make recovery a little more challenging. Success, I managed an mWR of 1% with the same power as last week but 14 intervals instead of 18. Using the Garmin mWR data field is excellent for making sure that when it feels easy at the start, but mWR dips below 10% I know I’m doing well
I also added an extra 20 minutes of “cool down” time at the bottom of z2 for more base building.
@MattS06 I’ve jumped back and forth CP assessments depending on my mental state. Sometimes I just need to push until I can’t, others I like the challenge of 20 minutes “all out”.
Hi @MattS06. The SE bike is generally less taxing for most than the short intervals on Wednesday which is why its positioned as such. By all means switch to your context as that is how Athletica is built. Hopefully your body adapts to the training and feels less sore for these in the future. Keep us posted.
Best,
Paul
I’ve done both, and I find ramp tests way less stressful - probably because the ‘pain’ is shorter in duration and you don’t have to think about pacing.
This is where I flip flop. Sometimes I don’t want to pace, so I’ll ramp it. Sometimes I feel I would like to practice pacing, so I’ll TT instead.
I dont want to do this test to often, was quite intense! 
When importing the wod to zwift (.zwo), there was the 30s intervall at the beginning followed by a 30s intervall at 0Watt, that was a bit odd (30s rest) - is that intended? just a minor thing though
Another question why be do you not include a 5min effort before the 20min block to drain anaerobic capacity?
Big Saturday training done well… Prescribed to do a 2hr5 min ride and a 18 min 70.3 pace run off it.
Amazingly managed to ride outdoors in the UK in February so jumped at that chance, nice 40 miles really felt so much better than being sat on zwift for 2 hours!
I’m really enjoying (if that’s the right word) the short brick runs off the long bike ride at 70.3 pace/power (I’m using Stryd for my effort analysis). I’ve done bricks before but never like this, not only is it feeling good but it’s giving me confidence each time that I would be able to run harder than I have previously in race situations.
2 hour long run tomorrow, way more than prescribed but my run fitness is way above where the AI says it is so I’m happy to substitute.
Have a great weekend everyone!
