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Need advice on bike performance - training
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Hi guys and gals,

I'm training for IMMT, taking place in late August. My goal was to hit about 200w on the bike.

My current FTP is 277 and I've been training about 2-3 times per week, averaging from 1h30 to 3h00 on the bike. In about a month I'll be upping those training sessions to 2h00 on week days and 4-5h during weekends.

Almost every time I do longer bike sessions, my power drops drastically after about 2h. I usually hold 215-225w fairly easily for the first 2h after which I have a hard time holding 185-200w.

Am I over biking? Should I aim at a lower power goal?

Note that my nutrition on the bike indoors has been poor, could that effect me to that affect?

Any recommendations or tips would be appreciated :).

Cheers,
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [ironmanphil90] [ In reply to ]
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not to be blunt but your not riding much or even frequent enough which with what you said should be expected. Ride more and work on your sustained efforts and well as variable efforts for economy like over unders and such
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [ironmanphil90] [ In reply to ]
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It may be nutrition, but it could also be a lack of endurance/fitness. How long have you been doing these longer rides? For the longer rides are you fueling at around the same level you would during your IM? I always target 250-350 calories an hour on longer training rides. When I have had power dip near the end of a ride it's almost always due to nutrition and hydration (as long as you are targeting the correct power - otherwise it could be over biking).

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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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No, I don't take nearly enough nutrition, not as much as I would take for a regular outdoor ride. I would take a big meal right before a long session and hope for the best. I've only done these longer rides these past few months, so I might be over biking my fitness..

Might have to try fixing my nutrition first and see where that takes me.
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [ironmanphil90] [ In reply to ]
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How confident are you in your FTP? If your FTP was actually lower, like around 250, then the power drop off would make sense. My FTP is around 280, and I can do long training rides at 230W seemingly forever. And I am not in the routine of long IM-type rides.
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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I'm pretty confident, as I said, I hold 215-225 easily and then suddenly, after a few hours, my legs have no power. I get off those rides and run fine... it just feels like I have no more biking power.

So more rides?
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [ironmanphil90] [ In reply to ]
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more rides and ride harder then your goal effort, some 2 x 20s at 90% working up to 2 x 20. No real need to ride at IM pace....Some solid harder 5-8 min efforts are helpful too.
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [ironmanphil90] [ In reply to ]
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First thing to address is nutrition. Once you rule take care of that, if the problem persists, you have ruled out a likely culprit and can go from there. AFAIK glycogen stores typically last 90-180mins depending on how well adapted you are and your starting state. After that you'd expect to see a significant drop in performance if your nutrition isn't working.
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [Ai_1] [ In reply to ]
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Ai_1 wrote:
First thing to address is nutrition. Once you rule take care of that, if the problem persists, you have ruled out a likely culprit and can go from there. AFAIK glycogen stores typically last 90-180mins depending on how well adapted you are and your starting state. After that you'd expect to see a significant drop in performance if your nutrition isn't working.

I guess I'll have to do a bit of research but what's the best food or some of the food you'll typically aim at intaking on the bike?

Any suggestions?
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Re: Need advice on bike performance - training [ironmanphil90] [ In reply to ]
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Different people do different things.
Approaching a race I think it's best to use the same nutrition you plan to use when racing. For me that's likely to be gels.
However, I don't fancy eating lots of gels all year round. So I'd also eat bananas and cereal bars. I find it difficult to eat anything dry or that requires lots of chewing when working hard so cereal bars are usually reserved for long easy outdoor rides rather than higher intensity indoor training. Some people use nuts, dried fruit, biscuits, homemade flapjacks, even cake or sandwiches.
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