HOP Progression

Originally Posted by Bill Black

DRIVE FOR THE LINE
- 10min. warm-up;
- 20min. @85% of FTP;
- 5min. @70% of FTP;
- 5min. @100% of FTP with last 30sec. thereof @140%+ of FTP;
- 5min. @70% of FTP;
- 5min. @100% of FTP with last 30sec. thereof @140%+ of FTP;
- 10min. cool-down.

Originally Posted by Bill Black

I have plenty of others if you are interested -- a number involve motor-pacing on the Computrainer (drafting on and sitting in then...)

Best,
Bill Black

Originally Posted by Steve_B

Bill, What is the IF you get from this?

Originally Posted by Bill Black

Here are three of L4/5 workouts that I like and find diverting as well as effective:

DRIVE FOR THE LINE
- 10min. warm-up;
- 20min. @85% of FTP;
- 5min. @70% of FTP;
- 5min. @100% of FTP with last 30sec. thereof @140%+ of FTP;
- 5min. @70% of FTP;
- 5min. @100% of FTP with last 30sec. thereof @140%+ of FTP;
- 10min. cool-down.

4.5 THEN DRIVE
- 10min. warm-up;
- 70% of FTP then every 4.5min. go @140% of FTP for 90sec. (so total of 6min.) and that is one rep and you continue that for 10 reps (total of 60min) never letting things go below the 70% of FTP base level;
- 10min. cool-down.

DRIVE FOR 5
- 10min. warm-up;
- 5min. @110% of FTP then 2min. @60% of FTP and that is one rep; do 3 reps per set and 2 sets with 10min. @ L2 between the sets.
- 10min. cool-down.

TERRIBLE 20's
- 10min. warm-up;
- 20min. @90% of FTP with last 2min. thereof being @110% of FTP and that is one rep; do 3 reps with 5min. @ L2 between the reps;
- 10min. cool-down.

I have plenty of others if you are interested -- a number involve motor-pacing on the Computrainer (drafting on and sitting in then...)

Best,
Bill Black

Originally Posted by ctgt

Those sound cool. I've done a few rides where I just manually adjust the pacer to keep it interesting and in Zone 4 (it'd be great in real life if after I got dropped I could just hold down the - key for 5 seconds to catch up), but I never came up with a specific workout protocol.

One thing I do periodically is draft behind the pacer on a flat .8km course (15 or more laps), and sprint every few laps. Then I save my performance, and do the course again drafting behind myself and doing the same thing. I've never saved a third or fourth time, but eventually you'd have trouble passing your own leadout!

Anyway, that's my attempt at trying to provide an idea or two in the hopes that you'll share your motorpacing workouts

Originally Posted by Bill Black

The motor-pacing workout I do most often is to sit-in on the pacer at a wattage level (for the pacer) where I can just hang on by solid mid-L4 for me and then every 5min. I will surge and pass the pacer and then look to get back on -- a solid 60min+ is a good hard workout and keeps one engaged. Quite a few variations but this one is simple and easily comparable to prior similar sessions (i.e. log the watts of the pacer).

Best,
Bill Black

Originally Posted by rmur17

hmmm ... I really like the sound of that one Bill. I've not ever used the pacer with drafting turned on but I can see this one would work. Around what % over FTP do you need to run the pacer to get into mid L4 power level? Or do you adjust that on the fly?

It is very easy to adjust the pacer (5W increments up or down on handlebar unit) so it is best to do it on the fly and that also gives you a chance to get a warm-up and a sense of how close to stay to the pacer (the draft effect dissipates the further you are off his wheel).

And what does this have to do with the Super Bowl anyway?

Originally Posted by Bill Black

Excellent question but believing in jinxes, I will not provide any guidance or prediction on that.

Best,
Bill Black

Originally Posted by Ade Merckx

Hey Bill, gotta say thanks for the tip on the HOP with two minute surges. I call mine '40mins of Fitness' since I tend to do it as part of a 3 x 20 session. Its a good feeling to surge deep into vo2max/MAP/L6 territory create a little damage for 15-25secs and come back @ a notch under threshold. Yeah I love em ...unlike my L5's of course

Originally Posted by Bill Black

Happy to help -- those are very effective. One of the keys to successfull road racing is to be able to race at L3 and attack/respond at L4-6. Doing those surges and then returning to and holding a base wattage level that is a little uncomfortable and right on the edge of being able to recover at, is a great way to train/adapt the physiology.

Best,
Bill Black

Originally Posted by iliveonnitro

Just wanted to drop in real quick and mention the awesome base that is realized with SST intervals and 20-30sec "sprints" every couple minutes. .

Originally Posted by Simone@Italy

what % of FTP is SST? 90?