My recent lab tests with Jon at the Sports and Exercise Science Department are finally over. The tests themselves were hard, but nothing compared to the disgusting potions I had to drink beforehand – For that reason alone I’m glad that they are over!
I met Jon yesterday for a quick synopsis of what he thinks the test have shown, and some finally tests to calibrate my work rates with my heart rates so that I can devise some effective training routines. It also gave us a chance to compare my performance with the similar tests done in a previous experiment I did for Jon about a year ago.
I won’t go into the results that Jon noticed as I’m sure he wants to keep those to himself until he’s published his thesis, but it was reassuring that my performance had improved.
The first thing of note was that I’d lost about 3kg in weight. That’s good and as long as my power outputs had remained the same that should mean that I’d be a little bit faster. Last year, my Critical Power (CP) was 251 Watts, this year it had increased by about 10% to 275 Watts.
Now, Critical Power doesn’t really mean that much as it is defined as the the maximum sustainable power output you can maintain for a given amount of time. So, your CP for 1 min will be very much higher than it is for 30 minutes. The CP measurements above are based on a ramp test that I did prior to the lab tests and should be a CP figure for around 30 minutes. Whilst doing the tests yesterday, the 275 Watt setting wasn’t uncomfortable and it did feel as though i;d be able to sustain it for a good 20-30 minutes. Maybe a little longer if needed.
So, it was good news all round – A decrease in weight and an increase in power means that my power-to-weight ratio is a fair bit higher than it was. This should in theory equate to me being faster on the bike, especially up the hills. I certainly felt OK on last nights ride.
I guess really I should aim for a similar amount of improvement by this time next year. If I could lose another 3-4kg and increase my CP to 300 Watts I’d be pretty happy.
Just out of interest I thought I’d wear my Garmin Forerunner 305 heart rate monitor to bed last night to see what my resting heart rate was.
I expected it to be fairly low, as it always seems pretty low compared to most people and thought it would somewhere around 40bpm, but I checked it when I woke up this morning and it was 31 bpm. I’ve since checked the trace and it dropped to 31 bpm a few times during the night. Much of the time it was around about 40 bpm but there were quite a few times when it was up to over 70bpm.
I had expected to see quite a steady rate now and then when I was properly asleep, but there was only one time where it dropped low and stayed low (below 35) for about an hour which was not long after I’d first gone to sleep. After that it was all over the place all night long.
31 bpm sounds pretty low to me, does anyone know what their Resting Heart Rate is?
As usual, Tuesday seems to be my day of fitness training. I’ve just done a turbo trainer session and will be off to circuit training and then swimfit this evening.
The Turbo Trainer sessions are going well. Last night I did a 3:2 minute interval session where I did 7 repetitions of 3 minutes @ 320 Watts and 2 minutes @ 120 Watts, the highest I’ve ever done that workout at and it was OK.
Heart Rate from 3:2 minute Interval Session
My maximum heart rate was only 150bpm so I obviously need to work a bit harder on these.
Today I did a 1:1 minute interval session, so after a warm up did 7 repetitions of 1 minute @ 400 Watts and 1 minute recovery @ 120 Watts. Again, 400 Watts is the most I’ve ever done this at and although it did get quite tough and my heart rate peaked at 166 bpm I did finish all 7 reps. The heart rate trace is pretty though!
Heart Rate Trace from 1 minute Interval Session
Time for some food now and plenty of water to get me ready for tonight’s activities.
I’ve just finished a 4:1 minute interval workout on my Turbo Trainer. I have promised to people that I’d post some of my workouts here, but this is one I’ve mentioned before in a previous post.
As you would expect, the 4:1 ratio is 4 minutes ‘easy’ at 100 Watts and then 1 minute of hard effort. Which such a long rest, the hard efforts are pretty hard at 400 Watts for me. The first time I tried it I couldn’t manage all 7 repetitions, but I did manage them the next time with my heart rate peaking at 169 (93% of my maximum) on the last two reps.
Today it was pretty hard again, but my heart rate was only 165 (91% of my maximum) on the last couple of reps. Maybe there’s some improvement afterall. Trouble is that means I should probably try it at 410 Watts next time which will be difficult.
They may be pretty evil at the time but these interval sessions are pretty good and hopefully have some effect on my overall fitness and strength. Time for a nice cup of tea and a rest now though.
