@chris by me having it out there would just having me being accountable for myself and not expecting other to hold me accountable…I am sure regardless I will have fun with it. Sometimes the most fun is when I “fail” most miserably. I have a mantra I repeat after hard brutal days…I usually will discuss a few things that were hard and always end it with “…at least I had fun!” - i.e “It was cold, rainy, and miserable…but at least it was fun!” was one I clearly remember from a gravel event a few years…Those are the days that tend to make the best “war stories”
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Agreed. As you may already know from my VN days, I’ll do most anything on a bike if it makes for a good story!
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Chris, your Amateur Hour hour record attempt for VeloNews is still my favorite of your crazy bike stories. You can’t beat a velodrome for spectator-friendly bike racing, especially when you know the only guy on the track and you get to heckle him for a full hour!
There were quite a few Fast Talk Labs contributors involved in that effort. @trevor was your coach. Nick Legan was your bike tech and time caller. I believe I see @colbypearce in the second photo, sizing you up for bike fit and time trial positioning.
@chris Do you still have your power meter data from that ride? I wonder if we should ask @ryan and Trevor to take a fresh look at it for a workshop since we are approaching time trial season and since time trials are a race format we would expect to be running during COVID.
Dave
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Thank you for upper body strength tips on gravel riding and racing! I had not even considered how much more fatigued my arms may become. Definitely need to add some strength to my routine. I know it’s so important!
That sounds like some mega-torture! Will be fun to hear what you end up choosing to ride, and how the training for that goes this year.
When are you thinking of starting your first training block?
Also, @bgkeen I agree with you about being self-accountable, and I also enjoy the positive accountability that comes from sharing goals and challenges in a supportive community like this.
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I’m so appreciative of the incredible support from you, @trevor, @ryan, and @colbypearce! Excited to ride hard, and continue enjoying the bike this year.
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Well @bgkeen, @jana attacked the INSCYD test and she did amazingly well on it! It was really fun riding along and helping to coach her through it. When she took off for the 3 minute effort she had a huge acceleration and dropped me pretty quickly. I had to work hard to jump back on to catch up!
Jana did her protocol all at one time, which was a big undertaking, and she killed it out there. We rode about 3 hours and covered nearly 30 miles for the test. There were two solid climbs for the 6 and 12 minute tests, so elevation gain added up quickly too. Keep in mind there was 15 minutes minimum between every effort with very light riding, so that goes to show how hard she was pushing during the intervals. One thing I’d like to point out is a lot of gold on her Strava ride with a couple top 10 finishes!
You an break up your INSCYD test into multiple days if necessary, but I’ve done this twice in the past and it just feels good to keep going with the whole protocol. Once you’re in it, you’re in, so it’s almost easier to keep going right to the end. If you have time constraints that prevent you from being on the bike 2-3 hours at one time, certainly breaking up the efforts is a valid option.
Great work Jana!
Ryan
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Great thread! I haven’t officially registered yet, but in April I plan on doing some local criteriums and road races. It will be nice to get back in the trenches after not racing since February of 2020. Criteriums suit me the most and I really like them, however this year I decided to target gran fondos, particularly the Asheville Gran Fondo since I just moved from Tucson to Asheville. (it also happens to be the national championship location this year).
I have actually been working with @bgkeen as my coach and I must say the dude knows his stuff (but what do I know, I’ve never had a coach before 
)! Brian and I have known each other for several years due to being in the same cycling club (shoutout “Team 111”) .
I have been focusing on building my aerobic system as this is something I more or less have neglected over the years. I am also committed to consistent strength sessions which @bgkeen has really helped me with.
I don’t really have expectations right now for how I finish in the Gran Fondo, it is more about challenging myself to be able to do a long race at a high performance (since I historically tend to fizzle out after 2-3 hours or so thanks to a weaker aerobic engine).
If things don’t go according to plan, at least I will have @bgkeen to blame 
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@dave You won’t believe it, but I have no data from my Hour attempt. The head unit, per UCI rules, cannot be viewed during the attempt so I had it mounted under the saddle. In the process of holding me up, the starter inadvertently powered off the Garmin, so I got nothing. No data!
