Have not been able to complete workout which has above TP for many months, give up and just focus on doing “Lucy in The Sky” without problem even at 2hrs, but sometimes, i will give a try to do above TP workout, but as usual, not able to complete. So, i am back to do “Lucy in The Sky” workout again.
Yesterday afternoon, status changed from Yellow to Blue, recommend to me with the “Conventional VO2max 5x5 Intervals”, want to give a try again, but only able to complete the 1st 2 interval of 5mins but felt so tough, 3rd interval complete 90sec and have to skip, 4th interval 4mins 30s and 5th interval only 30s.
I have no problem doing outdoor ride with hard effort, even able to deplete my mpa down near to breakthrough but when come to indoor, mpa deplete around half way, i already find it so tough. Wondering is it due to not used to do indoor hard workout?
My stats below.
IR: Slow for the past 2 weeks as i just start doing gym workout and not much time to ride indoor, used to be moderate-1.
Focus Type: GC Specialist.
Program: Continuous Improvement.
Weekly TL: between 100 to 110.
Training Status & Form: 4 Stars.
Weekdays 5am, ride daily or 1 day off, between 60mins to 90mins “Lucy in The Sky”.
Sat 5am, outdoor 100km No Rest Stop ride with fast group. XSS around 250
Sun 5am, solo endurance 100km No Rest Stop ride or easy 70km social ride. XSS between 100 to 220.
Have you tried the same VO2 workout outdoors and can you complete that?
Could be the indoors thing as you suggest. Do you have enough ventilation, fans, aircon? Eat and drink enough? Do a proper warmup? Is it the same power meter and bike or could there be calibration issues (is you RPE for Lucy workouts the same indoors and outdoors)?
Or could be fatigue from adding gym work on to a heavy training schedule. How do you schedule gym vs heavy and easy cycling days (and not everyone would consider Lucy ‘easy’)? You may be better off having more days off…
i haven’t tried the same VO2 workout outdoor before.
in a aircon room with a fan beside me.
purposely choose to do the workout in the afternoon as i usually eating a good meal.
just a bottle of water during workout.
warm-up is more than enough.
i didn’t install my assioma duo onto the trainer bike as it was quite troublesome to switch between outdoor bike and trainer bike, prefer to stick with trainer power, and i did the calibration quite often on the trainer as well as my assioma duo on outdoor bike.
i didn’t do Lucy workout for outdoor, but when come to outdoor endurance ride which the power sustain is somewhere on par with Lucy workout, my rpe is similar.
i don’t do gym workout till 2 weeks ago, all along, i just do cycling. And the interval workout which am not able to complete for months of trying, is purely on cycling, so i doubt gym workout is the cause of it. In fact, after starting my gym workout 2 weeks ago, i can feel the added improvement on my outdoor ride.
Been 2 years have not taken more than 3 straight days off. Maybe i should give a try but i always have my mind of wanting to ride as afraid of loosing fitness.
As for Lucy workout, so far at 90mins, rpe is 6 to 7.
Assuming your signature is valid I suggest skipping the conventional 5x5 @ xxx% and try a SMART workout instead. That will scale the intervals to your individual signature.
Start with Closer 140 or Elastic Heart 3. Both are 3-diamond level workouts. If successful, move up a level the next time form goes to blue.
If still having problems I suggest testing with the Assioma pedals on your trainer bike with same workout. Pair the pedal meter with Power sensor in EBC so that Powermatch is active. If the workout feels easier/harder, that means there is a significant difference with power output on the trainer.
My apology for rpe, if based on the chart, it will be 3 - 4 range, my heart rate for Lucy is around 75% on zone 3 heart rate, remaining are of zone 2 and 1.
I just check the workout, indeed it is not as tough as the 5x5 i have did, i shall give a try tomorrow afternoon.
Fully agree with those points.
Calibrating trainer and power meter does not mean they will read the same, just that each will be consistent relative to itself… and if by chance you have a Tacx Neo 2 I’ve seen a number of comments that (in some cases) it systematically understates power, so could cause the issue.
Would add that there may be a need for two fans or more if hot or humid. And to drink more e.g with electrolytes (just in general for indoor riding, not specifically for this issue)… and eat on the bike (though not necessary for a short workout)
I also wouldn’t avoid rest… you may come back far fitter after a rest or some easy days (RPE 2 or 3)… or even the occasional rest week with riding half as far on the same number of days…
Skip my early morning cycling workout from Mon to Wed, only did gym session on Tues and this morning(Wed).
Was recommend a few smart workout but i choose Hardness Test - Level 07 which is the 5th on the list as somehow i feel am likely can complete. Luckily completed just now around 8pm Wed.
My freshness is “very fresh - green” before the starts of Hardness Test - Level 07, upon completion, became “Tired - yellow”. If that the case, does that mean i need to rest for few days in order to complete this kind of hard workout? Maybe am just not used to it. As i prefer to ride more often rather than taking so many days of rest. Nonetheless, am glad able to complete and shall give a try when i am in “blue” instead of “green”.
Peter: I feel similarly to you: two days ago I gave up during my 5th VO2Max 2.5min interval of the GCN Sitting and Standing workout. I had set the Zwift FTP at the Xert FTP. It was too hard.
Perhaps I also need to rest more before (vs doing an endurance day before) but my new strategy is to just start any demanding workout at say 92 or 95% Zwift FTP bias. And if I feel good, increase it throughout the workout. That just feels more motivating than failing halfway in a workout
Have you also ridden any of the SMART VO2max series with EBC as described above?
Assuming your stars count match diamond count they should be hard but doable as they scale to your fitness signature.
Static %FTP VO2max intervals can also be performed in Slope mode if required. You’ll achieve the intended goal which isn’t really watts based at a fixed %.
rest is important…and follow closely the xata also important, i tends to overshoot my weekly improvement rate quite often(which i set to slow, but reach Sunday, the amount of surplus is at between moderate 1 and moderate 2) for few months which resulted with fatigue…
after having a good rest on december holiday, am going for moderate 1 starting Jan, will follow closely the xata, if yellow, i will just do endurance ride, only blue will then do interval ride and kept my xss at most surplus by 50xss on Sunday.
right now, i manage to complete interval workout given by xert and still have energy to continue doing some endurance ride for roughly an hour.