Heart Rate Graph from todays Turbo Trainer Workout
I can’t get enough of these! I did my 1 minute intervals workout on the turbo trainer yesterday. Once again, I did them at 350 Watts the same as I did last week. Unsurprisingly the heart rate graph is almost identical.
Turbo Trainer Workout
It’s good to see how closely I can replicate a workout though as that is the whole point of training on a turbo trainer. The controlled conditions allow you to replicate workloads and do some very focused training. The plan is to do these 1 minute interval session once a week. I’ll stick at 350 Watts for a couple more and then give it a go at 360 Watts.
On the fitness front, I’m planning to start swimming again this week and may even go to a circuit class tomorrow. The fitness drive continues.
I’ve just done another of my 1 minute interval sessions on the turbo trainer and I think I’m finding my limit. The session involves a 10 minute warm up and then 7 repetitions of:
- 1 minute hard
- 1 minute recovery
Followed by a warm down. The first time I did it I did the hard intervals at 320 Watts, that was OK so I increased it to 340 Watts the second time which actually felt a little better! I then upped the wattage to 360 Watts on my third attempt but couldn’t do it and only managed 5 repititions at that wattage.
Today I decided to split the difference and try it at 350 Watts. This time I completed all 7 repetitions and it didn’t kill me. It was pretty difficult but it did feel OK. I think I’ll do a couple more like that over then next two weeks and then try it at 360 Watts again. My heart rate was up to 166bpm on the final few repetitions which is about 92% of my theoretical maximum so that’s a pretty good workout as far as I’m concerned.
Interval Training Heart Rate Trace
With Christmas coming and lots of food, drink and relaxing planned, I thought I should at least try to be good in the run up and get some training in. I haven’t done too badly this year. As well as keeping up with the mountain biking I’ve also got a Turbo Trainer that I now use as often as possible and have also started swimming again.
In comparison to what I used to do when I was younger, its a very small amount, but it is something, so that’s better than nothing. I did have a couple of hospital visits during the year though so I’m not feeling as though I’m quite back up to speed yet and feel as though I need to do more to get to where I want to be.
So, I’ve been working on it this week.
Sunday.
Sunday’s exercise was a Mountain Bike Ride at Nant yr Arian. I started off with a fast circuit of the Pendam Trail at race pace, pretty much as hard as I could go. Conditions were good, but I only managed a slightly disappointing time of 40:45, over 3 minutes slower than my personal best of 37:22 back in June of this year.
I then had a ride and a bit of an explore out towards Nant y Moch at a nice easy pace with Dan. As you can see from the Heart Rate graph, I was trying pretty hard on the circuit around Pendam with my heart rate between 85-93% of maximum for 48% of the time and above 93% for 26% of the time.
Sundays MTB Session
Monday.
A fairly easy 50 minutes on the turbo trainer today using one of the ‘Aerobic Endurance’ workouts from Tacx. A gradual increase in intensity but with my heart rate peaking at 147bpm which is less than 85%.
Aerobic Endurance Turbo Trainer Session
Tuesday
Turbo Session at lunchtime. I had planned to do a relatively easy one but at the last minute decided to change my mind and do a long 20 minute warm up followed by a 1 minute interval session comprising 7 reps of:
- 1 min @ 360 Watts
- 1 min @ 100 Watts
Unfortunately there was no way I could do this, and only managed 5 reps. Maybe I wasn’t up to it today, or maybe I should stick to 340 Watts for now. Here’s the heart rate trace to show the pain!
1 minute Interval Session
In the evening I went to the ‘swimfit’ class at the university where we had a moderate session with quite a few sprints and some messing around with the bungees at the end.
Wednesday
I had planned both a swim and a night ride, but I had a bit of a cold and I ended up setting up my new iMac instead. For some reason I find such things really sressful and wanted to get it as close to completion as possible before going to bed so didn’t have any time for training.
Thursday
First session today was on the Turbo Trainer and a session I made up myself. After a warm up I did six 4 minute reps, where I started at 80RPM and increased my cadence by 5RPM every 30 seconds up to 115RPM. The first one was with the slope set to -3 and I increased this for each rep. (-3, -2, -1, 0, +1 & +2). Basically the session got harder and harder but there was a bit of rest whilst the RPM was low.
Thursday's Workout
As you can see from the Heart Rate graph the intensity ramped up throughout the session.
