4 minute benchmark ride to find “Maximum Sustainable Wattage”
1 minute recovery
3 x 1 minute intervals
1 minute recovery after each
3 x 3 minute intervals
2 minute recovery after the first 2 intervals and only 1 minute after the third
4 minute interval
1 minute recovery
3 x 2 minute intervals
1.5 minute recovery after each
3 x 30 second intervals
30 second recovery after the first 2 intervals and 1 minutes after the third
3 x 30 second intervals
30 second recovery after the first 2 intervals and 1 minutes after the third
3 x 30 second intervals
5 minute cool down
4 minute “Maximum Sustainable Wattage” Test
Settle in to a 4 minute interval at 80-110 rpm.
This interval should be ridden at a maximum sustainable intensity.
if riders know their threshold they can spend this 5 minutes riding at it.
At the end of the interval take note of average wattage or HR or be aware of the RPE.
3 x 1 minute interval goals and specifics:
1st one minute interval should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 140% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
1 minute recovery or reset
2nd one minute interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
1 minute recovery or reset
3rd one minute interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1 minute recovery or reset
3 x 3 minute interval goals and specifics:
1st 3 minute intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 120% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
2 minute recovery or reset
2nd 3 minute interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
2 minute recovery or reset
3rd 3 minute interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1 minute recovery or reset
4 minute “Threshold” interval goals and specifics:
Ride for 4 minute seated at 80-110 rpm and try match the output or wattage from the “Maximum Sustainable Wattage” test
1 minute recovery or reset
3 x 2 minute interval goals and specifics:
1st 2 minute intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 130% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
1.5 minute recovery or reset
2nd 2 minute interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
1.5 minute recovery or reset
3rd 2 minute interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1.5 minute recovery or reset
3 x 30 second interval goals and specifics:
1st 30 second intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 150% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
30 second recovery or reset
2nd 30 second interval should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
30 second recovery or reset
3rd 30 second interval should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1 minute recovery or rest
3 x 30 second interval goals and specifics:
1st 30 second intervals should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at 150% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
30 second recovery or reset
2nd 30 second interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
30 second recovery or reset
3rd 30 second interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1 minute recovery or rest
3 x 30 second interval goals and specifics:
1st 30 second intervals should be ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at 150% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
30 second recovery or reset
2nd 30 second interval should be ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
30 second recovery or reset
3rd 30 second interval should be ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
5 minute cool down
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This week I went with a mix that included the magically mixing ability of Peter Gonzalez, the soulful voice of Elle King and finished it off with the rocking guitar of Van Halen. I think it worked. The beauty of harmonic mixing is that you can mix all these genre and it just seems to work.
I used West End Jump to get the group rolling, I saw this as a flat road with some resistance increases to bring the group up to their threshold. Then, I saw Ex's & Oh's as a slower seated climb where I added some short 15 second standing surges. I finished the set by standing and surging to the top of the imaginary hill being pulled along by Top of the World.
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Right Click on the blue underlined link
Select “Download Linked File As”
Select a download location
Once file is completely downloaded, find it in the location you selected
Drag the file into your iTunes or Spotify library OR
Right Click on the file and Select “Open With”
From the drop down menu select “iTunes” or “Spotify”
File should begin playing and is now part of your iTunes or Spotify library
To download the above media on a PC:
Right Click on the blue underlined link
Select “Save Link As”
Select a download location
Once file is completely downloaded, find it in the location you selected
Drag the file into your iTunes or Spotify library OR
Right Click on the file and Select “Open With”
From the drop down menu select “iTunes” or “Spotify”
File should begin playing and is now part of your iTunes or Spotify library Click here to watch a video on how to download media files from ICI/Pro.
My coach, Jim Karanas, used to say that athletic performance triggers the ego. It brings forward conflict, discomfort, anxiety, self-defeating thoughts, and doubts about what’s possible and what’s not.
In athletics, you do what’s necessary. You have the above thoughts without reacting to them — and stay with the event. The athletic objective is to learn to be nonreactive to distractions, including pain.
Giving up sugar can also bring forward discomforts — withdrawal symptoms, cravings — plus the anxiety, doubts, and self-defeating thoughts that may go with them. Like the athletic distractions, none of them is permanent.
You do what’s necessary to eliminate them and stay with the plan.
One difference is that, in athletics, it helps not to derive an identity from your performance. That identity, my coach said, is just ego.
In contrast, I say, what’s good about going through the process of quitting sugar is the sense of identity you develop when you do it. Your identity shifts.
You become The Person Who Doesn’t Eat Sugar, and things change.
– You stop finding sugary foods tempting. They’re Not Food.
– You consciously stop putting junk into your healthy body.
– People stop trying to persuade you to eat what you’d rather avoid.
– People stop giving you gifts of tempting sugary treats.
It’s not that the foods don’t look or smell appetizing. But they don’t bother us because we view them as something we simply don’t eat.
They’re no longer who we are.
Brain Chemistry Puts a Space Around Sugar
Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of Now, talks about putting a space around pain, thoughts and memories — especially negative ones — by staying present in the moment.
