[In]decent Intervals

[Sander1989]

7/27 I started with what was going to be 50 x 30" on/30" off on the BikeErg, but had to bail after 17 of them on account of wrapping a shoelace round the pedal crank. Oops.

I then set up 30"/30" again and did 26 reps / 8431m work distance at 1:32.5 pace:



As I have said before, the thing about HR on these sorts of sprintervals is that it essentially goes flat at/slightly above threshold level. For whatever it's worth, this was two times a BikeErg Sprints competition distance at age-group best-ever pace minus about 7.3 seconds, on equal work/rest.

7/28 I managed a perfect OCD screen during warmups on the BikeErg:



That's 8 splits with exactly the same pace/distance/rpm, and the total distance exactly 8 times the split distances. It's extremely hard to pull off; evidently I am the second person known to have managed to do it.

I added 6 x 1k on the BikeErg on 1' rest in 1:36.5. I take the workout to be something of a 4k predictor.

7/29 I did 57.4 km mid-morning on the road on my Cube cycle, in appallingly hot conditions. At one point the thermometer built into my bike computer thought it was 40.6 C. In the shade. In the evening I added a CTC effort on the Model D: 4:28.6, 1:29.5 average pace, r34ish. In my defense my legs were tired and it was still hot on the balcony.

Thats some Nice ocd pacing. To bad about the heart rate doing its own thing :p

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8/1 Going to try to go onto my 16-week BRIC prep plan as of today, despite the utter uncertainty that I'll be allowed to leave Poland, enter the UK, and then come back to Poland. As a US expat living in Poland, and having applied for long-term residence but not gotten it yet due to bureaucratic backlogs of close to a year, if I leave and come back my immigration clock might reset to zero. Fcuk starting over with the paperwork. There's also the minor complication that I own the flat in Poland I'm living in, and have nowhere else to go....

Anyhow, I'm going to try doing the longer pieces on the BikeErg and the shorter ones on the rowing erg. We'll see what happens.

Today called for UT1 work, specifically 2 x 15' with a short rest between pieces. Based on my BikeErg 2k time and recent HR data, mid-range UT1 HR for me should be about 150-152 bpm. Here's what happened per ErgData.

1] 8336m 1:47.9 pace 278w 69 rpm HR 163
2] 8372m

Fairly obviously there was some sort of problem with the HR data -- it had started to go funky in the last couple of minutes of the first piece and went completely haywire in the first couple of minutes of the second one. Specifically, it went up to a displayed 200 bpm or so and stayed there during the 3 minute rest interval. I measured my pulse the old fashioned way during that rest -- it dropped down to about 110 as opposed to the 180 showing on the screen. All I can think of is that workmen finishing the apartment next door were running a variety of power tools at the time. There must have been signal interference. Otherwise my HR tracked right about where it should have given the pace/cadence.

In theory, if this workout really was UT1 at about 75% of both HRR and 2k watts, I ought to be good for about a 6:30 either on the BikeErg or on the rower. That seems about right based on other workouts, but we'll see going forward....

8/1 afternoon. Did the CTC on the rowing erg, r24. Or more correctly, what I thought was the CTC. Only after I'd ranked my 7:29 result did I realize that I'd 'shorted' the smaller of the work intervals. I'd plugged in 316m for both instead of 318m. Oops. I unranked it and will go again.

8/2 was 60 min UT2 on the BikeErg. 30,503m 1:58.0 pace 213w 63 rpm HR average 126 bpm. I also did the BikeErg version of the CTC, doubling the distances. 1:37.4 average pace, 77 rpms. I didn't track HR.

8/3 was 2 x 18' UT1 on the BikeErg.

1] 10,103m 1:46.8 pace 68 rpm HR 142 bpm
2] 10,216m 1:45.7 pace 68 rpm HR 150 bpm

I was sub-7' on the last 4k while staying in the UT1 zone.

8/4 was 68' UT2 on the BikeErg. 34,582m 1:57.9 pace 63 rpm HR 126 bpm. Eight minutes more than the 8/1 UT2 session at a marginally faster pace and the same HR.

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8/5 2 x 15' UT1 on the BikeErg, both 1:46.7 pace,

8/6 60' UT2 on the BikeErg, 30589m 1:57.6 pace 63 rpm, average HR 123 bpm. I added a CTC attempt on the BikeErg, doubling the distances. 7:16.6 1:35.0 pace, 84 rpm. My HR belt lost connection to the monitor partway through the first 1662m interval. Annoying....

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More BRIC plan base-building on the BikeErg on Thursday. 2 x 21 mins UT1 on 3:30 rest. Targets were 1:50 pace and HR range of 136-146.

