Washington +4…
Yesterday I had biggest jump in FTP I’ve had since starting TR, and today was deeply deeply deeeply unpleasant…
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Ramp test.
Now that I know how to “game” the test, I knew that I “just” needed to make it to 19:30. At 19:00, though, I remembered that 19:30 was “break even” and I needed to make it to 20:00 in order to get the 2% increase.
That last 60 seconds was amazingly uncomfortable. I gagged, thought, “okay, that’s done with” and then my consciousness basically disappeared until 19:50, where I found myself making horrible whining noises. My wife appeared in the door of the pain cave just as I finished, her arms waving frantically in universal sign language for “BE QUIET YOU’RE GOING TO WAKE THE BABY YOU FOOL”. The “new FTP” of 2% higher popped up on the screen and I raised my hands in triumph.
Success. Somewhat underwhelming, but, still – success.
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Fatigued legs. Didn’t attempt 4/20 intervals but it was the only way I could convince myself to get to the end.
More anaerobic practice needed and some more recovery time. Kickboxing yesterday probably didn’t help, lol 
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Baxter -2. Channelling Nate. I found my Kickr was significantly overreading power. I arbitrarily dropped my FTP from 300 to 200 (wild ass guess) I’m going to be travelling for work, so a new ramp test when I get back before resuming SSB LV.
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Rattlesnake Redux – 3x6min@VO2
(R&D by @SpareCycles https://sparecycles.blog/ )
VO2 i – 118%; max 191%
VO2 ii – 117%; max 187%
VO2 i – 118%; max 172%
A solid 13-15min @VO2max (92%HRmax @ interval ends).
[edit: surprisingly my Jan. ramp test is still my top 6min power @120%.]
I made the hard start only 30s long, I will probably flip it back to 60s w/ lower intensity.
Will try TR’s Rattlesnake tomorrow to compare.
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Yes!
Doughnut Seal of Approval! 
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Daylight savings + sub-threshold = learning to do recovery ride outside (substitute for Collins +1).
Nice tailwind on new roads still closed to traffic
Cheap KOM, only 42 riders… only 85 seconds not even one of the 15 vo2max intervals I did last night:
That KOM will fall soon.
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Didn’t get enough to eat the previous day an tried to do Dade+1 far too late - Combined with a 6 point jump in FTP from Saturdays ramp test it just wasn’t going to happen. So I moved it a day forward onto a double with Mount Goode-2! Not recommending this - but training time is short this week. That said - quite proud to have pushed though that last interval, as I could have so easily stopped.
. 
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Completed Bashful+6 on Tues, was happy with how the legs were feeling. Found a cadence that really worked (102rpm rather than 112-114rpm)
The one thing I have been feeling recently and I am not sure is anybody else experiences this… I feel the Wednesday aerobic workout can sometimes be the hardest and also mentally easiest to dump. The Sat,Sun,Tues block at this stage in the plan can sometimes really knock me sideways takes me another day to bounce back.
Just because it is the start of a new week it doesn’t automatically mean your body has reset. 360 tss in a 4 day period can’t be ignored. To then do another 45 on the 5th day. The weekly Mon-Sun tss isn’t always the true picture.
Tues-Tues I might have done 548 tss but Mon-Sun on the calendar will say 442.
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First of all congratulations, more watts is more watts. Keep it up. This makes me wonder about how the Garmin calculates FTP without knowing the ramp test protocol. I’m kind of surprised it would give you a new FTP based on a step test it doesn’t know about. Does anyone know what they do to calculate FTP in general?
today i fell apart mentally and physically after 2nd set of Dade +1. lost 3% ftp in ramp test yesterday having few bad days due to some stomach issues. my legs were shaking uncontrollably i managed to complete last set but at much lower intensity.
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The licence the firstbeat metrics. That’s why I described it as a black box.
Next time I’ll also run the “what is my FTP” connect iq widget for a 3rd data point. Xert presumably have another set of maths to get to the same end result.
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That makes sense. All I could find with a quick search was that it takes your best 20-minute power * .95 but that’s obviously not what happened here since your best power on a ramp test should be quite significantly below your FTP (unless you set your ftp to very low when you start 
)
We’ve all been there, at least you fought through!!!
Easier ride this morning.
had a little bit of time at 220 watts, HR was only about 120-125 so definitely got a nice boost from the first half of short power build.
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Boo, I have Tallac tomorrow. I’ve done it before and don’t remember it being that hard. Maybe I’ve blocked out the pain?
You’ve blocked out the pain. Tallac / Galena / long-term Sweet Spot stuff can get really grindy towards the end. To me, it’s more “Jeez, why am I doing this to myself” levels of mental fatigue than the sort of discomfort that you get from over/unders or VO2 work. Gird thy loins.
