Illness, indoor training, and fun with WKO+ 3.0

It has been a rough start to the new year for me. I caught a stomach virus while visiting the in-laws just after Christmas and this past week I came down with an upper respiratory infection and I am on anti-biotics. This has really hurt my training with only 9 out of the last 17 days on the bike. The snow and cold have kept me indoors. I think I have two outdoor rides in the last 4 or 5 weeks, but that is okay. I kind of like indoor training, mainly because I know the people that I race against don't and this is my chance to get an advantage - and I need all I can get. I did manage to test last weekend and my ftp is around the 345 range. That is average to slightly high, but it is all on paper right now and does not really matter. I've been doing a lot of SST and low-mid range tempo. A lot of 80 minute intervals in the 80-85% range and then 3 X 15 or 3 X 20's at 87-92% of ftp. I'm doing some skill work this winter, but mainly cadence. I'm seriously starting to doubt the effectiveness of ILT work.

I finally got around to upgrading to WKO+ 3.0 and I must say there are some cool tools in there. My coach has me doing some different cadences in my long intervals and it is pretty interesting to view them with the quadrant analysis tool. In the past I have just dumped these into excel, but being able to pick a range and hit a tab is really nice. But my favorite new feature is the multifile analysis tool. You can take segments of different rides or the same file and compare them with each other. This is pretty useful in comparing test or even courses that you frequently ride. I've got a couple of screen shots attached below. Other than that, it is pretty much steady going until February. I'm not sure when I will get to turn the pedals in anger again, but I'm thinking SC in February is very likely.

-T