I had no difficulty - just explained the symptoms and suggested what it might be. My guy had me come in so he could listen to my breathing and then he prescribed an inhaler for exercise.
It seems to help a bit - less wheezing and congestion afterwards.
I’m hoping not to need it once I can head outdoors and the humidity and temperature increase.
This is outside. Inside I don’t have a major issue. However, outside is very dry here (20% or less humidity at body temperature.)
@jmckenzieKOS Is your doc an athlete? If you are able to find a good doc who is also an athlete, you might get more support for finding a solution. Good luck!
I lucked into getting one of the few cardiologists in the City who are bicyclists! I found that out from one of my riding buddies. He’s the type that will thoroughly review your case and make scientific recommendations. I’m getting better as the oscillations are becoming less and less. I would have days where I rode spectacularly and days where a snail would outrun me.
That’s great. Wishing you the best and that all your rides are strong.
I did the ToS in Nuclear and although it was tough (of course!) I made it through at 100%, and in fact I put the last 3 AVDP efforts up 2% (based on 308w FTP). I have been doing the post ToS program, selecting very fatigued and did the prescribed half monty today. I’m very disappointed that I too had a 10% decline in FTP and MAP- I was so pissed I deleted the workout as I know I can do the workouts at 100% of my current settings. Since the ToS I have been a bit flat and put a bit of it down to mental fatigue but to go so far backwards is, again, very disappointing… Interested to know how others have tested.
I also made ToS Nuclear. Yesterday’s Half Monty showed a lot of progress (FTP +18 MAP +13) but I don’t care about half monty completely. Saturday’s 4dp will show the truth.
How do you normally react on HM? Because i always fail the ramp way to early to then crush the 4dp a couple of days later. I think for me it’s a mental thing…
I’m doing the 4dp prep week and hoping and praying to finaly crush 300ftp (@ 295 today)
I did a HM a week after ToS as part of the halfway test of a Grand Fondo plan. MAP up by 19W, FTP up by 8W. Was hoping on a bigger improvement of FTP, but still happy with the new numbers. Will do FF after my grand fondo event.
@Matthias_Boucherie @jacek you guys go and crush that FF, you can do it! Whoop whoop!
(And don’t forget your bucket…)
What was your change in cTHR? If it dropped by several beats compared to normal that is a sign of being fatigued.
When you hit failure on the ramp was it your legs or your lungs that you felt were the limiters?
Yea it dropped a couple of beats. I think it was both legs and lungs.
Most of the time it’s the legs that fail, but this time it was deffinetly both
That’s interesting @Coach.Mac.C, I’ve never had my lungs be the limiting factor for HM or FF. Does that mean I need to do a lot more strength training to get nearer the balance of lungs vs legs?
The final follow-up question: is that leg vs lung failure normal for you?
That is a valid first take on the leg v lung issue.
9 times out of 10 when that is the case the underlying issue is trying to maintain a cadence that is too low for the power output relative to the cardiovascular demand.
Even if we pedal at 0 watts, our body still needs energy (and oxygen) to move our legs around. As the power increases the oxygen demand increases. There are tipping points at different intensities where the extra energy of moving our legs around faster is outweighed by the extra power that our legs can help us produce.
Muscle fiber type, training background, and relative fitness/freshness all play a role here.
If you are someone who usually reaches muscular fatigue well before cardiovascular fatigue during a rap test you should aim to hold a higher cadence during hard efforts (which likely requires improving your neuromuscular coordination).
If you are someone who usually hits a cardiovascular/breathing limitation before your legs give out you should try riding at a lower cadence and potentially look into core and breathing exercises to better train your diaphragm.
The best athletes in the world hit those failure points at the same time during a ramp test. They have ‘nothing’ left to give. You could argue that they are the best because that is just how their body is tuned. My argument would be to ride the HM ramp portion to failure at 50rpm, and then again at 110rpm, and tell me the power and leg v lung failure is the same. Though to be clear you should absolutely not do that, there is 0 benefit from a health/training benefit.
This is good to know, as a guy whose legs give out before his lungs.
Thank you @Coach.Mac.C , that’s very good info. Just checked the numbers and I hit failure at 108rpm. I’ll try ramping up the cadence next time round.
Guess I have to do a Rogliç( seen his rpm on some climbs?! )
That’s verry interesting. On the indoor trainer i often have my legs fail first. When doing a steep hill climb in the Belgium ardeness i usually break on breathing. And i know i’m Often in the smallest gear spinning like a maniac. So indoor higher cadence and outdoor i should lower my cadance. Gonna try it out! Thanks for the info
Nice work @jnieszporek, thats what I hoped for but alas… It was likely mental and physical fatigue. Interested to know how your 4DP goes, good luck!
In recent times @Matthias_Boucherie I have crushed the ramp and hadnt done a 4DP for over a year. One thing that I’m struggling with I think is my true FTP. I trained on a Tacx Vortex wheel in trainer for about 18 months and made good progress - even got to FTP of 354w however I knew this wasnt accurate. I purchased a V5 Kickr and did a 4DP and I got smashed! Admittedly I was average at the test but I lost so much power due to accuracy it knocked me about (from 354w to 308w FTP and 415w MAP to 383!). I know its just a number but hoped to get back up around 315-320 as I know that somewhere in the ball park I where I should be. Anyway…how do you go with the 4DP?Get that 300w? - of course you did!
FWIW: Long before smart trainers or me doing structured training, my body automatically figured out the cadence thing doing challenging group rides and races. e.g. At the front of a fast pace line I’d use a higher cadence (~100) to keep my legs from giving out. Back in the paceline I’d wind up using a lower cadence (~85) to help my lungs recover. Similar in pacing and surging up longer climbs. This is how the SYSTM workouts are designed, but it came to me automatically through experience and out of necessity with no thought or analysis involved.
Something interesting is that I follow CINCH cycling and they post at least once a week about cadence and which one to use when. One thing I will mention is that most people’s base cadence is too low to be really effective if you plan on racing or doing an endurance effort of any length over two hours.