Basically, that’s becoming nonreactive.
Once addictive foods — like sugar — have been removed from your diet, the right foods you’ve added along the way can, and will, enhance dopamine and improve your focus.
Meanwhile, serotonin will put a space around what’s happening — and make you less reactive — by literally increasing the time between thought and action.
The non-reactivity holds true whether the trigger is external — seeing chocolate cake, smelling freshly baked cinnamon buns — or internal — having a taste that triggers the desire for lots more.
I talk to my clients about stability, which applies to both brain chemistry and glucose.
When both are stable and even, my clients are able to make decisions about food, instead of reacting to every treat.
They make decisions, instead of succumbing to junk they know won’t do them good, just because they can’t resist or think they have “decision-making fatigue.”
Once my clients are stable, I know they’re on the ‘Zen path’ — as described in my last post — to making clear decisions about food and sugar.
A few weeks ago I noticed a new playlist along the left side of my main Spotify page titled Discover Weekly. I hadn’t put it there myself, so I clicked on it to see what it was all about and I was pleasantly surprised at the incredible mix of songs that it included. I investigated further and found that it’s a new feature that Spotify offers and it’s amazing! It’s like a fresh mix tape delivered to you every Monday.
According to Spotify, the songs included in your personal Discover Weekly playlist are based on your listening habits as well as what others are listening to. (Hint: Make sure you save your favorites because it will refresh every week! I created a new playlist called Discover Weekly Finds and then I will sort them out when I have more time.)
This week’s favorite song of the week is called Happy (no, not THAT Happy…) and it came straight from my personalized playlist. It’s from a group I’d never heard of called C2C (feat. Derek Martin) . Check out this video of them performing the song live. They’re using turntables to recreate the sounds of the drum and guitar and it’s pretty cool:
I used it as a climb, but it would certainly also make a great warm up or flat road.
Sometimes I need a cool video to play as a warm up song. This video is perfect! Beautiful scenery, classic rock song and a smooth flowing video that everyone can appreciate and “Get Lost in the Moment.”
The entire, full length, movie is available for download on iTunes.
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Below you'll find Week 2 of August's Keep it Simple and Progress indoor cycling profile.
When I started this progression last week I was VERY concerned that my classes were going to complaining about the significant recoveries, but after the first week my riders began to figure out just how hard they needed to work to make this workout effective. Not one person mentioned that they felt they were getting too much recovery, most of them were hoping for more. The beauty of training with power is that you can give REAL wattage goals for each interval. Exercise physiologists have proven that riders can hold wattages in the Anaerobic Capacity Zone, which is 121-150% of Functional Threshold Power for 30 seconds to 3 minutes. I set my wattage goals with these proven parameters in mind.
5 minute benchmark ride to find “Maximum Sustainable Wattage”
1 minute recovery
3 x 1 minute intervals
1 minute recovery after each
3 x 3 minute intervals
2 minute recovery after the first 2 intervals and only 1 minute after the third
5 minute interval
1 minute recovery
3 x 2 minute intervals
2 minute recovery after each
3 x 30 second intervals
30 second recovery after the first 2 intervals and 2 minutes after the third
3 x 30 second intervals
30 second recovery after each
5 minute cool down
5 minute “Maximum Sustainable Wattage” Test
Settle in to a 5 minute interval at 80-110 rpm.
This interval should be ridden at a maximum sustainable intensity.
if riders know their threshold they can spend this 5 minutes riding at it.
At the end of the interval take note of average wattage or HR or be aware of the RPE.
3 x 1 minute interval goals and specifics:
1st one minute interval should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 140% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
1 minute recovery or reset
2nd one minute interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
1 minute recovery or reset
3rd one minute interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1 minute recovery or reset
3 x 3 minute interval goals and specifics:
1st 3 minute intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 120% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
2 minute recovery or reset
2nd 3 minute interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
2 minute recovery or reset
3rd 3 minute interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
1 minute recovery or reset
5 minute “Threshold” interval goals and specifics:
Ride for 5 minute seated at 80-110 rpm and try match the output or wattage from the “Maximum Sustainable Wattage” test
1 minute recovery or reset
3 x 2 minute interval goals and specifics:
1st 2 minute intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 130% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
2 minute recovery or reset
2nd 2 minute interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
2 minute recovery or reset
3rd 2 minute interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
2 minute recovery or reset
3 x 30 second interval goals and specifics:
1st 30 second intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 150% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
30 second recovery or reset
2nd 30 second interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
30 second recovery or reset
3rd 30 second interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
2 minute recovery or rest
3 x 30 second interval goals and specifics:
1st 30 second intervals should be ridden seated at 80-110 rpm at 150% of maximum sustainable wattage or threshold.
30 second recovery or reset
2nd 30 second interval should be ridden seated at 60-80 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 1st.
30 second recovery or reset
3rd 30 second interval should ridden standing at 60-70 rpm at the same wattage or intensity as the 2nd.
4 minute cool down
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