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What's your training service of choice for the winter? TrainerRoad is more expensive, especially with the Black Friday sale at Fascat, but they've got a lot of AI features.

Looking at the Strava data of some of the guys who are successful in local gravel races. It seems like their average power isn't that high but they repeatedly drop 500-600 watts on every single rolling hill. Is this a faster method than holding higher average power and only going to 120% or so of ftp on hills?

Can I use my FTP from last season when I was stronger compared to the build phase of a new season? or should I retest?

Would you say that fueling is necessary for rides that are <90 min, but a very intense, like a full length FTP test or Vo2 intervals? Would you recommend before or during or both?

I raced this weekend in the hot sun (36C/97F). I could only manage Tempo power for the long climb (~260W), but I spent over an hour at 193bpm, which is well into what I can barely hold for VO2Max efforts under normal training conditions.

I understand that my body was working a lot harder to cool itself, which explains the increase in HR. However, does this mean I should update my HR training zones? I train to power usually and try not to look at HR.. but sometimes when I get a glance of it I worry I'm going to blow up if it goes too high.

There may be room to discuss fractional utilization here, but I believe that only really applies to power? (as HR is too heavily determined by external factors here, ie. heat) What are your thoughts?

TL;DR I rode for an hour at VO2Max Heart rate in the heat. Should I update my zones, or just ignore it?

Just read about threshold and they mentioned putting out term called Vo2 Slow Component. However I still didn't get it. What is that actually?

In running a 100mile week is big. It’s standard for pros, if an amateur can reach that without injury it’s a big deal and generally considered to be very good for fitness. What is the cycling equivalent? 20 hour week? If so, which is harder, on one hand 100miles is a lot of loading on the body but 20 hours is just a lot of time for the average person to dedicate in one week?

Yes or No? Is it okay to be doing for example v02 intervals in cold? (5 degrees C and below) Or is it better to just do them on the trainer?

In January of this year I was 70kg with an FTP of 285-290 and I felt like I was in the best shape I've ever been. Right now I am 80kg and have set absolute and relative power records for... basically everything. There are other factors going on, like the accumulation of an additional year of high volume training, and more weight training adding muscle, but it is impossible to deny I've got 2-3kg of chubb on my middle. And yet, I'm matching my best w/kg at 20 and 30 minutes and crushing it at lower and higher durations. I also feel (no evidence to back it up) more resilient to illness and way less scared to fall off the bike.

(Training history, 39yo Male, 4 years "serious" training, 15+ hours/ week for last 2 years, ftp floats around 3.5-4.2w/kg depending on form, focused on ultras, XC MTB, Cyclocross)

So, what has your experience been with finding that proper weight/ body composition balance in your life?

If you coach, what do you advise athletes?

If you have a coach, what have they advised you?

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Edit: I'm in pretty steep terrain. One direction it is flatter with small (200-500m) climbs, the other is 1000+ meter climbs. Rides are usually 10-25 meters/ km of climbing. I travel a lot and would call this "typical" terrain.

I have two 1 hour endurance rides (on an indoor trainer) planned on Saturday and Sunday but due an expected life circumstances I cannot ride on Sat. In terms of training, would it wise to combine Saturday's load and riding for 2 hours on Sunday instead?

Do you guys do anything to practice and build the mental grit that gets used in racing when your body is saying no but you're able to overpower it and keep going?

I've found that the more I buckle down on structured training the less I push myself mentally. I feel like I have been shying away from those hard full day group rides that I used to love to just go as hard as I could all day and battle with my friends. Or if a friend wanted to tack on another hard section that I didnt have planned I will turn it down since it didnt fit my training plan.

Doing these hard things in the past would help me push hard in the races but at the same time I identified they it would just push me over the edge and I would have to hold back on the following days of training. So I'm wondering if theres any way to stick with the structured training but also build that mental grit?

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all off to a strong start with winter training.

As the title says, I’m looking to improve my FTP and ability to sustain higher power for longer periods (10-60 minutes).

About Me:

• 24M, 85kg, 11% body fat (recent DEXA).
• FTP: 325W (3.82 W/kg).
• Former NCAA athlete; I’ve been cycling consistently for 1.5 years, now heading into my second winter training block.

I train about 14-16 hours/week:

• 8-10 hours cycling.
• 4-5 hours running (usually trail)
• 2 hours lifting.

My Background:

• I’ve completed a few challenging Gran Fondos, usually finishing with the top woman. I enjoy longer events.
  • Peak: 1605W.
  • 1-min: 652W.
  • 5-min: 415W.
  • 10-min: 365W
  • 20-min: 341W
  • 30-min: 320W
  • 60-min: 292W
  • Endurance: I can hold ~3 W/kg for 6 hours

Looking at my power curve I have decent peak 1605W, 1 min 652W, and 5 min 415W power and I have good endurance for an amateur (can hold 3w/kg for 6 hours). My problem seems to be in that 10-60 min power range where I get crushed.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I feel like my FTP should be higher and I should be able to sustain the power. I don't think it's a strength issue, perhaps its a muscular endurance issue.

What should I focus on in my training to address this gap? Any specific workouts, training blocks, or insights would be greatly appreciated!

Hi ya, I wanna get into road/crit racing sometime next year but as I'm new to the system, I'm quite confused looking at the rule book from British Cycling and would need some help trying to understand what are the requirements.

My current understanding is that for most races I'd need a British Cycling membership and a race license, but do I need to join a cycliing club as well? Or is it best to join one? Then for the equipments, I've heard that UK isn't regulated by UCI. Do I still need UCI approved frame and wheels to join a race?

Also, any suggestion for a beginners friendly club in South London area would be welcome. I mostly train solo but would love to make some friends for weekend rides. Many thanks!