1) 11467m 1:49.8 pace 68 rpm HR 141
2) 11475m 1:49.8 pace 68 rpm HR 146

I'm hoping that's about 65% of BikeErg 4k watts. Hard to say yet how it might translate to rowing erg 2k . I wish this stuff was having more effect on my weight. But it's really really hard for me to run much of a calorie deficit, given the diabetes and the need to keep my blood glucose levels balanced. I have to put back pretty quickly nearly all of whatever I expend during a workout....

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More BRIC training plan base-building. 72' UT2 work, target 1:58.7 pace HR cap of 136 bpm. I backed off the pace a bit from my previous UT2 ride on account of serious humidity. I dropped about 2 1/2 kg during the session despite downing 1.5 l of low-carb isotonic drink along the way. The brief pace dropoff at the halfway point in the graph is me reaching behind me to swap out 750 ml water bottles....

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11/10 More BRIC plan work on the BikeErg: 2 x 16' on 3:30 rest. #1 8873m 1:48.1 pace cadence 69 rpm HR 141bpm; #2 9003m 1:46.6 pace cadence 70 rpms HR for some reason displayed at 153 bpm on the PM5 but more like 145 bpm. I only went over my theoretical upper limit of 146 bpm for the zone with about 4 mins to go and I don't remember ever seeing anything over 148. The rest of the ride was mostly in the low to mid 140s.

11/11 More BRIC plan work on the BikeErg. 80' UT2, target pace 1:56.5, target HR under 136 bpm.

41201m 1:56.5 pace cadence 64 rpms (all 8 10-minute splits were within 2 m of each other and all 8 were 64 rpms), HR 134 bpm.

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8/12 workout 1. More BRIC base building on the BikeErg. 4 x 13 mins UT1, target 1:48 pace (top of my theoretical UT1 zone), HR cap of 146 bpm.



I followed up in the afternoon with a CTC attempt r20 on the rower:

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8/13 more boring BRIC-plan base building on the BikeErg. 72' UT2 work, target pace 1:54 (i.e. the upper limit of my theoretical UT2 zone) with a HR cap of 136 bpm.



In theory that ought to reflect something in the neighborhood of 60% of 2k watts. I have my doubts....

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8/14 3 x 12' UT1 on 4' (BikeErg), target target 1:48 pace HR cap 146 bpm.



1:44.8 average pace overall. To put this in a bit of perspective, there have only been 8 ranked age-group sub-7 4ks in the history of the BikeErg rankings, one of them mine. Admittedly it's a very small pool -- old fart cyclists evidently prefer longer distances. But still. My 1:43.5 average for 6952m on the last interval would put me 6th on the all-time age-group list for 4k. 5th if you don't count the fast one I did for the inaugural BikeErg sprints.

More to the point as far as my training right now, AFAIC I managed to do today's workout while staying (just) within my theoretical UT1 zone. In theory, the zone is 136-146 bpm. There's always a conundrum in HR-cognizant workouts: do you try to stay strictly within the zone boundaries, or do you try to keep average bpm within them while acknowledging a bit of upward drift. And your choice is complicated by the fact that the PM5 (and by extension, ErgData) seem to give you the last best HR in a given piece rather than the actual average of all the times it's polled the HR data. On the logbook screenshot of rep #3's ErgData graph, I've highlighted the point where HR first genuinely went over my theoretical 146 bpm zone limit. (the spikes earlier on were me getting a bit squirmy, as I was in regular gym kit rather than actual cycle shorts). Average HR on the last piece was nothing like the 150 bpm reported by the monitor and ErgData.

Average HR on interval 1 was actually 134 bpm, according to the poll data collected by ErgData. 28 seconds after I stopped, it had dropped below 120 bpm (2x resting). It got as low as 99 bpm during the first rest.

Average HR on interval 2 was actually 140 bpm. It dropped down to 102 bpm during the rest.

Average HR on interval 3 was actually 144 bpm, even including some artificial readings due to posture changes. I had a brief series of readings around 150 bpm at the 3 minute mark, for example, and dropped back down to a consistent 144 bpm when I'd finished squirming.

Overall average for the session was 139 bpm.

8/15 was 76' UT2 (BikeErg), target 1:54 pace HR cap 136 bpm. 40076m total distance, 1:53.7 pace, cadence 65 rpm, HR average 134 bpm per ErgData/logbook but 131 according to the collated poll data. I added a CTC session on the rower that I won't bother to rank. 1:35.5 average r24. Meh.

8/16 was 3 x 17' UT1 (BikeErg), target 1:48 pace (lower limit of my theoretical zone), HR cap 146 bpm.



There was no way this was going to be as fast as the 3 x 12' session earlier in the week. I set target pace at 1:48 average overall, HR cap again 146 bpm, with a mind to negative splitting the three reps. Mission accomplished. I never got over a reading of 141 bpm, even on the third rep....

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85' UT2 on the BikeErg, target 1:54 pace with a strict HR cap of 136 bpm.



I went through 40k in 1:15:38, which would have been a PB for the ranking distance as a stand-alone piece. Not horrible for UT2....