I then went for a swim. Nothing too mad here, just some 100m Individual Medleys and some 100m swims, but I felt better for doing it.
Friday
I’d hoped to have a turbo trainer session today, but time and other commitments conspired against me.
Saturday
I was in Bristol for the weekend so had planned a nice ride with Brad, Matt, Dan and Pete. Bard was too hungover so it was just me Matt, Pete and Dan. Unfortunately my bike wasn’t playing so I had to go on Matts Kona Stinky. Not only does it weigh a tonne but it isn’t exactly set up for cross-country use. Needless to say it was a slogf, but I made it around and didn’t let any of the hills beat me.
As you can see though, the initial climb was hard work!
Overall, not a bad week and I even think I’m beginning to lose some weight. Just in time to put it all back on over Christmas!
Don’t worry, I don’t intend to post these everyday as I’m sure you’ll get bored of them soon – if not already. However, I’m enjpying doing them and I like the heart rate graphs I produce in a strange, ‘heart-rate artwork’ kind of way. Of course, if you enjoy these posts or are trying to do the same workouts yourself then post a comment and let me know and I’ll keep them coming.
Todays workout was a little longer at an hour with some hard intervals in the middle. I did an extended warm up:
- 5 mins @ 120 Watts
- 5 mins @ 180 Watts
- 5 mins @ 240 Watts
- 5 mins @ 120 Watts
Then started the intervals where I did:
- 7 x 45 secs @ 400 Watts followed by 3:15 @ 100 Watts
I had intended to do 1 minute at the high power output and 4 mins easy, but couldn’t quite last for a minute at 400 Watts. My legs just died at around 45 seconds each time so I adjusted both the length of the hard effort and the rest effort. As you can image, it was pretty tough, but I have something to aim for with these.
I then extended the workout to an hour with:
- 8 mins @ 200 Watts
- 4 mins @ 120 Watts
Here’s the heart rate output which shows that I was at least trying!
Todays Heart Rate 'Artwork' - Click to enlarge
Yes, another turbo trainer post as I’m enjoying my work-outs on it at the moment.
I thought I would try another 1 minute interval session today. So I did exactly the same session as I did on Saturday, but this time increased the wattage on the hard efforts from 320 Watts to 340 Watts.
Surprisingly it felt OK and I completed it without falling off in an exhausted heap. My Heart Rate graph was pretty again but actually peaked at slightly less despite the higher power output. Maximum was 162 bpm this time as opposed to 165 last time.
Heart Rate Trace from todays Turbo Session - Click to enlarge
Looks as though I will have to try a higher power output next time. I think I’ll give it a go at 360 Watts for the hard efforts. How high can I go?
I’m feeling a little fitter at last so thought I would have a go at a proper interval session on the turbo trainer this morning.
I had some sample workouts from Jon following my various fitness tests and lab rat sessions at the Sports and Exercise Science Department in the University so had something to aim for. The calibration between the machines at the labs and my Tacx Flow Turbo Trainer isn’t perfect so I made some adjustments to the sessions and gave it a go.
The first of the sessions was to do 1 minute hard followed by 1 minute recovery. The hard efforts were supposed to be at 390 Watts based on my Critical Power Output and the recovery was at 100 Watts. I didn’t think I’d be able to do that on my turbo trainer so adjusted it so that the hard efforts were at 320 Watts.
The first of the 7 hard efforts felt quite difficult, number 2 and 3 felt OK, number 4 started to hurt a little, number 5 was hard, but I was getting close to the end, number 6 was really hard (and I hated Jon while I was doing it) but there was only 1 more to go. Number 7 was difficult but as it was the last one felt OK. I probably could up the wattage a little, I’m not sure if I could do it at 350 Watts but I might give it a go next time. Cadence was kept at around 100 RPM throughout.
Looking at my heart rate for the session though it was pretty much perfect. The hard efforts all peaked at between 85% and 90% of my maximum Heart Rate and recovery was steady.
As you can see from the graph below, the first repetition, although it felt hard only got my heart rate up to 146bpm, then this gradually increased throughout the set.
- 154bpm for rep 2,
- 155bpm for set 3,
- 156bpm for set 4,
- 159bpm for set 5,
- 165bpm for set 6 and
- 162bpm for set 7.
The graph is almost pretty!
Interval Session Heart Rate
