Finished Angels (2015) this morning and it went VERY well. I do better at those type intervals so not a surprise. So far so good but I did skip my run session last night so legs were better rested then when I did Fight Club and 9 Hammers. Looking forward to The Rookie on Friday but dreading the Sat ride. I do not do well at those sprints and the Revolver/Violater/Half is Easy combo is gonna be brutal. Only about 7 hours to go!!

I was almost through the warmup today and while the video was still playing, I noticed the TrainerRoad timer/countdown stopped. Gah!

Fortunately, I just hit pause and then resume and it all started back up and synced up just fine. First time that has happened. Although, I did drop a chain a couple days ago. That was fun.

72 minutes into the 85 minute Local Hero workout, power goes out.

All is not lost, as I realize several things immediately.

1. The TV is dead.
2. The laptop's tiny screen is still playing the video below it running on battery.
3. I'm in the middle of finishing sprint 2 of ~4?
4. My TdF stationary bike is dead.
5. Wait, just the screen is dead, the bike is still pedaling, and it's just stuck in whatever gear I was in.
6. I was at 10/10.
7. I have to manage the remaining sprints and 5 minute recovery in a stupidly hard gear using rpm adjustments.
8. Ow.
9. The fans are dead. Clearly I shouldn't have been using them anyway.
10. Stage 8 is still coming.

I've had chain drops several times going from big to small chain ring. Drops always seem to get worse further into the ride.

I've discovered that the further I get into the ride I have to keep my back end in the 2nd or 3rd gear to successfully drop the front end. Finally figured that out today and had no chain drops (vs 2 yesterday).

Probably just need to adjust your FD & RD properly.

I was dreading Angels, but to my surprise it went very well, no problem hitting all intervals. The ToS has been weird like that- stages i dread are fine, and i suffer on some reasonable looking stages.

I have 482 TSS in the bank so far.
Now the bad news: 626 left to go. Not even close to halfway for the peloton.

These workouts are tough to do just getting out of bed! I'm absolutely dreading doing stage 8 Friday morning first thing, since I will be out of town all day Saturday. I think I am going to have nightmares Thursday night! Arghhh!

That's basically where I am at too. Everything so far has been "manageable" at 100% of my latest FTP. This entire "race" comes down to surviving Stage 8 and being able to get up again to do Stage 9.

i wish i could say the same. i'm finding it a struggle getting my legs under me for the first 15-20min of the last two days. yesterday i basically bonked due to not fueling properly during the day, but even today it took a bit of time to get into the rhythm. if this had been a race i would have been dropped or would be hanging on for dear life at the back. the legs when they do finally come around they feel good. I finished local hero just now and the last 6 plateaus went well, and got stronger as they progressed. But man did the first bit suck.

Angels (old version) destroyed me. It's the first time I've done it on trainerroad. The overs/unders lulled me into a false sense of security. I had almost nothing left on Alpe d'Huez. Local here will be difficult tomorrow

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http://www.thedeludedcyclist.wordpress.com

Because of scheduling I had to do angels last night and local hero this morning b/c it was the only time I could fit both of them in. Local hero felt awful, although my TSS was a lot closer to the workout listing than I was expecting (-2), so maybe I didn't fall apart as much as I thought I did. Mostly dreading stage 8 (also, I have no idea how 5 second sprints on rollers is going to go).

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All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. ~Gandalf

(not responding to you in particular)

I'm curious how confident in the accuracy of their FTP are people who claim to be doing the whole thing at 100%. That seems completely impossible to me.

I'm running at 100% of my FTP so far on all the workouts. My confidence of my FTP is almost 99% sure that I'm within a 2-3 watts of the exact number. Last year, I did the Rubber Glove (FTP Test NP 285) as the first stage of ToS 2014, I kept that number (NP * 0.95 = 285 * 0.95 = 271) for the whole Tour. Yes, I struggle on some stages meaning it happened a few times that my legs locked (Computrainer resistance too hard) I stopped pedaling for a second or two to re-group and push back.

This year I didn't had the FTP Test at the beggining of Tour. I'm running on an estimated FTP (275) which is higher than last year. During the first stage Long scream my best average for 20 minutes of the 30 minutes stretch of that workout was (270) it was a very painful 30 minutes. So 270 versus 275 estimated, pretty sure my really FTP would fall in that area, could it be 272 or 278 or 281 I don't really know but I'm not too far either way.

In this is year tour had a bad patch in the long scream and another in the fight club where I needed to regroup on the last minute of the last interval. Other than that I really try hard to stay focus and relax during those hard moments.

Stay focus and HTFU!

Good Luck

I think 100% is realistic for some people. I'm doing it overall at about 97-98%, so I surely have to allow that somebody is better than me and could do it.

But I have to admit that the only way I can manage is to do a 20-25 min warmup before starting each video, just to flush the fatigue. It helps, a lot. And I'm finding that in each video, I get stronger as I get into it. I've actually done a few of them at higher overall TSS and NP (for the workout interval, not to include the huge warmup) than when I did them a week or two ago on semi-rested legs, in a "normal" training week.

100% of FTP (216, 3.03 W/kg) for me. It has been tough, but doable. However, I can feel it taking its toll on my legs. Next up: Local hero, going to wait until tonight after work to attempt it. I just don't have the early morning legs or motivation.

I think it depends on how you set your threshold.

The 8 min test overestimates my FTP. You are better taking a look at your data from Long Scream and using that as a reality check. I have been able to (barely) hang on at 100%. I'm not sure i'll make local hero at 100% today but will give it a go.

FTP measurement is not an exact science. A sanity check should be in place: if your life depended on it, do you really think could you ride at your threshold power for an hour? if not, you are probably overestimating a bit.

