Krazyderek said:I also played around with the cadence a little bit. I discovered on a long endurance ride that i can get a good hour out of my legs grinding (for me) at 95, which keeps my HR a little lower and speed and power higher, i'm also not quite as out of breath compared to 100-105+ cadence. I'll condinue to play with cadence as i slide the wattage up a tad more and try to extend to longer efforts.
I think you will find that your HR will be directly correlated with cadence (they will go up and down together). So, if you experiment with cadence to find your lowest HR (at a constant power), this will drive you toward a low cadence. Some do this under the mistaken belief that, other things being equal, riding at a given power at a lower HR is a good thing (assumes HR is a proxy for effort). Basically, this strategy results in increasing torque to offset the decrease in cadence, changing the muscular stress. Cadence does matter, but I suggest that you ignore HR when experimenting. For example, I find that I can sustain a given power longer at a relatively high cadence (95-100) even though I know that it will result in a higher HR. I prefer the lower torque corresponding to the higher cadence.
Krazyderek said:In terms of prep for 40k TT in august and late sept, does this seem to be a good path? Should i now try and up the time to 2x25min? 3x20min? 2x30 mins? and then just try and work my rest from 5 mins down to 2 minutes?or something similar ? Or should i just try and do a TT, (on the rollers or on the real course?) and see how i'm feeling about the full 42k.?
Personally, I would increase my total L4 minutes even if it meant dropping power to the low end of the range (91%FT). So, I would opt for some combination of efforts for 60mins total. As to longer duration efforts (30-60mins), I do find these useful on a regular basis (e.g., weekly) because I think there is a mental adaptation associated with these. These are not physiologically better (or worse) than a set of efforts that total the same duration (e.g., 2x20s = 1x40), assuming the same intensity. But, they are mentally much more difficult (at least for me), requiring much more concentration and focus. As with any adaptation, I adapt to the mental demands over time. Basically, I learn to relax and maintain power over an extended duration. I also think that pacing is crucial in a TT of any distance and the classic mistake is taking it out too hard in the first half, then dying until you can see the finish line, then sprinting to the finish. This is basically caused by an overestimation of one's 1hr power, usually the result of rarely, if ever, doing longish L4 efforts.