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It's about 33C outside today and it feels a ton more humid than the official 34%. I had 3 x 19' UT1 scheduled today on the BikeErg, target 1:48 pace and a HR cap of 146 bpm. I managed 2 reps, barely, at 1:47.6 pace, ending the second on a legit 145 bpm. So feeling old, tired and useless -- e.g. like some combination of a Kilmarnock defender and a Scots rugby international -- I decided to essay a BikeErg variant of the CTC. In general, doubling the distance on the BikeErg gives you a rough equivalent of the grunt necessary on the rowing erg. This one, I set up as 4 x (831'/318m) on 45 secs rest. That yields double the distance but 5:15 net rest as opposed to the 6:00 built into the CTC specs....

Somehow I only hit 157 bpm during any of the work intervals. I was 163-164 or so during a couple of the rests, and after the last work interval. The highest legit HR I've observed on the BikeErg this season has been 168 bpm at the end of a 6 x 1k/1' test I did back on July 28. I've been using that as my max HR in calculating HR reserve values....

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8/19 90' UT2 work on the BikeErg, target 1:54 pace with a HR cap of 136 bpm.



Slog. The last hour was 31832m, 1:53.1 pace. The 138 bpm reading at the 45:00 mark was an anomaly due mainly to my shifting position and drinking from a waterbottle. The 137 bpm reading at the end of the piece was legit.

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Altered the handlebar position on my BikeErg a bit today, swapped in an inclined seat, and also swapped in basket pedals. I don't know that it made a particle of difference as far as power output, but it improved my comfort. There's a wonderful German word for the necessary quality: sitzfleisch....

Today's workout was -- on paper -- the most terrifying one in the entire BRIC training plan I'm following. 3 x 20' UT1 on 4' rest (BikeErg). Target pace 1:48, HR cap 146 bpm. The reason for the apprehension? It called for 60' of work at just slightly slower than my age-group 1 hour record pace (1:47.7). Okay, there were active rests built in, but still. Keeping HR within the zone seemed all but impossible.

Oh me of little faith.

Per the poll data stored by ErgData, average HR on rep 1 was actually 137 bpm, on rep 2 141 bpm, and on rep 3 141 bpm.

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8/21 I had scheduled 85' UT2 work on the BikeErg. However my HR was rather higher during the workout than it should have been, given previous results in the recent past. I'd set the monitor for 5 min splits and set off at 1:52.8 pace. Rather annoyingly, HR for the first was 136 bpm -- my HR cap for the whole workout. Based on my last 2 weeks, it should have been more like 124-25 bpm. I soldiered on through 35 minutes at a constant 1:52.8 pace, HR consistently hanging around 134-36 bpm. And I bailed at that point as I was worried about low blood glucose. I checked it -- it had dropped from 132 before I started to 99. Since I am not supposed to initiate a workout if its less than 100, carrying on immediately was right out. I had some isotonic no sugar/ carb containing sport drink, waited a bit for it to enter my system, and resumed. Again at 1:52.8 pace. This time around HR responded normally. I added 30' and then switched to the rower for the last 20. TO challenge (5k) done r16. 19:42.6, 1:58.2 pace. UT2 HR.

8/22

Another workout approached with a good deal of trepidation: 2 x 25' UT1 on the BikeErg, 5' active rest, target pace 1:48 flat and HR cap 146 bpm.

The main reason for the trepidation: my age-group 30' ranked best (verified) is 1:47.1 pace. Here I was essaying 67% more net work, only marginally slower, with a HR cap.

Essentially blowing up the previous day didn't help my confidence beforehand.

Result: mission accomplished. If you average the poll data collated by ErgData, HR actually averaged 142 bpm on the first rep and 145 on the second. I may have been skating along on the edge of the zone, but I didn't particularly stray out of it. I will add that post-workout I've had a severe allergy attack, and am not yet feeling the love for the next scheduled workout....

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8/23 was 45' UT2 on the BikeErg. Targets 1:54 average, 136 bpm. 24002m, 1:52.4 pace, cadence 65 rpm, HR average 135 bpm.

8/24 was a struggle with allergies. 2 x 6' AT on 4', targets 1:43-48 pace HR range 146-152 bpm. #1 3486m 1:43.2 pace HR reported by the PM at 156 bpm; #2 3505m 1:42.7 pace HR reported by the PM at 157 bpm. HRs overall weren't that high -- displayed HR is quite sensitive to posture, and I probably was down in a tuck at the end of both pieces. Still, it felt like rather more work than it should have, Unfortunately I wasn't running ErgData so I don't know definitively whether or not I stayed under my theoretical zone cap.

8/25 2 x 15' UT1 on 4'. Targets 1:48 average pace HR 146 bpm. Per the poll data from ErgData, HR on #1 was 142 bpm on average and 145 bpm on average on #2. The PM5 displayed somewhat higher values.