FTP's what the???

OK, I know some of you might not have any idea about this bike training geek talk so I thought I would run through a brief description.

FTP stands for Functional threshold power which does not help much. FTP is the normalised power that a rider can maintain for 1 hour, and is given as a unit of watts. It is something that is hard to get an accurate figure on. The easiest way without blowing yourself up too much is to do a 20min time trial on a consistent slight uphill rise, these are hard to find. After the 20min TT, you multiply your average power (not normalised power) by 0.95 this will give you a close enough FTP. So some may ask what is the difference between normalised power and average power. Average power includes all the stopping and starting whereas Normalised takes an average but removes all of the stopping and times you are not really producing power.

So the point of knowing your FTP is so that you can perform accurate intervals at a known power output. You can also use these numbers if you were in a race, say if you gapped the field and wanted to sit at a pace you could maintain you would try to sit close to your FTP if you had about 1 hour left of racing. As I don’t really road race I use the FTP for intervals. I receive my program from my coach on what I should be doing in each interval, 3min at 110% of FTP, 3 min rest, 2min at 115% of FTP, 2min rest etc, etc. Each interval set is planned to work at your limits for your own specific goal without overdoing it.

So that is a little insight to my training, and it is tough very tough. It has been my last 3+ months and I have been showing an increase in much needed speed, endurance I have not tested yet. Really it is all about pushing the limits in both power output and endurance. Intervals are a great way to train but doing it with power really steps it all up to another level.

Well I have another little trick that I have up my sleave, but it is all to do with my power meter. My power meter is all software based, and I can pre-program my interval sets. So I put them all in the meter go and do them with my meter telling me how long and what power I should be at, I can see my average power for that interval to make sure I am on target. So I can do my best to meet all target while out on the bike, I don’t have to wait till I get home and download the data to see that I pushed it too hard in my first set, and failed for the last 3, I actually know as I am riding. I also enter my FTP value into the meter and I can see my training stress score or the intensity factor, or my average normalised power for that ride. These features are what sets apart my ibike apart from other power meters. Although the ibike maybe slightly inaccurate depending on how you calibrate it, once you have it right it is a great bit of training kit.

So has this type of training worked for me yet? I don’t know but it makes me extremely tired if that counts, but I will find out in a few weeks ;).

Racing not racing, what is going on?

Well these next few weeks have been strange. Originally I had entered in the Marathon champs this weekend, and they got cancelled due to the horrible bush fires. Then came the Hartley challenge (same weekend) and it looks like the MTB events have been cancelled. But I am happy to be recruited for the Mont, I originally was not going to enter as it is a week before the 24 solo Nationals but with same injuries within the Earth Angel’s team I am now an Angel. It is really good and I can’t wait, initially I was hesitant, but I would have been out there anyway so I might as well get my training in.

The more I think about it the happier I feel, but this will be purely for fun, first one for fun in a long time. Kendra is starting to get nervous, her first race but once we get there and she gets out on the course she will love it I am sure.

But keep an eye out I will have a new secret weapon to try out for my night riding. Well maybe you had better close your eyes if you see me; yeah I know I just gave it away.

Blue Mountains

With a 10 year wedding Anniversary we decided a nice little get away the the Blue mountains was a great way to celebrate. But with both of us with events coming up quickly we took the bikes for some riding over our 4 day break, but more about the rides later. It was a really nice weekend, we left on the Friday for the journey up and had accommodation booked at possums hideaway. This place was great wood fire, in an nice little tree house set a great mood. There were some nice little possums that came around to steal our banana's.
On Friday night we celebrated by going out for dinner at this nice Italian restaurant. It was great but I had a feeling someone was trying to tell us something with lots of concrete trucks going past. It was kind of funny by the end.
Saturday we went out with the tourists into Katoomba,had a little look around and found a great chocolate shop, very evil. They had great hot chocolate's. We felt we had to go bushwalking after that morning tea.
We did our best to try and relax, but with lots of riding and some little bush walks we found we did not really do enough. But we had a couple of rides in mind and wanted have a good go at them. We ended up doing the ridge road ride a few times, once during the day and once at night, we also did narrow neck, both great fun.