I've done 3 videos including EoS at 100%. The others at 95%. Yesterday I rode both Angels and Local Hero (from now on to be referred to as 12 Hammers) at 95% about 8 hours apart. Rest day today for me.

^^^^^^ This ^^^^

When I think about it, 100% should be possible for most days as the rides are only an hour. 80-90 TSS/day is doable given you're not trashing your legs the other 23 hours of the day. Now doing nearly 3 hours of videos in stage 8 followed by a 2 hour video in Stage 9 at 100% does seem impossible at 100%. I'm not even going to try. I'll start at 95% and see what happens.

I broke down my last Revolver in PowerAgent, and an interval of the 16x1min intervals at RPE 9 (which for me is by design 120% of FTP) only works out to a TSS of around 65 or so. It's only 16 minutes. I gotta believe that adding the other 2 sprinting videos on Saturday will yield a TSS closer to 200 than 300.

Not to say that it won't be tough to hold the power, and not to say that Sunday won't suck. I'm more dreading the mind-numbing Sunday ride *after* Saturday's "fun." :)

That's what I start to notice people look way too ahead of time...

Just take one interval at the time don't over think, when you start thinking of what's left then some get beating up without even starting.

Today was not easy Local Hero, at one point I let my mind over thinking on that 3rd 6 minutes interval, I just focus back and nailed the whole workout. Most of these workouts take a lot concentration (focus), relaxation (system checks), once you learn to do this everything will seem a little easier. At least, it works for me.

Not to brag but I haven't cut down my swimming since the start of the Tour only cut down my run. If everything goes according to plan I should be able to complete the following week.

4 swim sessions
7 bike sessions
2 run sessions (maybe another run tonight so 3 sessions) - Short runs 30-50 minutes (No intervals)

Like some mentioned, the bike workouts are short close to one hour that's not much.

I had extra sleep time since the start about 1 hour per day. Recovery is one of keys same goes with nutrition, you need to refill quickly your reserve.

'Shut up legs' will come soon or later in the next days!

Guys/Gals just keep pushing! Next week should be interesting ;) for those that will have the courage to give it a try. At least, I'm schedule Stage 10 (Elements of style)... after that it's all bonuses!

FTP is a relative measurement, more of an art, than a science.

FTP measures steady state effort, it may or may not be accurate for sprints, over/unders, ramp ups etc. One thing it does not measure is the ability to handle long term fatigue over multiple days of intense effort.

Next year if you want to do the tour at 100%, measure FTP in December and then train hard up till a few days before the tour starts. I for one have exceed FTP not because it is accurate, but because of gamesmanship! Some people turn down the intensity before each workout, others go in with a low FTP and then exceed it. (Sort of like setting your watch 5 minutes early so you are never late.)

Regardless, I do each ride as hard as I can, so exceeding FTP is inconsequential, after all, I really am only competing against myself!

FTP is only a number, if it helps you improve your performance great, if not, don't worry about it!

NOTE: This year I trained up for the TOS, meaning a lot of 90 minute intense rides back to back with no rest days. Also it helps to know the videos before the TOS.

I'm asking this not to be a jerk, but because I want to make sure I'm understanding these concepts correctly. I don't see how all three of these statements can be true.

Quote:

I'm running at 100% of my FTP so far on all the workouts.

Quote:

I'm running on an estimated FTP (275)

Quote:

During the first stage Long scream my best average for 20 minutes of the 30 minutes stretch of that workout was (270) it was a very painful 30 minutes.

I went back and checked the profile for Long Scream, and for approximately the last 20 minutes of that workout (maybe only 18) you have to be at or above threshold - except for the turns. Still, if you were holding 100% intensity on these workouts, your best 20 minute power should be, give or take, 275 or more. I did this workout on Erg mode on my Kickr with my FTP set to 240 and my best 20 minute power was 247, or 103% of FTP.

I know 270 out of 275 is 98% and I'm not saying that there is any material difference in the quality of the workout, but I don't see how you can say you were holding 100% of the prescribed intensity at your estimated FTP if you didn't hit that threshold. Which was kind of nchristi's point.

To nchristi's question, I had indicated above that I am doing 100% intensity so far at my FTP. The FTP was set with a lactate test with my coach, but it was set coming of a period of injury and illness so I think there's a good chance it's low. Not by too much though. I do a weekly indoor race series where my usual finishes are 41-44 minutes and my average power on those is usually in the high 240s so it's close.

Last year when I did the tour I did up my FTP to match the Rubber Glove 20 minute estimate and failed at some point on all the doubles (Angels+ Hunted particularly) as well as ISLAGIATT. I used Erg mode for that one too. I would also add that I think that erg mode actually lets you "cheat" the sprint bits some. I know I can hammer more than 135% FTP for 15 seconds at least 2 or 3 maybe even 4 times, but most of the sprints on TR are set to that level (at least for the workouts we have done thus far in the tour).

Ditto. Granted I'm not hitting 100% precision (generally averaging slightly below target), but manageable is a good word. I was on week 3 of the Sufferfest Build plan when the tour started, so chances are my FTP has gone up a little over the past month, but I'm waiting a few more weeks to retest.

Given that, someone talk me off of the ledge. I'm considering Stage 8 at 100% and just doing what I can. Several times this week I've thought about dropping to 90% and every time I've been glad I didn't. I'll probably do the first ride and reevaluate.

Anyone else having these grand delusions?

On a different note, I was just looking at the ride feed for Local Hero. My mind is completely blown by guys (and gals?) that NP over 300 on a 90 minute ride. Unbelievable. You truly make Sufferlandia proud.

I thought I was a Sufferlandian. Maybe I'm a Minion and never knew it...