build phase coach meeting

A skype meeting with my coach last night. Really insightful as always. I'm really grateful for all his time, observations and advice.

Here are the notes I made:

Track meeting power data

We analysed the power data from Sunday's track meeting.

My main goal was the 2 km TT. The data looked good for this event. An initial surge was followed by a constant effort once up to speed.

Interval session power data

We also analysed the data from last week's interval sessions.

Tuesday 2 × 20 mins

1. 312 W, 75 rpm. The HR built to the last 5 mins when it plateaued.

2. 322 W, 72 rpm, 168 HR av. The IF for this interval was 1:03 so it was actually above FTP.

Thursday 3 × 15 mins

1. 313 W, 76 rpm, 167 HR

1. 317 W, 74 rpm, 169 HR

1. 323 W, 72 rpm, 171 HR

There are a number of interesting relationships here. Increases in power are accompanied by increases in HR.

Increases in power are achieved with heavier gears (reduced cadence).

The HR was slow to build in the first interval. I think this is due the lack of a specific warm up (ie. raise the HR a few times similar to a race/FTP warm up)

In general, the 2 days of intervals look really good. Good steady efforts. I was fatigued at the end of each session.

VO2 max intervals

Next week (build week 3) I will try some VO2 max intervals. It is the first time to try these kind of intervals.

I will do 3 mins on / 5 mins off intervals on the same steady grade.

Interval no.1 will be as hard as possible. A steady effort in the saddle. I will observe the average lap power at the end.

For the following intervals, I will aim for this average lap power.

I will stop the intervals after a 5% drop off in power.

We envisage 5 to 9 intervals will be possible.

After a set of 3 intervals, I will take a longer 10 minute rest interval.

For subsequent VO2 interval sessions, we will be able to use power data to data from this session to deteremine a power to aim for.

It's June already. Half of this year's racing is done. The 2nd is yet to come. Motivated? Always motivated!