I hope you are well and enjoying winter. It’s lovely and cold/wet here in the UK!
I am new to intervals.icu and have logged into it a few times to try ad better understand the platform but to be honest I am finding it overwhelming. Are there any coaches on here who wouldn’t mind looking at my data and providing some generic feedback/analysis/comments/suggestions?
I am 32 years old, 90kg, and a genuine couch potato. I have recently tried to make life changes and incorporate more indoor cycling and outdoor running into my life. I have a smart direct-drive trainer and my FTP is 119. I am at the start of the couch to 5k programme and my PR/PB for a 5k park run is 00:31:55.
I am not a coach but I did have a quick look at your data. Your FTP is definitely way higher than 119. Where did that number come from? Intervals.icu says your eFTP is 153 … you should go with that for now.
Also many of your rides have “power spikes” that have been “fixed”. That is probably because your FTP is set too low. They get a little orange bolt on the calendar:
You can change your FTP in /settings and then fix up the old activities in the activity list view (click Edit):
Thanks for your reply. My initial FTP was actually lower in Zwift but has increased in the app to 119 during rides. I’ve calibrated my turbo trainer and entered the right weight. I wonder why there is such a big discrepancy between my in-game figure and intervals.icu figure - perhaps time for me to do another ftp test.
Thanks for the comment. I’ve genuinely done no exercise since my late teens. A combination of a bad lifestyle & diet, sitting in front of the screen for 9+ hours a day, and a lower back injury that I sustained about five years ago. Park Runs have been great for encouraging me to get up and do something. I’ve only done three (first one with my 70 year old dad) but I’m literally dead by the end
Im 29 yo and also training for 5k. I started in July and what I did at the beggining is just run in low HR for months and I got great improvements by only doing this. Thats my first advice. Im not coach but I read a lot.
About cycling:
-just ride as much as you can and have fun
-try to ride your bike instead of a car or public transport
-on your weekend try to make a long bike trip, can be slow, can be paused, just ride somewhere (coffee place, nice place outside your city…) and every week try to make this trip longer (without carrying too much about speed) i know it’s winter but winter in UK is like summer in other countries and i bet you have lika a mega cool bike coffee place in every city
-90kg is much more about eating than training or at least 50:50 so an app to count calories like myfitnesspal is a good start, just to figure out how bad you eat or what you can change, ofc by riding you burn a lot of calories but you have to eat more to fuel your rides.
-install strava (fb for training people) and check cycling groups near your place, sometimes it’s much better to just go outside and meet similar cycling/running people (many of them, even the fittest ones, started from worse couch potato condintion then you and are forgiving for new people
-trainer is great if its cold or wet, you can start just by riding with low intensity (like you feel that you are pushing your pedals but still can breath and talk ) and make it 1h to 3h long, buying HR strap would be great
-make ftp test and set your zones and besides long slow rides (Zone 2 ) you can add some intervals twice a week
-i know that you wrote you want to ride indoors but if you sit a lot in front of a screen and want a life change, going out is much bigger change that sitting on a trainer inside, bike is a great oportunity to get outside for some endorfins, meet new people, feel some wind in your hair and just grab some fun from life
-by simply riding you can improve a lot and meanwhile gather some more info about basic intervals and training plans
ps. remember to have a strong fan when cycling indoors!
Very good advice and much of it rings true. I’m on my journey to re-balance my work, life, hobbies and etc, and focusing more on my health is a part of that.
The cold weather – I definitely wasn’t made for this climate!