Ridgewell road to Baltzer lookout
This is a ride in Blackheath, all fire road but lots of fun. We parked just off the highway to make the most of the14k ride. This went down a nice smooth fire trail where we got lots of speed up, and it did not really take too long to end up at the car park for the walkers. From here after climbing over the fence we rode along the ridge over a fairly rough fire road it was great fun. There was plenty of short up hills with some nice little downs. We had a bit of rain but we did not care we were having lots of fun on this trail.
Before we knew it we were there at the lookout, The view was great, even better with the rain clouds.
On the way back I decided I would put in some good solid efforts so I left Kendra behind and headed to the car as hard as I could, so I could turn around and ride back to her hard. The hills were great and I loved fast pace on the smooth fire road back up to the car. Lots of fun, and then to come back and do it again with Kendra was twice as good.

Narrowneck
This ride is in Katoomba and about 20k's. But Kendra and I decided to make it a little longer by parking on a part of the fire trail and then ride up to the car park. Little did we know about the climb we had to get up there it was pretty steep but great fun on the way back. We were expecting a fairly flat ride.
The flat ride never really happened but we were faced with some good hills along the way. These hills really gave Kendra allot of confidence by the end, for both ascending and descending. There were some really great views and always something to look at along the way. This was a popular track with lots of riders, walkers and runners.
We were rewarded at the end of the track with another great view only to turn around and head back the way we came. We really did not expect it to take us as long as what to did and we were starting to get hungry towards the end. But it was a pretty quick trip back.
We were hoping to get back for a good lunch but did not really plan it too well as by the time we got back had a shower etc it was 3pm. That is the way it goes.

Really seeing the blue mountains is not just about the three sisters and all the touristy stuff we found the best bits are away from all that. Even better on the bikes as you can see so much in a short space of time and get to some really nice place's.
So a great anniversary with some really nice time together. One to remember.
Now I have to think back to the concrete trucks (bloody Adam and his jokes) and put in a good solid effort for my last 3 weeks of training before Easter. Yep, I had to pull a recovery week forward after I got a little bug at the beginning of last week. But good again and keen for some solid intervals.

New news

We after last week and a little confusion on where I should go my coach set me up with a new program and I started it straight away. My base work is over and now I am focusing on a bit of extra speed. It has been working out great this week, I even managed a new PB up blacky.
So I have done a week of the new program and I have to say I am pretty smashed. But a nice easy ride today should leave me in good form for another week of onslaught. So I am feeling pretty good about it all and am pretty sure I will be able to give the Nationals a good hard hit out.
My power meter has been a little bit here and there lately. I have been making new calibrations with the new bike trying to get it right, and a ride with Jase confirmed what I was expecting, it was reading a little low. So I made a quick adjustment to the Cal and it looks good. Well it is comparable with Jasons polar, and although polar's are not well known for them being accurate, but Jase has done alot of work on his and testing against a SRM so he knows it is reading little low, but should be comparable to give mine a +-5% figure. I am not too concerned about how accurate but I do want repetitive results so I can see if I am improving, but now I should be close to accurate and will get consistant results so I am happy and will leave it as is.
As for my power numbers I'm putting out I am very happy. I have not done any good solid testing as it is hard to do when I have intervals to do but I am happy with my estimate I have givin myself. My intervals are pretty solid with that estimate so I am going with it. Hopefully with a rest week next week I will be able to put in a good FTP test to confirm.

Back in the saddle

Well it seems I am back to normal, still don't know what happend really but it has come, gone and hopefully will never be back. I am doing a little research into the issue to maybe get some answers but I don't really think I will find any.

Well it has taken a little bit but I am back on the bike. My first few rides I really had nothing in my legs, but with a few good rides in this weekend I am feeling better about things. So where I go from here I am trying to work out, I lost some of my base training, and the solo 24 nats is creeping up pretty fast I feel I have alot of work to do, but I know that is just me worrying. To be honest I am looking forward to the race, I feel my legs can keep a solid tempo, but they are lacking speed, but that is not what 24's are about. So for the moment I will keep my base training going till my coach feels I am ready to move on. After all the Nats are really just to see where I am at and how it is all coming together, my training is more focused on the Worlds. So I plan to enjoy the nats, have a good go but enjoy it.