Hi all,
This is my second time using Sufferfest to prepare for a hard mountain gran fondo.
I know I’ve lost fitness so I did a FF test, the numbers came back about where I expected and relatively make sense, and heart rates matched previous values.
MAP is always my weakness so I started a block. But I’m finding the typical 30s-1m intervals easy and my heartrate is 20 beats below threshold, whereas the expected value on the workout is much higher.
Question is, are workouts like Revolver/Rue the Day truly using my tested MAP number as a target, so I should raise that, or are is it using a percent above FTP (which I would not expect, just checking) and therefore I should be doing an FTP block, or am I just really good at these intervals because short punchy hills is what I ride often outside and I shouldn’t expect my heart rate to climb much?
I found Rue the Day easy on fresh numbers when it first came out, I asked on the forum and got a reply from Head Coach at the time Neal Henderson
Revolver on fresh numbers is a much harder workout IF 0.9vs 0.86, I’m normally hitting my cThr after the 4th or 5th interval.
Yes both RTD and Revolver use the MAP value from your athlete profile to set the interval power. You could always try a HM as a less exhausting way of getting an idea of your current FTP and MAP scores.
Last thought. Are you sticking to the cadence targets, low cadence during HIIT leads to more muscular fatigue and lower HR.
Revolver wasn’t bad either and hr stayed zone 2 to low 3, and yes, I do change cadence, and in general favor higher cadence for intervals above ftp.
FF was done just a few weeks ago, and my hr was above cthr during the 5 min interval, and right at previous thr for the 20 mins, so I don’t think I was sandbagging.
Anyway, thanks for the ideas. Will see what it takes to get me to zone 4.
cThr is not a fixed value, for me it can vary by around 5 beats depending on how fatigued or fresh I am.
During the FF 5min test, I’m normally around cThr by the end of the 1st or 2nd minute and close to max HR by the end. Pacing the 5 minute test is hard, dare I say it impossible to do accurately for someone without a target power, who’s never tried it before.
Sounds like you nailed the 20min effort.
I’d recommend doing the Half Monty ramp test to reset your MAP.
Alternatively you could try Nine Hammers and if you can complete that its definitely time to retest.
I will say this. I did a MAP block too as V02 and MAP are my weaknesses as well. I found the same with the workouts, some what easy but I pushed through the entire plan.
Fast forward, I hopped in Zwift racing league for this month and the results really show from my block training. I have won each race I have been in so far (2) with punchy climbs and sprints and long climbs. I do lift weights often but I have to credit my MAP training block mainly as my numbers (5 sec, 30 sec, 1min, and 5min) numbers went through the roof. I’m doing a ramp test this weekend and then full at end of month to see where I’m at now.
So my suggestion is to keep at it and take a ramp or Full frontal sometime after your done. Best of luck
Thanks all.
For reference, I’ve done FF many times over the last few years, so I know how hard the 5min should be (i.e. I can barely get off the bike for the walk). I did get close to max HR at the end, but might’ve gone out too hard and suffered too much in the middle. I don’t remember any unusual conditions on test day to influence my results negatively.
I did attacker today and raised MAP 10%. It was nice to see just the yellow blocks changing as previously mentioned. I know that’s a big difference but it made the workout feel right. Hard but not impossible, not totally dead at the end of each interval. HR was at bottom of z4 at end of last interval.
I’ll retest at the end of the block and see what I get.
Just a quick update if anyone cares. Did HM on Saturday, and indeed MAP up 10% and FTP up 9%. Feels about right, and now I’m back to where I was…4 years ago!