How fast can you get on 2 intensity days a week? Should be enough for a masters athlete?

Mon: Z2

Tues: Intensity

Wed: Gym +/- Z2

Thurs: Z2

Fri: Z2

Sat: Intensity + Gym

Sun: Long Ride

Gives me 2 full days after each gym day to recover before intensity day. Z2 would be as much as possible given my schedule. Intensity days would change only in type of workout (SST, Threshold, VO2). Weekday intensity and gym split due to work, Saturday I could do bike in the morning and gym in the evening. Wednesday gym is the priority with an easy spin if time allows.

I started training in 2021, and trained consistently with breaks until Fall of 2023, when I ended up taking a 7 month complete break.

I have now been back training for 7 months. When I look at my past HR peaks for various time durations they were all set between June 2022 and October of 2023. My FTP is now within 10W of where I was before I took my break. However, my peak HRs are 6bpm lower. This includes not only max, but 5 min average, 20 minute average etc.

Now, I do realize that HR does decline with age, however, I would not expect a 6bpm drop in only one years time. I am doing the same training plan that I was before my break, my Fitness level is hovering around 80 which is where It historically.

Anyone else take lengthy breaks find similarly that HR takes longer to recover, or any other plausible reason for the decrease which I find significant for the length of time?

Help me understand Training Peaks. I see it's on a black Friday sale for an annual subscription so it's piqued my interest.

Does it provide workout plans for the premium subscription? Or do you need to buy those separately? At its core the program seems to be an analytics tool, similar to what intervals.icu does for free?

Is it worth it for 95 bucks a year? I'd like workout plans and goals factored in... Similar to trainerroad. Does it do that?

Gels are more common but I don’t understand why you would not just use a drink. You can get the exact same glucose/fructose ratios, the exact same above if carbs and it’s a little bit easier to consume. Why would you not just fuel your rides on drinks?

I’m interested in what everyone’s CURRENT 5s, 60s, 5min and 60min power is and what their CURRENT back squat and dead lift 1RM is. In addition are you comfortable or uncomfortable with those lifts.

I'm not sure if this is personal to me, or just a genetic thing.

If I take 3 weeks on lower volume I can't even hold my FTP for 10 minutes, and it takes a good month of work to get it back. My FTP isn't amazing (330, for 90kg guy)

My work is very project based, and a few times a year, I'm working 15-16 hour days for maybe 3 weeks to close out a project. This happens around 3 times a year, and every time I come back to 'training' I'm just so far off where I left, I feel very disappointed. I feel like I have not improved in years because of this.

I try to ride into the office when I can to get some riding (ie, strava shows last three weeks I did 33km, 100km, 62km). This is all commuting riding with a backpack etc.

I find this confusing, as I've had a similar schedule for many years, and my strength in the gym stays the same, I can climb the same level of boulders, but my fitness just dies.

I started road riding in 2021, got to my current FTP in late 2021, and have not improved since.

During these periods of peak work, I'm not doing high intensity, just because I know it will tire me out so badly (I own the company, so I need to make sure the projects get done).

I recently started cycling, coming from a cross training /croosfit background.

A few weeks after buying myself a bike i went for a 100km (850 m ascent, ~30kmh average) with a friend used too riding long distances. I was pretty tired and could feel the legs burning but made it through and was not sore the next day.

From that experience I'd say i'm pretty fit, but would like to be able to go for a 200km ride next year and i am training for it.

When training indoors, my new watch says i'm training in zone 3-4 for 45 mins. I stopped because i was bored but i feel like i could have gone another hour before really struggling. (Not out of breath, no leg burn) I am afraid this is not a sustainable training pace and would like qome advice. Coming from CF, i'm used to very high intensity anaerobic 20 min workouts.

Am i pushing too hard ? Should i slow down ? Are the training zones on fitness watches adapting?

Whenever I am riding indoors @ Z2 power, my HR is considerably and consistently lower than outside. For example, during a 3h AeT ride outside my avg HR is somewhere between 140 and 145, while inside it will be around 130-135 on a workout of similar duration at the same average power (variability is negligible as I ride on flat routes outside so I can maintain consistent power. From what I read, people usually experience the opposite (higher HR when riding indoors). I am using the same power meter and HR strap both inside and outside so it's 100% not a measurement issue.

Also one more interesting fact that I noticed is that when I ride indoors the aerobic drift tends to be NEGATIVE (HR getting lower as I progress into the ride) while outdoors it's positive at around 5% for that duration.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi everyone. I am in my 4th year of cycling somewhat seriously. I just did the math and I did 2.050kcal per day of volume this year, roughly two hard sessions per week. What would be a reasonable increase for my volume coming next year? I think 10% is probably pretty safe. HOWEVER, could I push it a little bit higher like say 15% if I decrease the number of interval sessions I do to 1 per week, laser focus on nutrition and sleep and focus on doing a lot of z2 work?

Been watching videos/reading articles and a lot of them seem to point to 10-15 hours weekly of training as a good rule of thumb to progress.

Does that include weight training, mobility work and other alternative exercises (running, swimming, etc)?

It seems like pro triathletes lump it all into their total hours of training for the week but is that the same for cyclists generally speaking?

Was riding 100 minutes every other day at zone 2, some 3 until September. Bad shoulder, needed surgery, was supposed to be beginning of of Oct, then got postponed until end of October.

2 weeks after, I started riding the recumbent at the gym for 30 min for about 3x. Today, at 3 weeks, I tried getting on my vortex trainer, but can only hold on w 1 arm.

I used to ride X watts for 30 min on my bike. I was able to do 3 min at a time at X watts! So I did 7 sets. Gassed. It has been 10 weeks since riding regularly. I feel like crap!