For tonight’s ride I completed the 2x 15 minute FTP interval workout, something I’ve been saying I will do for a few weeks now.
I did not remember doing this workout before, but apparently I did – way back in March of this year.
Back then I had to hold 140w, so it’s nice to have considerably progressed since then. It’s also interesting to be able to compare some stats, which I will do towards the end.
Mentally I broke this ride down into stages.
Firstly there were the two broad intervals. That much is fairly obvious.
For each interval I segmented it – in my head – into chunks of 5.
I told myself that mid way through the first interval, that at this point through the second interval I would nearly be done. Stuff like that. Anything to see me through.
Now, in truth, I didn’t find this to be killer.
I know it should be. And this tells me that I really need to shape myself and do another FTP test.
The good news, if you can call it that, is that with Christmas fast approaching, I will have some time to get a couple of rest days in before doing another FTP test. In this manner, I will have some extra time that week to cover the lost time from not being on the bike.
In other words, I have a plan, so let’s see how that goes.
I was aiming to keep a cadence of 95rpm, and by and large during the first block I maintained this.
I was definitely working during the first block, and was aware that even with a ten minute breather, it was likely that I wouldn’t be completely rested before the next interval.
One good thing for me was seeing my heart rate stay below 170bpm.
Unfortunately I have somewhat skewed the stats by doing a bit of free riding at the end of this one, but I can see from this ride’s stats that my average heart rate today was 147bpm, which is 2 less than 149bpm the previous time I did this. And of course, this time I was at a considerably higher average wattage and cadence.
After the first block I was feeling pretty good.
Definitely, this was telling me that this was probably on the too easy side.
I’m fairly sure I should have been dead by this point.
During the 10 minute’s at 120w I used this as an opportunity to load up the YouTube playlist. I was hoping to pick out a bunch of songs just long enough to see me through the next 15 minutes.
Unlike my usual techno soiree I opted for a bunch of 80’s hits like Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, and Jet’s I Love Rock And Roll, before moseying into the 90’s for Blink 182’s What’s My Age Again? and there was another, which I currently forget.
My hasty musical selections unfortunately didn’t quite see me through. I ended up on cool down listening to Skrillex’s Bangarang. That made me think I’d perhaps mucked up the playlist order somewhat.
Still, again, anything to see me through.
I came out of this workout certainly tired, and sweaty, but not quite as thrashed as I probably should have been.
Briefly I considered bumping up the intensity of the workout for the final 5 minutes.
Why didn’t I?
Well, two reasons:
- A bit of laziness on my part.
- Not wanting to overdo it on the first ride of the week.
As Han Solo always tells me: Don’t get cocky kid.
Certainly I knew I was up to this ride after some of the other workouts I’ve done recently.
I was pleased to see a near 7 minute lap of the Volcano Circuit on the board at the end.
I’m sure at some point I’ve done a sub 7 minute effort. It’s such an annoyance that Zwift only do 30 day PRs. When will they change this? Number 1 gripe? I’d say so.
Smashing through 560 calories in the first ride of the week feels good.
My legs feel fairly thrashed.
By comparison in the same time on Sunday I’d done near 700 calories. Even though this felt rough towards the end, it was nothing like those climbs. I guess they are a big help in making these workouts seem “easier”.
I’m now just 11km of climbing away from the Tron Bike, apparently.
It’s really nice to be able to look back and compare and contrast this ride against the previous attempt now 8 months previous. I’m so grateful that I’ve kept up this blog for reasons like this.
Being able to see progression on the weekly review is one thing, but seeing it so clearly in cold hard stats is really cool.
Probably the biggest win for me is the average heart rates. Even though it comes out at just 2bpm lower across the ride, the overall effort was significantly higher today. Really pleased.
I’ve said many times here that I’m not trying to become a pro rider. That’s just never going to happen, nor is it now or ever has been a goal of mine.
A goal of this year has been to break through 200w as an FTP, and I strongly believe I must be at or above that now. It would be incredibly disappointing to end the year without beating that in the 20 minute test.
Tomorrow’s ride will likely be the weekly Sweet Spot Training session. I’m going to have to see how my legs feel. They definitely feel like they’ve done some work tonight, so if sore, I’ll go for the FTP Builder active recovery ride instead, and then hit SST on Thursday.
I’m unfortunately still waiting to here back from Tacx regarding my 30 day voucher code, so no Tacx Software video rides until that’s sorted. Frustrating!
