Let's See Your BREAKTHROUGHS! 💥

In the middle of a 100k road race. Remember the exact moment as I had to dig really deep over the top of a drag so as not to get dropped off the group!! It’s about as accurate a breakthrough effort as I have ever seen. I was very close to blowing up!!

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This is my first breakthrough in about 4.Months. I was so focused on my events that I just could not find time to try for one (I did have 5 near breakthroughs over this period). The cool thing about this one is it came 2 days after completing a 10,000 ft continuous climb in Maui to the top of Haleakala volcano…. Which means I could have done more if I was fresh :grin:.

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Great work Randall! Which decay method were you using during that time? Do you feel that the signature was underestimated?

I was using slow but switched to moderate decay after derating my ftp due to weight loss. I had several challenges during this period. Loss of weight (12lbs-intentional) and manually adjust TP down by 15 watts (feel) as a result-not finishing sessions , 5 events (last 2 being the target events), learn new skills (gravel event). I guessed my signature was low but frequency of training, intensity and ramp training load did not provide an opportunity for a breakthrough effort. I guess with my events completed and on vacation, I could throw caution to the wind and put the hammer down :grin: without having to worry about recovery and having enough energy for the next sessions.

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Anotha’ one!

I was doing some 30/15’s with EBC on my Thursday interval route. When I was heading out, I wasn’t planning to go all-out for a Breakthrough, but couldn’t help myself once I looked down and saw my MPA below 500 W :wink:

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So to answer your original question I believe my new TP is underrated for climbing by 3-5 watts but is probably correct for flats and TT

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Sneaky Bronze PP Breakthrough on the trainer doing one of the Opener workouts, PP now above 1500W

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Two weeks off-bike due to illness and after a week of easy riding decided to do a BT effort indoors using “Xert Fitness Test for Breakthrough Version 2”. I think I left some on the table, which is fine, not trying to ruin myself right now anyways!

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Gold BT on a outdoor ride up a monster hill. Very happy about this as I was worried I was losing fitness because I have been riding less for the last 6 weeks. My new FTP is lower than my peak from last year but my watts/KG is at a new peak because of weight loss.

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Just went to play outside in my lunch break

image

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Went in pretty rested intending to test my signature and get a BT. Got a silver, although the app maybe faked me out a bit and told me I’d gotten a BT much earlier than I actually did, I think.

I switched to slope for the last segment as per directions for the “Under Pressure” workout, which allowed me to keep going beyond what the workout was “drawn” to do. I think I botched the directions a bit, and I started the sprint too early though. I might have benefited from staying at 125% TP for longer. Instead, I started sprinting as soon as the last bit of higher difficulty burst interval occurred and then held the sprint as long as I could.

Overall I really liked this workout. It had been a month since my last BT and wanted to tune up my signature so it worked great for that.

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Have been doing the Under Pressure protocol (ish) outside for BTs this season, and my signature was getting stale. Also have had a month off of serious training, with 4 weekends of partying/weddings. In that time my CP(calculated) went from 345 to 332 on slow decay and 3-5hrs/wk without any structure.
So I was very pleased with yesterdays ride home from work. I also rode in to work in the morning, 55mins at a tempo/sweetspot intensity, into a headwind, pressed for time :sweat_smile:

Do I need to use an even slower decay model to reflect this in the future?

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Kudos for not blowing up as you still had to climb a bit.

Which workout was this please

I always convince myself I have left something on the table. Gets you coming back for another go.

That looks like Under Pressure(1) Xert - Workout Designer (xertonline.com)
The key interval set is this section –

I especially like Xert’s ability to predict your failure point(s) with the MPA dropdown graph before you perform a workout.
You may not reach and complete the final interval to failure depending on your TL and how fresh you are that day. In either case the goal is to fail at some point so BT workouts should be performed in slope mode when ridden indoors. I typically start in AUTO for the initial warm-up and switch to Slope before any yellow/orange/red efforts.
One exception is this tough ramp-style double-whammy BT workout designed to be performed in AUTO mode – (1) Xert - Workout Designer (xertonline.com)

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Got a Breakthrough by doing some 30-30’s on my Thursday hard ride. It’s hard for me to resist pushing myself once I see MPA dipping below 500W :wink:

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I lead a “D” group of mostly beginning riders learning techniques and skills to improve their riding as well as speed. Kept challengng the group this evening and ended up with not only a silver breakthrough but a new high max heart rate observed in some time :smiley:

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I got a gold breakthrough on an outdoor ride. Just pushed hard up a hill.

2 days later and it’s now a bronze.

Anyone know why?

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The designation of the breakthrough only refers to how many parameters of your fitness signature improved:
Near Breakthrough (Fakethrough): nothing increased
Bronze Breakthrough: 1 parameter increased
Silver Breakthrough: 2 parameters increased
Gold Breakthrough: all 3 parameters increased