Monday 12 March 2012

Update: 16 wks...

Weight: 13-8.6. (Target 13-8.2). Loss: 3.2 lbs.
Wk16 Training: Hours: 8:04 (Target 9:00). Bike: 170.7km. TSS: 650.

Training...
ManFlu. No, really, I had proper serious ManFlu last week. The type that means you can't go to work and can't even train. So Tue, Wed & Thur were all rest days. Fortunately it looks like Spring may have Sprung and the weather at the weekend allowed me to get out for good rides on both Saturday & Sunday. A pretty good week with 8hrs training, but two weeks below target means I have three 10+hr weeks coming up if I am to hit my average for March.



Weight...
Happy Days. 24 hrs in bed eating nowt but a piece of toast may have helped, but even so, losing 3.2 lbs (target 1.8) is a great week in weightloss terms. I am now almost on track again being just 0.2 lbs (i.e. virtually nothing) above where I had planned to be at this point in the season.

Next week...
The plan is 10+ hrs training and 1.8 lbs weightloss. Should be able to do 4x weekday turbo sessions leaving 6hrs for the weekend. Hopefully the weather is here to stay.

Monday 5 March 2012

Update: 17wks...

Weight: 13-11.8. (Target 13-10.0). Loss: 1.6 lbs.
Wk18 Training: Hours: 6:02 (Target 9:00). Bike: 50.8km. TSS: 527.

Training...
After a big week last week I had hoped to keep the momentum. But sometimes life & the weather throw in some twists. Two rest days in the week (life) were followed by a lousy wet weekend (weather).  I got out for 2:15 on Saturday but the rain consigned me to just 1:15 on the turbo on Sunday when I should really have done a 3+hrs club run.

Weight...
So-So.  Ok I lost 1.6 lbs (target 1.8) but had hoped it would be more like 2-3 lbs after I was sure I would see an extra dip on the back of last week's upward blip.  I am now 1.8 lbs behind target and will hope to claw that back over the next 9wks (by losing an extra .2 lbs/wk) to catch up with target by the end of April. Game on.

Next week...
The targets are 9+ hrs training and 1.8 lbs weightloss. Having had a quieter weekend the start of the week rest day is to be postponed so I can gert a few hours in the bank should the wather be bad next weekend too. More hours (and a good diet) will all help with loss too.

Sunday 4 March 2012

February

A few comments to summarise February.  Some stats (4 weeks from 30th Jan to 26th Feb):

Month
Feb-12201225wk Target
Training Hrs    
32:0165:21229:00
Kms
335.5 736.1 4,000
TSS/wk
612 655 800
Weightloss
7.2 lbs 19.6 lbs 47.0 lbs

Weightloss...
And it was going so well... Having lost 7.8 lbs over the first three weeks of Feb it was all looking good, until I had a blip and put on 0.6 lbs last week.  Not a huge amount to put on, but with a targeted loss of 2lbs for the week, it is a 2.6 lb swing.  I had targeted to lose 9 lbs in Feb and lost 7.2; and to date that works out at a loss of 19.6 lbs (versus a target of 21 lbs). Good but no cigar... I hope to make up this deficit over the next month-or-so.

Training...
A pleasing 32hrs for Feb.  Bang on target (8hrs/wk) and this includes a fortnight of snow where riding outside was not really feasible. Cumulative of 65hrs for Jan/Feb - which is 10+hrs better than my prevous  early season 2 month high.  Once again I am feeling fitter & stronger on the bike, and am going to raise my notional FTP for next week (on the basis of ride/review/test of my CP/FTP).

FTP Review...
A fortnight ago, I did a test over my Test Route [A 12k climb from Ripley, via Horsley, up Greendene that takes (me) approx 30mins].  I had used this course as the basis for my opening FTP for January (235), subsequently upped to 245 for Feb (based upon ride data).  From that ride, 20-min power was 276w, 30-min power was 265w and using the CP curve my CP60 is 266w.  Taking all of these into accounts I am raising my FTP to 260 from next week - which should mean that my TrainerRoad turbo sessions get a little harder...  Oh joy!

Power-to-weight ratio...
I started this programme with a poor power-to-weight ratio.  Largely as a result of having a lack of power, and weight in abundance!  The aim over the 25wks build up to the Transalp is to get myself into the shape where I having a lack of weight & power in abundance...  On the first of Jan my FTP of 235w, so a mass of 97.5kg equated to 2.4w/kg.  This has now increased to 2.9w/kg (260w/88.6kg). I read in some blog or forum post (which practically makes it official) that 4w/kg should be sufficient to be in with a shout at making the top quartile at the Transalp.  Ordinarily I would say that increasing power-to-weight by 67% in 25wks would be an uphill task.  But given that both my power & weight have so much potential for improvement I reckon it may just be doable.  To get to 4w/kg I estimate that I need to drop my weight from 97.5 to 76.2kg (22% loss) and lift my power from 235 to 305w (30%).

Next month...
More of the same. Target is to lose 1.8lbs/wk and do 9+hrs training.  And do another FTP test further quantify training gains - In fact, I will look to do these monthly.