#cycling trainer

[stevestonbike]

The Number.....

Last night I did another HIIT spin session of 38 minutes.  This is the one based on one minute of130% of my FTP, then one minute at 70%.  I bumped it up again to 250.  My theory is that when I can’t do the session that is my limit.  If it just hurts then I am still looking.  So last night with the bump I could still do it and it hurt only a bit.  So I guess I will bump it again.

The FTP is an arbitrary number based on the maximum effort an athlete can put out for one hour.  Pro racers just know how hard that is.  It is basically doing the thing and leaving everything on the road.  Standing and walking are difficult for a time afterward.  There are tests, but being able to pace yourself is almost impossible if you are not an experienced racer.  You must pace yourself.  I can put out silly power for seconds.  An hour is something else.

Perhaps it is not even worth thinking about, but it is a measure of how fast you can ride for a reasonable time.  That is interesting to me.  I would like to train to get more endurance in the middle power areas.  Apparently that is possible.

My VO2max is good for an old man.  Based on my resting and maximum heart rate I am about 47 ml/min/kg. (Pedersen Method).  There is a formula that uses VO2max and gives me an FTP of about 280.  Thing with formulas is they are from studies of typically younger men and usually trained athletes.  As I am fairly consistently riding hard, I THINK I can consider myself trained.  I just aint young.

I think I can work this out so I am not putting any additional stress on my heart.  I am just redistributing the way my body puts the power out.  At least I hope so.

We will see.  The proof is if I do better on the road.  If I get a PB or two that would be nice.

For all that it is just nice to be outside on a bike.  I am bored with indoors.

[stevestonbike]

It was not dark and raining inside

I have had a sore back again.  I need to up my stretching and stuff.  I can touch my toes but I guess a few reps of that are not enough.  So I have been doing another stretch from the “old days”.  Sitting on the floor and grabbing by calves and pulling my chest forward and down.  This after a 30 minute interval session so I must be careful.  Also some crunches (the right way) CCP 3.5 wife is watching.

I am not lying to say that many years ago I could lay my chest on to my legs flat.  I was a rubber man.  That is not going to happen again.

So this session was 5 intervals of thirty seconds peaking around 500 watts but averaging closer to 350. I aimed to finish each interval at the 5 minute tick.  So just a little warm up and only 4.5 minutes between efforts.  30 minutes total including a 5 minute cool down. Average over the 30 minutes was 220 watts.

There is very little time to recover and I think four minutes is pretty good.  Long enough to relax the breathing and drop the pulse a bit,  short enough to not get bored.  Oh shit its time again.  No time to think.

I am trying different things here.  My first green monster session I tried holding a high effort for 5 minutes then recover and repeat.  Problem is the clock and having to pace.  I have found that short intervals are easier to do hard.  That sounds weird. I mean I can push really hard for a few seconds and actually go as-hard-as-I-can. No pacing no holding back.  I  find I can actually give just a bit more towards the end as long as the end is close.

A really good website on sport science describes the nervous wiring system in your muscles has a feedback loop to prevent injury.  This is a system that tells your body to back off and not push so hard.  Apparently when you are tired it is this thing which makes you feel tired and unable to push more or harder.  It is not your muscles it is your brain.  In a BBC Horizon episode they showed an experiment  where after exercising one leg to exhaustion the host had his brain zapped with a magnetic pulse and he could push hard again.  Freaky.

So short quite hard intervals seem to let me push a bit harder on the road.  This is an ongoing experiment. I have been using the green monster for a couple weeks for hard intervals and a few steady effort work outs.  The road rides feel OK.

The test will be the hills when the weather warms up.  Has it helped?   I think it has, but feeling better or more confident is not objective.  Numbers tell the truth.

[stevestonbike]

HIIT it Again

Well another session.

I did 5 intervals of one minute with a 4 minute rest between.

I started with 9 minutes of warm up so at the 9 minute tick I pushed hard.

My average speed by drawing a line across the speed plot was 36 kph for those intervals.  That works out to 332 Watts on the Monster.  My peak speed was 45.2 kph which is an impressive 572 watts that I may have held of a whole pedal revolution.  Ya right.  The machine said that so I am going with it.

With a 4 minute gap in between it was almost too short.  Near the end of each interval I would get wobbly.  For me that means a small noticeable tremor in my arms.  I think it is from my legs demanding all the air in my body, or it could be old age.  I was trying to finish each interval on even 5 minute tics. 

I tried to do the hardest one on the third interval.  That is where I hit the maximum speed.

I cooled down for 15 minutes as I think that is an important part of the process.  Get your body back into cruise mode.  Out on the road once you do a big effort you gotta keep going.  Your body must learn that.

