Long tempo intervals today which I perform on a gently undulating quiet lane.
The AI overload was pleased with my execution. Tempo is interesting as you keep it in that L3a effort, not too easy, not too hard. Try not to stray into strength endurance., try not to drop in aerobic endurance. This is why I think a gently undulating quiet lane works for them.
On the first interval it took 60% of the time to bring workout reserve down to 30%, Then the remaining 40% of the time to bring it down to just under 10%. On the second interval I brought workout reserve down to 5%.
I ended up bailing halfway through the last interval. If I had gotten the ride done earlier in the day, I feel like I could have done it. However, due to an unexpected family emergency (not serious) and many hours in the hospital waiting room, my mental energy was very low.
That said, with an mWR of 1%, I succeeded in this workout. I also raised the recovery power to mid z1 and looking at the graph, I have a couple of thoughts. 1) since I was doing an extra rep vs last week, I didnāt need to raise recovery power 2) I can see that according to WR I was ādoneā after 5 intervals, and I could feel it too.
@Phil That is very funny! Very much in line with how road work is carried out here in Montreal as well.
Bumped the power a tiny bit from last weeks AE session and stayed nicely within the z2 range for this one. mWR of 11% is excellent and is pretty much what the data field read at the end as well.
Good rest day yesterday and pretty good sleep as well. RHR a couple of beats up from normal, but HRV is good.
super confused by the super big watt difference.
Today 3x10 30/30er - Watt range is 347Watt - 433Watt.
If I export the workout it will use the average.
How I am supposed to do it? Should I aim for the average? For a higher or lower value? Should I stear it with RPE/Wbal or Workout Reserve? Or via HR response?
Thanks alot!
If one wanna join tonight let me know
Morning! That range gives you the option to scale up or down depending on how you are feeling that day. Feeling great? Aim higher. Feeling terrible or mentally drained? Ride the lower end. The point is to be in Z6 somewhere for the quality intervals.
I didnāt feel great today. Iāve had a stiff neck and headache since I got up. Good sleep was elusive last night. However, I geared myself up mentally for a 3x6 hiit, set the quality power up from last week (I was feeling confident) and kept the recommended recovery power knowing it would be doable.
Started the session in Zwift and noticed that all of a sudden it was 3x7ā¦ There was a moment of doubt, but whatās one more interval anyway?? mWR -1%ā¦ That was what the extra 3 intervals were for. Pretty consistent mWR less than 5% each time. Then a z2 ride to round out the hour.
Overall, this was a pretty easy workout. Started the morning with a small chocolate milk, shot of coffee and then, after waking up, hopped on the bike. Had to increase the power into lower z3b to get my HR up to z3a. RPE remained moderate.
Shower (workout) thoughts: workout recovery is affected my many factorsā¦ how does mWR affect recovery time, all other factors being equal?
edit one good night of 8 hours of sleep later and all of my metrics are back to normal. Thatās how long a z3a workout can potentially be recovered from.
Personally I think thatās a difficult one to answer, mostly because all the other factors are never equal / same. As @Prof says, mWR isnāt a physiological measure. Based on that Iād be wary trying to tie it in to recovery. Plus our ability to measure recovery is somewhat basic. We need the Star Trek tricorder.
Not a physiological measure,missed that one, and appreciate your answer. I agree, things are never equal, the goal posts are constantly shifting. Control what you can, accept what you canāt, do your best.
And I would love a tricorderā¦ didnāt they read more than 3 things though?
This is how I expected the threshold session to feel last Monday. It certainly is an excellent example of how psychological stress can affect you physically as well.
Instead of bailing the final interval, I made it through while feeling more comfortable. My average HR in the final interval was about 8 bpm lower than last week. Iāve improved and can feel it. After toiling away for the first 4-6 weeks wondering if and when it will happenā¦ it has!
Anybody having issues with the Tacx Neo app recording the workout? I rode today, went to save the workout, and the app seems down. It makes me log in, and then I immediately am told my session has expired.
So far itās not acting like it recorded my workout, which would majorly suck haha
I replaced todayās ride with a run because it was 15 C outside. Beautiful weather!
I havenāt run since the end of December, so I erred on the side of caution and kept it really easy today. I ran until my HR started to climb and didnāt seem to be coming back down, so I walked the rest of the way. I look forward to more nice weather runs in the future!
My main bike frame has gone off for a strip and fresh powder coat and lacquer. Itās done about 58,000km according to my Garmin account and needs some TLC. I noticed paint flaking and some surface rust on Monday.
Thus my aerobic development was on my bike N - 1. Purely N - 1 as is the bike I bought before my latest. More aero but a damn good workout going uphill. No power meter on this one and thus back to heart rate.
A wet grey day here today but still my preference to be outside than in,
Team! Itās taper week. Ugh, not my favorite. What goes on in your head during taper week? Letās hear it.
These are some of the stuff I always go through. My mood and thoughts are as irrational and unpredictable as Texas Spring Weather. One day hot and humid, the next windy and cold. I think Iām at the right place
I think we have these thoughts because our minds and bodies are getting ready for something really difficult. I know the battle between my ego who tends to take the easy route and not push the envelope in case we fail and come home tail in-between our legs. See how I use āweā. Iāve even named my ego: Paivi. Paivi is the little voice in my head that is always commenting and typically the comments are negative, like āyou didnāt run enoughā, or āyou didnāt run long hard efforts enough, so you should probably take it safe and start a little slowerā. Paivi is a dominant voice during taper week. But I know Paivi is also a coward, and Iāve worked with Paivi before, and I tell her to take a hike the closer to race day we get. At Start Line, itās just Me. Marjaana, the Courageous, ready to kick some ass.
The ego wants me to stay safe and not do hard things. I love doing hard things. Taper week is mentally probably one of the hardest things in racing. All the hard work is done and Iām kind of spinning wheels all week. Waiting, anticipating, and planning. Itās a mental rollercoaster! You know what Iām talking aboutā¦ Surely I canāt be the only oneā¦
So what to do when you want out of the rollercoaster? Meditate! Clean the house. Learn something new. Whatever youāve not done when you were amid a big training block, like catching up on a pile of papers on your desk. Write a forum post to see if anyone can relate. Bring your stress levels down- I find meditation can help me connect with my bigger purpose and bring focus back to the moment at hand, and it also helps me be a little kinder to myself.
Curious to know.. what goes through your head during the week leading up to a race? What do you do to bring your nerves down?
I felt rested going into the session and my HR during the warmup agreed. I managed to set the power to near the top end of z2 for the duration of the session. Final 12 minutes started to get challenging with my legs burning, but it was easy to push through. HR drifted towards the top of z2, but stayed within range.
mWR of 1%, aerobic decoupling of 5% and an EF that continues to trend slowly upwards!
high five
I have a taper coming up in a few weeksā¦ Iāll chime in then with my thoughts in fitness loss and not doing enough.
