I'm a very enthusiastic new cyclist with a fairly good cardiovascular system. I'm only a sophomore in high school and i run XC and track for our team which takes up most of my free time. My running coach competes in triathlons and is a pretty decent cyclist.
My bike is a simple flat bar touring bike but gets the job done for now, especially since i'm on the stationary bike most of the time during winter. I'm probably going to try to get my handlebars changed to drop bars for this summer. Does anyone have an idea how much this would cost?
On the stationary bike last week i rode fairly hard for 15 minutes and hit 6.58 miles (average of 26.24). I was wondering how good that is and where i should go from here. I could probably dedicate about 2 hours on Sundays to any hard workouts and maybe 45 minutes on weekdays after school. I'm also starting a bike club at my school at the end of February so any advice for that will be much appreciated.
Right now I do 3x25 at 91% FTP Sat, Mon and Wed it is low L4 and was the suggested intensity given to Tyson at the begining of the megathread "It's killing me but......" I have since learned from Dr Coggan that the "sweet spot" could go down to low L3 at a longer duration of course all the way up to 100% FTP at a shorter duration depending on the person. I think RD has a method based on speed if you can't measure power.
L2 Endurance all day pace where your breathing just begins to pick up but you could continue for 5 or more hours at that pace. L3 Tempo seems to be limited to around 3 hours. L4 is Threshold at high L4 105% FTP Time trail pace its painful and you're toast within an hour, at 100% painful but a little more sustainable. L5 VO2 Max 5 minutes and you need recovery in L1 Active Recovery or L2 Endurance for about the same amount of time depending on how high into L5 you were. L6 Anerobic Capacity about one minute. L7 Nuero Muscular Power about a 15 second sprint. There are combinations of these zones also ie if you stay between High L3 and low L4 (Sweet Spot Training or SST) you can go more than an hour and get the benefits of L4 most importantly raising FTP (Functional Threshold Power or hour power)
To raise FTP as you train ask yourself am I going to fast to take a swig from my water bottle right now? If the answer is yes back off a little. Then ask am I going so slow that I could take a swig without having to take three quick breaths before it? If the answer is yes pick up the pace a little. Once you find this semi comfortable hurt zone after about 20 minutes of this check your HRM that is probably your sweet spot (low L4 91% FTP) plus or minus 5 bpm. Do 3x20s every other day at this pace. L2 endurance is a waste of time try to stay high L3 Tempo (always pushing takes a little concentration to maintain it and prevent slipping back to L2) or above whenever possible. Just get in that zone and check your cadence, gear combo and then HRM. Use cadence and gear combo for the first 15 minutes then in the last 5 minutes HRM should be on target. Right now 52/21 at 94 rpm is SST for me on the KK. Or even better If you are not ready to spend big on a power meter just get the Kurt Kinetic Road machine with the speed to power computer it is only $324. 1upusa.comkurtkinetictrainer.htmOpen ↗ it is worth it and a great motivator. Andy's book is a good idea. amazon.comTraining Raci...ie=UTF8&s=booksOpen ↗
Here is RD's speed method for indoor trainers like the 1up which has a predictable power to speed relationship. "you can get a simple speedometer with wireless speed pickup for <$100. Mount the magnet pickup on the rear wheel. Then you can ride by speed. Personally I ride my high-intensity efforts at ~92% of my max speed for a given duration." got it from here cyclingforums.comt377488.htmlOpen ↗