My fitness factor was over 5 so it was harder than last time.  More like the road.

The session is only my second HIIT and it takes a few weeks apparently to see a real effect.  This week end if I cut time off 8 minute hill I will know, but I expect more to be seen later.  Also I have been riding rather a lot for this early.  I just passed 300 km for March and we are not quite half way into the month.  So over 600 is very likely if I avoid injury.  Way over if I do the Pacific Populaire.

[stevestonbike]

HIIT-ing the Green Monster

Well this was interesting. High Intensity Interval Training.

The basic concept is that by going very hard for very short times you can really reduce the amount of time you spend training.  Some studies indicate a five fold reduction in time for the same benefit.  That particular one found the basic fitness benefits of doing a few short hard sessions a week was similar to what was gained by numerous long aerobic sessions.

I tried it before but the old trainer was well not up to it.  The green monster however is more than capable.  The limit here is me.

The other factor is as hard as you can is rather easy to find in this scenario.  No pacing or saving strength to summit a hill, just push as hard as you can for as long as you can until you cant.  I did time limit it, but in that time I went as hard as I felt I could.  I swear looking at the seconds tick by while I was getting “wobbly” was hard.

I did a ten minute warm up to get my heart rate to 75%. Some sources say 5 minutes is fine.

I did four intervals AHAIC.  The first one I managed 45 seconds with a peak speed of 42.7 kph which works out to 497 watts.  I rested for 4 minutes then did the second one for a full minute peaking at 40 kph (425 watts).  I rested for 4 minutes and did a third basically the same.  Again rested for 4 minutes and did a fourth which peaked out a 38 kph ( 375 watts).  Noticeably weaker. Then I cruised at my usual 75% speed to let my legs clear out and stopped at 45 minutes.

Apparently you can get a really good workout in 30 minutes, and I could have stopped at thirty, but frankly I count my trainer distance in my totals and 14 km is just too short.  So I did another 15 minutes easy.

You can also reduce the recovery time between intervals, but I like to see my heart rate get back to “normal”.  I may shorten it if I see progress in later sessions.

This is supposed to be good for people who are short of time.  And in Cycling time is arguably the biggest investment.  I have been doing just over 7 hours in a week of riding / training this winter.  Last year I did 223 total hours of riding and this year I am going for more. This is my hobby.  Much better than watching the Canucks not win another hockey game.  I know other people have commitments and getting a ride in is an imposition. So for fitness so you can ride when the opportunity arrives this is a good solution.

You can do this on the road of course but that requires more daylight than we currently have around here.  I invested in the green monster because it is an investment in me.  A couple hours after dinner I can get in my biking gear and go nowhere, but have the lots of health benefits.

So next session I will find out if I can go harder or longer.  I hope I can.

One quite interesting thing happened.  Recall my “fitness factor” where I divide my average heart rate by my average speed for a session or ride.  Usually intervals or riding outside drive it up around 5.6 to the mid 6s.  Well this time it was 4.98 which is very good for me on this machine.  That is basically the same as a steady hour at my cruising speed.  And I was hauling ass in there a few times.

[stevestonbike]

The results are in, Fans Help!

I bought a fan.  Stopped at that tire store and picked up a cheap fan.  It was a search as the place was completely scrambled with them switching seasons and all.  23 bucks,

Anyway cheap white and it puts out an almost adequate breeze.  So the session on the green monster was better.  For the hour I did an average speed of 28.6 kph which works out to basically 201 watts.  I did a 5 minute push at 260 watts and a dash up to 45 kph which is supposed to be 450 watts.  I am geeking out.  When I get in the groove the thing will be sustainable power.  The real test is 8 minute hill.  Numbers keep my brain entertained in the dark months.

The fan kept the torrents of sweat down to a trickle and I recovered much faster not being so horribly overheated.  So if you use a trainer use a fan.  Put it right in front full blast.  The towel I use to wipe my brow barely got damp.  I am an idiot for putting up without a fan.  If my kid takes this one I dont mind they are really cheap.  I may buy two.

So aside from being drier and more comfortable it makes it easier to sustain a decent heart rate.  Your blood is not pumping to cool you down it is is doing the main job of delivering oxygen and fuel to the muscles.  It is more like being outside from an environmental aspect.  Spin classes should be in wind tunnels.

My next trainer session should put me over my target mileage for February.

[dlakecreates]

BOOM! DIY Cycling Rollers for under $32usd 

[lifeofdb]

Your standing desk has nothing on this riding desk. So. Fly. Mind you, I think I'm going to take up mastering NHL when I set up my trainer..