Getting old sucks, might as well have a nice bike
Don’t tell anyone, but it’s been ages since I did a structured FTP test. There are a few reasons behind this, but mostly it comes down to laziness. This is something I’ve been meaning to correct, so I’ve been looking at the various tests out there. The last time I did one of these, the 20-Minute Test was the standard, but in the time since the Ramp Test seems to be what…
I have an unexpected goals problem. I had hoped that shaving 1:30 off my Alpe Du Zwift time was a tough, but achievable long-term goal that would keep me motivated for at least a few months. Where it actually turned out to be a totally achievable short-term goal. When I set out on the first attempt, my expectation was an improvement, but nothing near the 3:05 I ended up taking off my…
I listen to EDM while doing HIT cycling sessions indoors for two reasons: it helps with RPE, and with the right headphones also blocks out the fan noise. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s safe to ride outdoors with headphones, and riding around with a speaker blaring is super lame (sorry speaker people). While I might be giving up some of the workout intensity, I don’t care; crashing is worse…
Last week I mentioned how I stay motivated to train over the winter months, and this post is going to get into a bit more detail around how I apply that plan. Before getting into that, we should briefly discuss why you should listen to me. The truth is, you probably shouldn’t. I’m not qualified in anyway to provide training advice. With that in mind, my goal here is more for me…
Staying motivated to keep fit during the dark, cold winter months is really hard. Even for me, as someone who rides the trainer when the weather says “go outside, you idiot”. The key to keeping motivated, at least for me, is by setting goals; and not the long-term kind. That’s not to say that goals like “I want to lose weight”, “I want to raise my FTP”, “I want to stay fit”…
Like a lot of people, I track my resting heart rate (RHR) as an indicator of training stress. It’s hard to know whether to CRUSH IT, take a rest day, or get in the space between otherwise. It’s a real number that provides insight into what’s going on, well before I would otherwise notice. With the worst of it over (hopefully), I thought it would be interesting to explore the impact crashing,…
I am in no way qualified to give general training advice, but having made the transition from slow, to significantly less slow (still have work to do); these are a few of the things that have worked for me. Of course, saying them out loud is a lot easier than actually doing it, but here goes: 1) Get a bike computer and associated sensors. It’s much easier to understand when the “suffering”…
It was my understanding that training in the heat not only helps with performance in the heat (duh), but also performance in the cool. So there’s simple guidance: train hot whenever you can. That might not actually be the case (thanks 182lb Pure Climber for the link), with the study below indicating that there’s no performance benefit to be had from training hot for cool weather events. The sample isn’t massive (only…
I don’t have a Whoop, but many of my friends do, so when I picked up a fēnix 6 (which can do HRV), I got on the HRV monitoring train. My goal was to find something that could be used in addition to, or instead of RHR, as a marker of capacity for training load in a given day. Not quite ready to share the results, but the screenshot above is a…
I’m a big fan of the Tabata style cycling workouts. Well, maybe “fan” isn’t the right word. They actually suck, a lot, but in a good way. Because, I am pretty thoroughly crushed at the end, and I can feel the results pretty clearly when I doing them, vs. when I’m not. In another excellent video by Dylan, he talks us through what makes a good HIT workout, as well as suggesting…