Today I had an interesting experience when doing the omnium workout for the monthly challenge. My legs gave out on the very last sprint. See the charts below, my cadence went to zero in the last sprint. I was in erg mode and essentially I went into the erg spiral of death.
My take is that this is a reflection of my AC lagging my other 4DP parameters. I just did not have enough in the tank to do the last sprint. Until now, I did not think much of the NM and AC parameters, but after this one, I am giving things a second thought.
Yeah, but remember, The Omnium is tough! I think you’re right, though. My AC is fairly strong and I find the sprints doable. I think cadence-focused workouts have really helped me improve NM.
I was exactly the same yesterday and my profile is virtually the same as yours! Couldn’t keep the cadence up for the last sprint and virtually ground to a halt
I put my bad MAP down to age (70 in a few months) and years of smoking up until the age of 28 when I gave it up?? These figures are about a year old now and I think my FTP is up to around 225 or 3.7 watts per kg according to intervals.icu.com taken from some recent TT’s I have done. Should do another 4DP test I know but keep putting it off !!
For that very reason, I started an AC focused training block this week. I like how the blocks allow you to focus the your weaknesses in your 4DP. Garmin and Intervals seem to be happy about it too.
The thing about The Omnium…is that Sir @Coach.Neal.H (you know…the guy that everyone hates) has said that the last minute in this one can be used to update your AC if you are in level mode. It is designed to be tough and like many SUF vids, the toughest part is the last part. This is where improvements are made.
By the time that 1 minute effort comes around, you’ve already got some significant time in your legs at intensity so you’re gonna be less than “fresh” when it hits.
I was fine, relatively speaking until near that last bit when the final sprint was looming. My Tacx Neo changes within a few seconds and I should have got my leg speed up a few seconds before the power increase hit. The power came on and my cadence was too slow and the spiral of death kicked in.
Hi J, correct, during the last 15 seconds of the kilo. The power jumped from just below MAP (247W for me - MAP= 260W) to 377W. I did not have enough legs to do that jump in ERG mode so went into the erg spiral of death.
@sandman Take some post-workout notes about your experience and next time you do the workout try to remember to anticipate the power change and focus on increasing your cadence before and during the change. The higher cadence will help to lessen the time you are actually pushing each pedal ever so slightly and can help you better manage the interval.
With a rider profile of TTer and a highlighted weakness of repeated AC efforts, workouts like the Omnium are not much fun for me.
The sprint end of the last block (points race?) got me, as I didn’t get on top of the cadence like @ozmadman and it turns into a very nasty, low cadence grovel as you fight the spiral of death.
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