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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2014 5:55:53 GMT
Due to family reasons I can't get out on the bike as much as I would like, which is a bit of a pain now the weather is getting nice so.....I've been convinced by a work friend to increase my CP30 value by 10% over the next 20 weeks. What is CP30 some may be wondering. I'd never heard of it either but it stands for critical power over 30 minutes. Basically how much power can you generate over 30mins. I picked up all the gear yesterday which included; - tacx flow turbo trainer - spare rear wheel with turbo tyre - sweat thong thingy to go over the bike (an essential time my mate has told me) - excel file to record the data and track progress Last night was spent in the garage fettling around with the trainer, running calibration test, doing a DIY bike fit and running a 30 minute tempo/cadence warmup session to get a bit of a sweat on. Tonight will be day 0 of the challenge and means running the first test which means a 15 minute warmup, 30 minute time trial as fast as I can go then a cool down. Next week the intervals start following set power outputs, as determined by the CP30 value from the initial time trial. These run for the first 5 week period. The there is another test, another 5 weeks of training, test, training, test, training etc. My friend, who used this training during his training for an ironman, has told me to expect lots of pain sweat and tears. He suggested following the training plans interval session on the trainer, using my commute to work as the training plans tempo/cadence session and my weekend ride as an endurance session. All sounds do-able. Let the fun begin
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Post by erictherat on Apr 17, 2014 11:17:56 GMT
enjoy the pain. sounds like there will be much
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2014 22:19:28 GMT
Just finished the test and I've never sweated so much or consumed so much water. I can see why my mate said the sweat catcher thingy was essential. I had a small carton of Apple juice on the go as well but managed to drop that off the table after ~10 mins . Test results will go into the excel file tomorrow to determine the intervals for week 1. I'll also be tracking my weight over the next 20 weeks to see if I can get under 12 stone. Weight today was 12.5 stones
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2014 5:09:22 GMT
So after putting the numbers in the computer file I have the following data, some of which was quite surprising. My average power over the 30 mins = 239 watts. Could I have pushed harder.....possibly, but I was really counting down the seconds in the last 2 minutes and I was pleased to stop at the end so I'm happy enough. I've never used a cadence meter before so had no clue what my numbers would look like. I put the bike into gear 52x17 and did not change over the 30 mins and my average was 108rpm with a maximum of 118rpm (must have had an up-tempo dance music track playing at the point). Much higher than I thought. Legs feel fine this morning and I manage to run my ~3km dog walk loop in record time last night. Importantly for me, absolutely no pain or discomfort from the troublesome left knee or right Achilles' tendon (touch wood), both of which have kept me out of action for months over the past few years. Another bonus, my mate who I am borrowing the trainer from is having a bike clear out as he is having a big extension/renovation project on his house. He has been told by his mrs to clear out some stuff and has some shimano and Bontrager wheels going spare. Nothing particular new but certainly lighter than the stock T3 wheels and for free or a couple of quid I can't go wrong
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2014 6:39:23 GMT
]Another bonus, my mate who I am borrowing the trainer from is having a bike clear out as he is having a big extension/renovation project on his house. He has been told by his mrs to clear out some stuff and has some shimano and Bontrager wheels going spare. Nothing particular new but certainly lighter than the stock T3 wheels and for free or a couple of quid I can't go wrong Whichever you choose, can I have the other set
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2014 16:00:45 GMT
CP30 week 2.....forgot to update last week So this week I completed a power training session, taken from the Tacx instruction manual and my weekly interval session. The power session involved cycling with one leg, then the other, then both. Feels weird at first but does highlight dead spots in your pedal stroke, by the end I was spinning one legged at a decent cadence (70-80rpm). Last night was the 2nd interval session. I’ve honestly never sweated so much and I’ll need more fluids next week. I was at it for 80minutes and I got through 1x750ml bottle with a High5 zero tab, 1x550ml bottle of plain water and 1x piece of homemade flapjack. I could have drunk more towards the end. I’ll also need more sweat rags or towels as the one I was using became saturated after 40 minutes. Last night involved intervals @ 105% of my CP30 wattage for 5 mins then 50% for 1:15 – repeated 5 times. Fire Starter by The Prodigy got me through the last 5mins Legs felt fine during the session and fine this morning. Going to push things a tad on my commute tomorrow morning to see if my perceived benefits translate to quicker times, higher average speeds etc.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2014 14:36:15 GMT
Interval time again last night. Not the sweat fest I was expecting, especially as the session was pretty similar to last week. Maintaining my 100% CP30 effort of 239 watts for 20mins was no problem. Another interval set next week and then a re-test of my CP30 the week after. I’ll be aiming to maintain 250+ watts over the 30mins, doable based on last nights efforts. Even managed a run this morning with the dog. She must hate seeing me putting my trainers on in the mornings
