Crack Analysis

objective said:

* I spent 53 minutes or ~72 % of the event at a heart rate above LT.

This is a pretty good indicator that your LT power needs to improve, and your AWC will need work also. I haven't looked at your file, but if you've been doing a lot of base and 6 weeks of L4 work, base is done.

Time for a competition preparation phase(8 weeks or so) of L5/6 work. Of course, you'be been doing form sprints (L7) work all winter, right??😉

Spunout said:

This is a pretty good indicator that your LT power needs to improve, and your AWC will need work also. I haven't looked at your file, but if you've been doing months of L4 work, base is done.

Time for a competition preparation phase(8 weeks or so) of L5/6 work. Of course, you'be been doing form sprints (L7) work all winter, right??😉

Thanks for the feedback.

A point of clrification. I've only done 1 month of L4 intervals not several. Form sprints? WTF ;-)

BTW, if you get a chance to look at the file you will notice that the circuit was short (~2.7 miles) and had a series of short steep hills. I mention this because I think everyone went over the hills at a wattage greater than FTP, so I don't understand why you are suggesting that my FTP needs improvement. Do you mean in general that my FTP needs improvement or that a higher FTP would have helped me in this race somehow?

Any thoughts on how to increase AWC? How many intervals, how long, how much rest?

Of course rasing your FT will help.

Definition of FT is the highest average wattage you can maintain for 1 hour. You spent 53 minutes above your FT then got dropped. IF you had a higher FT the efforts would have been easier for you, thus you would not have gotten dropped.

mattv2099 said:

Of course rasing your FT will help.

Definition of FT is the highest average wattage you can maintain for 1 hour. You spent 53 minutes above your FT then got dropped. IF you had a higher FT the efforts would have been easier for you, thus you would not have gotten dropped.

I spent 53 minutes above my threshold heart rate not above my FTP. My NP and average power for the ride were consistant with what I normally can do. In other words, if you just looked at NP and AvrPower for the race and compare that to what I can normally do, why would you expect me to crack?

Wouldn't a lack in the area of AWC be a more likely culprit?

objective said:

* How do you go about determining matches for periods less than a minute? Would 20 seconds @ 190% of FTP be considerd a match?

Heh, maybe matches are coming back in fashion. 🙂

Yes, 20 sec @ 190% of FTP will use a portion of your anaerobic work capacity, and would need to figure into your 'match count.' Maybe it's a whole match for you, or maybe a portion of one. That would depend on how you figure them.

As far as the discussion about how improving FT would help, take another look at your question above. Notice how having a higher FT would reduce the impact of that effort. If your FT were higher, then instead of 20sec @ 190% FT, the same effort would be 20sec @ (e.g.) 150% of FT. Think that makes a difference? Yes, it does.

frenchyge said:

Heh, maybe matches are coming back in fashion. 🙂

Yes, 20 sec @ 190% of FTP will use a portion of your anaerobic work capacity, and would need to figure into your 'match count.' Maybe it's a whole match for you, or maybe a portion of one. That would depend on how you figure them.

As far as the discussion about how improving FT would help, take another look at your question above. Notice how having a higher FT would reduce the impact of that effort. If your FT were higher, then instead of 20sec @ 190% FT, the same effort would be 20sec @ (e.g.) 150% of FT. Think that makes a difference? Yes, it does.

Maybe I am laboring under the false assumption that the 40% difference you point mention, while significate, still places me under a supra-threshold load, and that L4 interval work will not effect.

objective said:

Maybe I am laboring under the false assumption that the 40% difference you point mention, while significate, still places me under a supra-threshold load, and that L4 interval work will not effect.

It is still supra-threshold, but my point is that it's *much less so* if your FT is higher. Even during supra-threshold efforts, the aerobic engine is still running at its max capacity and the anaerobic paths supplement it as needed.

During that effort, more of your energy is being produced via aerobic methods (due to your higher FT), and you're drawing on your anaerobic energy reserves to a lesser degree. As a result, you will have more left for later in the race. This is all because your FT is higher.

frenchyge said:

It is still supra-threshold, but my point is that it's *much less so* if your FT is higher. Even during supra-threshold efforts, the aerobic engine is still running at its max capacity and the anaerobic paths supplement it as needed.

