Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter

[ivegotabike]

I use TrainerRoad too. But not fully.

By that I mean that I look at the plans it produces for me (I give it various inputs to get multiple plans out of it) and then pick the bits I like the look of and build them into my own plan.

I broadly follow the progressions of the key workouts - the 2 hard workouts per week in the masters plans.

But, for example, I use HR (rather than power) for almost of all of my sub threshold workouts (as I have mentioned previously).

 

[HLaB]

Another Z2 session tonight, I think the form sprints took me slightly over the IF target.

 

[ivegotabike]

Another Z2 session tonight, I think the form sprints took me slightly over the IF target.

View attachment 825221

It could be that the benefits of the sprints outweigh the benefits of hitting that lower IF figure.

This recent paper made quite a bit of press when it was published

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(26)00405-2

The conclusion proposes

"Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the exercise intensity is a major determinant of the human secretome and drives distinct proteomic and metabolomic responses and differences in predicted tissues of origin and target tissues. Integration with a large plasma proteome-phenome repository suggests that Sprint Interval Exercist acutely stimulates the release of protective proteins into the circulation to a greater extent than Moderate Intensity Exercise. These data help explain how SIE, despite requiring only a fraction of the time of MIE, elicits robust metabolic signaling and whole-body benefits.”

Which, in layman’s terms, means that including a few 20 - 30 second sprints in your cycling once in a while is probably no bad thing.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Does anyone else keep some VO2 work in their winter schedule these days?

Just once every two weeks or so, to keep it in maintenance during a fairly traditional base period.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Started base this week, and got a nice 12 or so weeks to follow a traditional progression, before I start build towards end of Jan. Base is a nice mental as well as physical reset.

 

[HLaB]

A bit of doh in the warm up tonight of my SS session. Power/ resistance tripped out and in my desperation to get it back rather than upping the resistance I upped the ERG %age to 140%, it took me for a minute in to the first block to realise what I'd done (I'm way above my threshold, wait a minute this is supposed to SS ). The power had dropped out because I had moved the trainer closer to my living room door so I could workout next to my commuter bike so I didn't have to take the commuter bike into the living room and it (the power cable) must have been on the edge of coming out. After the first warm up interval it did and I pressed the wrong buttons in response. My excuse is for the last few weeks I've had a mucussy cold that never quite dries out and goes congested or constantly runs, its just there and every time I think I've got rid of it it comes back.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

A bit of VO2 max maintenance work today. Same again in a couple of weeks. Tempo workout, on intermediate weeks.