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2014 21:22:23 GMT
Another week, another interval set Legs felt good again last night and I 'get' what the program is doing now to try and improve performance. Those that have read these, diary like entries from the start, will know I started week 0 by riding a 30 minute time trial as fast as legs could go. That gave me my baseline CP30 value. Each week the program has got me riding at anywhere between 95% and 105% of that initial CP30 value. Last night for example one of the intervals was to ride for 20 minutes at 100%. In week 0 that was a bit of an effort but last night it felt relatively comfortable. This 100% interval was then followed by 2x 10 minute intervals at 105%. That extra 5% might not sound much but that equates to pumping out 14 more watts of power or in other words spinning 2 gears down on the cassette at the same cadence. Bring on next week and the next CP30 test. My ironman/marathon running friend that got me into this and lent me all the turbo gear has told me this is where it starts to get interesting. It is very easy to push too hard and run out of steam before the 30 minute test is over. He is also talking about having a go at some 2-up time trials over the summer. Would be fun especially as he'd be on his exotic titanium TT bike, pointy helmet etc and I'd be rocking up on bog standard T3 with MTB pedals
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2014 11:08:14 GMT
Weighed myself this morning, felt I'd lost some weight (punching a new hole in the belt was a good indication) but was surprised to see me hovering just above 12 stone (76.5kg). That's nearly 5lb since I started 3 weeks ago. Still some weight to loose but not going to go silly, 11st 8 or 9lbs feels about right.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2014 22:42:58 GMT
Thanks Al...I've used a turbo for the last few years my most recent is the Elite Qubo a bit of an up grade on my previous ones.
For sure can relate to the sweat fest, like you I always have lots of liquids and towels to hand.
I personally don't follow any specific training schedule, I warm up and then adjust the tempo to suit how good or bad i'm feeling.
Using the turbo for me has the benefit of saving time, wear and tear on the bike and a bit safer than the tarmac at peak time.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2014 7:00:41 GMT
Using the turbo for me has the benefit of saving time, wear and tear on the bike and a bit safer than the tarmac at peak time. The bit safer when you are in a lot of pain and the leg want to explode and you cant see the handle bars because you are cross eyed and just hanging on for dear life for the last 10 seconds that the clock for sure has stopped you don’t have to look for any cars. YEP A BIT SAFER. Well that how I feel most of the time.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2014 9:53:35 GMT
I've taken to leaving the bike on the turbo when not in use (sadly this is too often atm ). As I'm running with my dog most mornings I'm now running all the way home, then popping on the bike for ~1 mile to cool down. I then spend a couple of mins with a foam roller on the calf and quad muscles. Sounds a faff but I've not the normal muscle aches and pains and can run, swim, bike much more frequently. Robert - do you want a copy of the program I am following? I'm finding it really good but you do need a turbo that can measure watts and have 1.5 hrs once a weeks to complete the interval set.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2014 11:12:37 GMT
So last night I did the 2nd CP30 of my 20 week training plan. Holy cow Batman it was flipping tough going
After a light-ish dinner of homemade soup and bread I donned the bib shorts, filled my water bottles and got the up-tempo playlist ready on Spotify. 10 minutes, which is roughly 2 miles, of light spinning later and I was nicely warmed up and ready to go.
Resent the turbo trainer, 3...2....1, go, go, go. With the bike in 52-15 I set out pushing a cadence of 100rpm, which equated to a power output between 280 and 290 watts. This was fine for the first 10 minutes but I quickly realised that 20 minutes more at that pace was going to be impossible. I kept the same gear but accepted a drop in cadence and therefore power was inevitable. By 15 minutes I was completely covered in sweat but still able to control my breathing and keep drinking. By 20 minutes my increased breathing rate made it very difficult to keep drinking. Between 20 and 25 minutes (the worst part of the session) I took to counting my leg RPMs in my head, knowing counting to ~100 was roughly a minute. From 25-30 some Rule 5 was needed, drinking was impossible. I did consider throwing the water over my head but knew the end was in sight.
As soon as the clock hit 30 minutes, I pulled the rear brake, unclipped and got off the bike. At this point I was unsure if I was going to see my dinner for the 2nd time that evening. I had a good drink, got my breath back, wrote down the data from the turbo computer and then cooled down with 10 minutes of light spinning. The data was as follows;
Average speed = 25.2 mph (compared to 21.6mph in CP30 test #1, +16.7%) Distance = 12.6 miles (10.8, + 16.7%) Average power = 281W (239W, +17.7%)
I’m well pleased with the increases and have achieved the desired 10% increase in power after only a quarter of the training plan. I feel fitter, have lost weight and only my last road ride was able to push a higher average speed over a 10 mile course.
Sure I’ll plateau soon but I’ll finish the plan to see what improvement is possible.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2014 12:09:20 GMT
Well done for sticking to it 30 minute at almost flat out is not easy.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2014 9:25:05 GMT
Very interesting read, have you managed to continue with it? I'm very interested to see what your final results are like.
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