This afternoon I finished work early, deliberately, in order to get in a solid hour on the bike. With two rest days since my last ride I was hoping to be fresh faced and bushy tailed, perfectly ready to get through a sweet spot session.
In truth I was expecting this one to be hard. I’m at a point currently where I’m pretty sure my FTP is at the very, very top edge of my capability. And therefore the Zwift workouts that test those limits are hard. That said, I’ve never failed an SST workout before, and wasn’t expecting to do so today.
Well. How wrong I was.
Things started OK enough. The initial 5 minute ramp up felt fine, and then off we went. After the first on block I felt like I’d worked hard, and the first off block didn’t give me much in the way of recovery.
After the second on block I was feeling it pretty hard. I think that’s the earliest I’ve ever thought about quitting a workout. I couldn’t work out why I was feeling so exhausted. But what I could see was my heart rate wasn’t dropping. In the off block I’d have expected to drop at least ten BPM, but heading into the third block I was about where I had been at the end of the first block. It seemed like I was in an upwards spiral that I was most definitely not in control of.
Things came to a head in the final on block. Determined as I was to see it through, I finished the interval with a 194bpm heart rate, legs gone, and whilst I knew I only had 5 more minutes of work, I just couldn’t keep the cadence high enough to get past the first minute. Defeated, I decided to pause the workout and recover for a few minutes. But even after that I had nothing left, mainly mentally at that point, to finish the final interval.
I know one thing:
My weight on Zwift is, or was, incorrect. I’m down as 67kg on Zwift, but am now down to 65kg.
I’m thinking this has some impact on my FTP. If anything perhaps my FTP is too high for my weight and needs adjusting somehow based on a percentage of weight loss since that figure was achieved. That workout shouldn’t have killed me. I’ve completed it before.
To resolve this I figure I’d have to do an FTP test. Or at the very least, a ramp test. Deep joy.
If it’s not weight related then the only other thing I can think of is its as a result of mainly riding outdoors. I know the outdoor rides are nowhere near as efficient as a Zwift workout, and maybe that’s cost me in terms of fitness. It’s very possible.
Anyone got any ideas? I’m reluctant to do that workout again until I have an answer. That was killer, both physically and mentally.
Hey Chris,
Could be your IRL weight is too low. I dropped down to about 66kg around May and I went from 279w FTP to 249w FTP in a matter of maybe three months (fitness went down for another month after that so FTP was probably even lower). I was speaking with a mate who has been at a high level for years and a coach who is ex pro and they confirmed that you have an ideal weight, too light and you won’t get the power down. I’m hovering around 67.5-68kg now and feel the power is coming back. Also I’ve been paying more attention to my average resting HR to tell me when I should have a “hard” day or “easy” day. I have a Garmin Fenix and if my average resting HR is above 50bpm, I’ll go easy that day, if it’s 50 or below, go nuts. So far it’s been working for me. I read somewhere that if your resting HR is higher than normal then it’s likely you’re struggling to recover from previous efforts and over training can end up reducing your fitness. I think a combination of losing too much weight and over training caused my fitness to decrease 36% (Strava) from 5th March to 2nd July.
I don’t think it’s the IRL rides, I noticed on Strava, my Fitness peaked when my trainer blew up and I was doing long morning rides before work, it actually went down when I got back on the trainer! Funny as I did worry the outside rides weren’t as structured and would be detrimental to my fitness.
Cheers
Phil
Cheers Phil, as ever I really do appreciate your insight.
Yeah – possibly too low on the weight front. Been attracting a bunch of unsolicited comments lately that I “look too thin”. Nice.
On the plus side, I guess I can go heavy on the pies for a few weeks to pile on a few kilos. But being serious, I haven’t intentionally been trying to lose weight. It’s been a by-product of the consistent exercise. I still eat a whole bunch of crap really – chocolate, crisps, big meals… I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I’ll definitely keep an eye on it. According to the NHS weight thing I checked I’m slightly on the lower end of the “healthy weight” section. Seems to fit with what you’re saying though, I’m guessing the ideal spot is in the middle.
I’ve never thought to measure my resting heart rate. That’s a very interesting point you make. I don’t wear a watch, so haven’t got the immediate option to measure my heart rate that way. Maybe I could wear my Tickr and use an app? I’ll look into it. Definitely got me curious.
Well, I never thought I’d be at risk of being too light, anyway!
Cheers for the insight – and also for the heads up on the cycliq lights a while back, got my eye on them – seen a new version is out now, or soon, so as soon as I get paid I’m gunna grab the front and back set. Expensive business is cycling.
Thanks, and hope you’re well.
Chris
No worries!
I only recently started watching my resting HR (maybe a couple of weeks) but so far it seems to be working. Garmin app has been months of “unproductive or detraining” with my VO2Max going from 60 down to 52! Since I’ve been watching the resting HR, it’s gone back up to around 58/59 and I’ve generally been “productive, maintaining, recovery or peaking” so I’ll take those over “unproductive and detraining”. You could always buy a “cheap” Garmin VivoSmart 4, keeping it in the Garmin ecosystem gives you that single pane of glass view and if you do a walk or run, you can log it. As long as you wear it 24/7 (except charging) it’ll give you good resting HR numbers.
Yeah I’ve been told I look too thin recently too haha, not so bad I’ve put 1-2kg back on. This yeah I’ve been using MyFitnessPal to track my calorie intake. Being a former fatty I didn’t want to be eating too much but then also don’t want to short change myself if I’ve had a hard day on the bike. Its a bit of effort initially but becomes second nature after a month or so, I also found it encourages me to eat healthier after seeing how little bang for buck you get on crap food.
I’m eyeing up the Gen3 Fly6 as well. I left the battery flap open on my Gen2 about a month ago and of course the one time I ever did, it bucketed down on the ride to work and the internals got soaked. But it did give me two years of good service and a good excuse to upgrade!
Yeah cycling isn’t cheap! I tell myself it’s an investment on a longer life, although motorists sometimes have other ideas on that!
Cheers,
Phil
I forgot to put my strap on today. I’ve now got it led in front of me, so I can pop it on tomorrow as I sit here and do my day to day work. Not quite the Garmin Fenix experience, but it’s a start.
I’d definitely say cycling has changed my eating habits, but that’s been really gradual. The biggest thing for me was dropping the beers. I went from one a night to one a week, and at this point I’d be content with dropping it altogether except for special occasions. Maybe I could look to add a kilo or two, then re-assess.
Sucks to hear about the broken light. They really aren’t cheap. And yeah … motorists. Had a run in with two on a city center ride a week or so ago. But it’s the little old ladies who seem to give me the most difficulty. They get far too close, completely oblivious. I saw it on a GCN video recently – just because you enjoy the roads in the car, maybe they aren’t the best roads to ride on your bike. Very true. I’m now far more likely to avoid the busy main roads, but sometimes you have to ride them to get to the quieter roads. That said, electric cars on country roads… that’s partly why I want them cycliq lights tbh.
Roll on pay day.