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@jana I am not certain when my first training block will be since I have nothing set in stone. We are still waiting on my sister-in-law’s wedding plans to be finalized before planning a trip. I have a feeling that portions of late July and early August will be travel (Lebanon - may get a fun ride in here and there but things are not great for training there with my accommodations) for the wedding. So, I am guessing that I will either have to find events in late June (in which case I will probably start my prep block 6 weeks prior - picking things up in April) or in the fall (most likely picking things up after returning from trip) .
Having said that I am always in a training routine where I ebb and flow with easy volume for 6-8 weeks when my body is telling me to pull back and then having a 4-6 weeks of hard intervals when I am feeling good - I am in the “body telling me to ‘pull back’” now…
I am still trying to figure out my N1 challenge for this year that I am hoping to do by mid-summer. But I will post once I have “clearance from the tower” (for those not married, that means spouse permission 
)
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@ryan
I can’t wait to hear more about this. Is the analysis done with just the data from the ride - hr, power, etc. - or do you need to get other data - blood, BP, other samples?
@murphyy12 thanks for the good words - I think… 
He has been crushing it in the past month. I may have to post the data of how his performance has been going up and mine falling…It’ll probably look like a giant “X”
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@bgkeen, yes, so the analysis is done with just the ride data. Power is key, and if you have HR you can use that as well, but the HR data does not get pulled into the analysis for the final report. What I am doing with Jana, for example, is running the analysis with her power data, and going back to the FIT file to analyze HR and set up HR ranges from the test separately.
There are other options for running the assessment where you can include lactate. This requires a different protocol, but you can then do some other options where you’re measuring lactate at various time points to generate the necessary report and metrics.
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@ryan
That sounds pretty cool. Are any PMs more ideal than other? Crank v Pedal? Dual vs single? I cannot wait to see/hear more (case study) on what you are doing. Kudos to @jana for being up for it!
I would like to see what you figure out from getting HR from those efforts. One thing I have noticed that when my HR gets out of whack from power I know it is time to pull back and change focus…case in point now…I have been feeling off in my workouts. I just analyzed the same workout/course from yesterday to a few weeks ago my power was much higher and HR slightly lower. The “funny” thing is that TSS (power based) says my workout a few weeks ago was higher/more stressful than yesterday - although I was hating life, HR went high and stayed regardless of what I did, felt more stressed for longer time (went way ‘slower’), and should’ve pulled the plug. But when I set the toggle to do “hrTSS” the more recent ride was way more stress. Long story short - I usually can tell when I need to pull back…It is usually when my “hrTSSS” is higher than my “TSS”. So, any type of HR zones based on power analysis would be nice to see.
@bgkeen, I’ve tested on the SRM lab ergometer and a number of PMs over the years (single side). For the accuracy with the SRM (and having the torque analysis program available too) I’ve found good agreement, personally, with most of the popular PMs. There is always the caveat that a rider might have some serious L/R imbalances in the pedal stroke, I which case I would think that a dual sided PM would be ideal for this protocol for best results.
Once I finish up Jana’s analysis from the HR side of things, I’ll have to update the post with any additional details. Yes, I think what you’re suggesting is spot on. Our HR tells us so much! I like that suggestion of looking at the hrTSS exceeds your TSS. Very insightful way to look at the relationship between the stress produced with your power meter and what your physiological/hrTSS is picking up on. Very cool stuff!
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I wish WKO had the hrTSS metric so I can compare to TSS…But maybe I need to get more in tuned to that pw:hr metric…
@ryan thank you for these kind words! Your encouragement as we raced along the roads helped me focus on my effort.
@murphyy12, good luck with your April racing. That’s coming up soon! What do you like best about the strength sessions and progress you’ve seen so far?
@bgkeen sounds like a pretty awesome year of travel that you have lined up so far! Love that you get to ride in Lebanon. Is the riding good there?
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@jana - I have been focusing on just the basics at this time with a lot of help from Menachem Brodie videos (Human Vortex Training). I have been focusing on glute activation (something I desperately need). I also like the Sufferfest beginner level strength sessions which really focus on balance and technique. I have noticed better posture in my job (desk job) and on the bike as well as better glute engagement.
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