New Finding...

Latest theory on why I continue to get dropped on group rides...

The facts:

• My aerobic system is not far from where it was prior to the wreck. I am probably 10 watts off of my best FTP performance prior to the injury... I suspect continued work on 45 minute FTP workouts and 5x5s would put me where I was in 2-3 weeks.
• My anaerobic system is where it was prior to the injury... I am putting out large anaerobic efforts of equal wattage and duration to my prior-to-injury self

WRONG!!!!! Well not quite, but wrong all the same. I decided as I came back from injury that I would use Tuesday Worlds to train both systems as I slowly increased workload through the weeks. I now realize that this RR format is training my aerobic system (I usually have a pretty good hour effort (NP close to FTP)), but not my anaerobic system.

This came to me as I worked through 8- 1 min intervals this past week. I have not done these since the late winter. I actually had just finished my last week of these when I broke my hip. I found that the first interval was higher than I expected. With almost no work, I went well above my goal wattage with no real effort. I immediately decided that my ergomo was screwed again. Rather than freaking out, I decided to ram through the rest and see if I could sustain the wattage.

The second interval was shocking... a major drop in power... the third was worse... forth, worse... and so on until I finished at what I do my 5 minute intervals at.

So, here is the finding. I seem to be able to light a match as hot as I did before the injury. The wattage output is relatively equal and the duration is equal. The problem is that I seem to have drastically dropped the number of matches in my box. Rather than 8-10 of these type of matches, I have one to two. Why? Because the guys I ride with are strong enough to burn my match through with one major effort... especially when I am trying to work on the front (which I have been trying the past few weeks prior to vacation). I then get dropped and my workout has only consisted of one or two really high intervals... no more...

The good news is that this system is highly trainable with very drastic and quick results in 3-4 weeks time. If I don't get 6-8 of these efforts tomorrow night at Worlds (meaning that first attack forces me to a wattage where I burn through all I got) then I will do 1 minute intervals on Thursday to try to hone in this system ASAP... it may be the key to the whats left of this season...