First failed workout (Spanish Needles)

I’m a former Marathon runner so I thought I could get away with skipping it and knowing where my weakness was I jumped to SPB, I will finish it a week before Texas XC championship season starts. Here in Texas 99.9% of our climbs are short and punchy and it was a major weakness for me . The schedule we have set out this year was really tight in regards to training time vs travel and racing. 2 weeks after XC season is over I drop into Solo 24hr endurance racing.

Spanish needle is one of my favorite workouts. I sometimes have trouble keeping my mind on the workout on the later sets. But I think my 15 second power is out of whack (higher) relative to my paltry FTP, so that makes it easier. If it was repeated 40 second intervals, forget it.

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That makes sense. Tight schedules are hard to work around. No more failing workouts! Good luck on your race season!

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I hit SN on Friday. I realized early on that 100% wasn’t happening. My mid ride gel didn’t hit in time for the 5th set but it made it for the 6th round. On Saturday I did a trail ride and my legs felt horrible. Today I’m feeling sick. Seems like SN is a risky endeavor.

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That’s the tricky part of knowing yourself and when you should rest or train and push through it. Just because you can finish a workout doesn’t mean you should, if the cost of doing so will bury you going forward. I’m still learning this myself.

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So I did Taylor last week and ended up doing exactly what you are talking about here. I have Bluebell on the calendar tonight and intend to do the same thing, and will likely do it for all VO2 max/anaerobic stuff.

Question though, does flipping back and forth between the big and little front chain ring super often like this cause a lot of stress on the chain, derailleur, or chain ring?

From what I have read it is hard on the drive train. At the time when I did this workout I did not know that though. I’m still fairly new at this (this being indoor structured training) so I am probably not the best person to ask. Not sure you have a choice though when in resistance mode. Those on dumb trainers have to do it so I would say it’s a necessary evil.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. I may have to poke around more for an answer.

I was actually able to do Bluebell tonight in erg mode with a 3% increase in intensity to hit the original targeted power. So that was cool! Also, Bluebell not as easy as everyone has previously mentioned. It’s tough! Doable. But tough!

Your bike is meant to shift. Do so smartly, by easing off the power output slightly at the point of the shift. This prevents excessive loading on the drivetrain that can lead to clunky shifts and potentially wear beyond a smooth shift.

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I usually am in a recovery interval in my front 34 and rear 26, then shift to the 50 front and bring the cadence down a bit and slowly shift into the rear 24-22-18 to meet the VO2 power. Would that be considered easing into it?

Yeah, sounds fine, assuming that you are lightening the pedal pressure just a bit at the point of the shifts. I think you are good to go and would hear and feel if you were doing any real damage.

Wear will happen if you use the bike. Just part of the game. Be smart and you can still make it last as long as possible. I don’t think there is anything to worry about here.

Okay, great, thanks!

Understandable on the wear aspect. I just want to make sure I’m not putting more than necessary stress on my bike. It’s my baby. :smirk:

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I’m giving this bad boy a go tonight. I’m in week 5 of SSB MVII and was suppose to do Spencer which consist of 3mim Vo2max intervals. However I have a crit in the upcoming weekend so I decided to swap the workouts :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers:

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how did it go?

this will sound like a lame excuse :blush: but I was short on time and just did the first 2 sets, which made up for a very intense 30min workout.

I’ve got a kickr and I personally don’t like using ERG for short duration intervals so I set it to standard with resistance level 4. didn’t have to switch gears that much as some were complaining. used the big ring and just had to shift gears up or down by 1 or 2 gears. by the screenshot you can clearly see I overshoot it sometimes. I’ll definitely do it again.

cheers