Getting back into it

FrankGrimes

So between crazy working hours, college course and getting engaged, things have been a bit beyond hectic so my cycling time has suffered and the rare free times I've had I've often just been too drained to get on the bike. Am still getting to play 11-a-side Astro football for two teams which is my main non-negotiable: no matter what happens being able to play ball competiviely at least once a week is my top priority (helps the sanity!).

But there's a gang of us heading down for the Ring of Kerry cycle this week so that spurred me to at least get out on the bike a couple of times in the past month (literally a couple: 2 x 110km spins and 2 x 50kms up Kippure and back). And I'm glad to say I finally feel the buzz of being back on the bike again (overdosing on in September meant I had no interest for a good while).

So, I jumped on the Tacx Fortius trainer the other day to see how my Functional Threshold Power is measuring up. Think last year it was around 320watts (based on one hour runs on Batterstown 40km TT course) and I was 87kg. I'm now 94kg and my average wattage for this 60min turbo session was 223watts. Feels like a long way off where I was, but yet doesn't feel woeful, kinda feels like where I should be given the lack of training.

I struggled to keep the pace up on the turbo and it was humid night on Monday (though I had a fan), so I mixed it between 0% and -1% sections at the start, then had the turbo replicate 4% climbs for 5mins, back to 0%, then 7% sections, and repeated that pattern. Actually found it easier to generate watts consistently on the 4 and 7% sections than the flat. Details of this session are below.

So, this is partially a braindump to get me starting keep myself honest, but would also appreciate any insight on what % of true potential I should be expecting on the turbo, given that it's the Tacx Fortius so the usual 'it's hard to motivate yourself' bit mightn't apply to the same extent as a standard turbo.

Goals for the year are just to get back into cycling on a reasonably regular basis (in reality I don't have time to go full-on at it) and to get myself back into feeling I need to adhere to my cycling diet from last year. A stretch goal would be to do that 134km Sky event in Clare in August in under 4hours. Likewise, I have notions of getting under 6hours rolling time for the ROK (5hr:47mins rolling last year) again but acknowledge that might be a little unrealistic with this much lower level of prep.

Anyways, it's good to talk braindump - kinda feels that even putting this down on internet paper will be a bit of a spur to get me getting out on the bike a bit more often.

Duration: 1:00:02
Work: 804 kJ
TSS: 59.7 (intensity factor 0.773)
Norm Power: 226
VI: 1.01

Min Max Avg
Power: 44 345 223 watts
Heart Rate: 87 180 162 bpm
Cadence: 52 107 84 rpm
Speed: 13.6 59.2 36.3 kph
Pace 1:01 4:25 1:39 min/km
Altitude: 24 28 26 m
Crank Torque: 5.2 43.7 25.4 N-m

Lumen

I think you are comparing Powertap data (then) to a Fortius (now). The PT will have been more accurate.

That said, long intense turbo sessions are tough. I can get fairly close to my outdoor power indoors, but not for long sessions. Maybe try some 20 minute intervals instead, you might be able to motivate yourself better.

In any case, maybe your focus should be on getting back into cycling without blowing up again, i.e. don't obsess over numbers and solo Marmotte craziness, just ride your bike and have fun.

Enjoy the ROK!

Beasty

I have managed to do a few 40+ minute sessions on the Tacx at an average power of 260-270w or so, which is not far off what I can do on a road bike. As Lumen says it's probably a bit easier than a "normal" turbo, as you can get quite a bit of variety. When I go onto the Catalyst program I struggle much more to keep the power up, and tend to restrict myself to shorter sessions (10-15mins or so) to warm-up before switching to the RLVs

FrankGrimes

Cheers lads. These were based on PowerTap data - though I was surprised how close the Tacx power reading generally was. When I was doing around 220w on 0% sections, both readings were reasonably close. Gaps started to appear when doing the 4% and 7% sections - Tacx showing 300-350w and PowerTap showing roughly 50w less.

Nah, there's always gotta be targets Lumen , that was the exact problem last year - when I ran out of targets I ran out of interest. Am thinking of heading up to Batterstown tonight to give the 40km TT route a bash to get a true baseline of FTP. Once I can tell myself 'you're XX% off where you were this time last year' that'll motivate me to work on closing that gap as far as I can. Haven't been up the Batterstown way since last summer - there have probably been changes to the roads, assume the Trim turnoff is still signposted?

Am looking forward to the ROK alright, will be pushing myself all the way as best I can - no doubt I'll hit my limits but for me that's the enjoyment of it all: finding the limits and pushing them regardless of how low or high they might be.