During that effort, more of your energy is being produced via aerobic methods (due to your higher FT), and you're drawing on your anaerobic energy reserves to a lesser degree. As a result, you will have more left for later in the race. This is all because your FT is higher.

Point taken.

objective said:

* Am I the poster child for Anaerobic Work Capacity(AWC) intervals? Stated another way, would a dose of AWC intervals have prepared me for the demands of my race?

So, I haven't done a deep look, but I like the fact that you're zero cadence percentage is high, but the thing that jumped out at me is the number of times you were putting down the power, even at high-ish (over 20mph) speed.

Do a fast find with leading edge of 2 samples at 700w and trailing of 2 less than 200. I found 32 such efforts, many of which were quite long . To compare, in a similar race (although a little shorter) but also a circuit race with a couple climbs plus rolling hills, I only did 14 such efforts.

What this is telling me is that it's very likely that your response to attacks or corners or whatever is too slow and you're sprinting to catch back on. Keep your eyes open, your head up and start your acceleration before you start losing the wheel in front of you. It makes the race much easier.

Judging from the NP, your threshold is pretty darn good. I'm sure that if you conserved more, (e.g. sucked wheel more) you'd be able to finish the race with ease and possibly be a contender.

beerco said:

So, I haven't done a deep look, but I like the fact that you're zero cadence percentage is high, but the thing that jumped out at me is the number of times you were putting down the power, even at high-ish (over 20mph) speed.

Do a fast find with leading edge of 2 samples at 700w and trailing of 2 less than 200. I found 32 such efforts, many of which were quite long . To compare, in a similar race (although a little shorter) but also a circuit race with a couple climbs plus rolling hills, I only did 14 such efforts.

What this is telling me is that it's very likely that your response to attacks or corners or whatever is too slow and you're sprinting to catch back on. Keep your eyes open, your head up and start your acceleration before you start losing the wheel in front of you. It makes the race much easier.

Judging from the NP, your threshold is pretty darn good. I'm sure that if you conserved more, (e.g. sucked wheel more) you'd be able to finish the race with ease and possibly be a contender.

I really appreciate you taking the time to look at the file.

You've given me something to think about. I think your advice regarding my 700w efforts has merit but the reason for the efforts is incorrect. During this race I never once was at the back. In fact, I spent most of the race ~5th wheel. I did, however, need to work to stay there and I think that is what you are seeing.

For what it's worth, I thought there would be a decisive break during the race and I wanted to be in on the action. In retrospect, I might have let allowed myself to drift back during some the hills in order to conserve energy.

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement.

objective said:

I think your advice regarding my 700w efforts has merit but the reason for the efforts is incorrect.

he he, that's why I hedged a bit and added the catch all "whatever" at the end.

objective said:

During this race I never once was at the back. In fact, I spent most of the race ~5th wheel. I did, however, need to work to stay there and I think that is what you are seeing.

BTW. the reason I quoted what I did in the prior post (the thing about AWC intervals) is that the big power efforts were so obvious when I looked at the file (in stacked view) that if I had to guess, I think you already have a good AWC. I only did the find fast afterward to try and compare it to one of my files.

Either way, I think it's more racecraft that you have to work on and not fitness. Sometimes 5th wheel can be too far forward in the bunch as you learned. What cat was this race, 5?

beerco said:

he he, that's why I hedged a bit and added the catch all "whatever" at the end.

BTW. the reason I quoted what I did in the prior post (the thing about AWC intervals) is that the big power efforts were so obvious when I looked at the file (in stacked view) that if I had to guess, I think you already have a good AWC. I only did the find fast afterward to try and compare it to one of my files.

Either way, I think it's more racecraft that you have to work on and not fitness. Sometimes 5th wheel can be too far forward in the bunch as you learned. What cat was this race, 5?

This was a Northern California Masters 4/5 race.