Read a bunch of previous threads on this topic but thought I’d post my question because I didn’t see the exact same scenario.
Quick back ground. Started racing back in 98’. Raced consistently until about 5-6 years ago. (Dad life) Still riding here and there, but not consistent, though I still do have periods where I don’t completely suck and am happy with my fitness. Fast forward. Pandemic has me stuck inside all week with my kid and his online schooling. Didn’t want to throw away the fitness I managed to gain over the summer. Decide to bite the bullet and buy my first smart trainer at the end of November. HOLY CRAP! Where were these things when I was racing? 1000% upgrade over all my trainers and indoor training sessions before. Took my first Full Frontal on Dec 3rd. Knew I needed a baseline. Signed up for the 12 Week Road Program. Started that on Dec 14th. Just did my scheduled Half Monty today as it’s my half way point I think. Improvements across the board as I’d expect but also knowing the Half Monty numbers are a little higher. Ok, so that was my way too long intro for my question:
I know the Half Monty does not adjust your 4DP and that your Half Monty results will typically be higher BUT, I feel like I want to adjust my settings. When I did my FF on Dec 3rd, I had exactly 4 rides in the past 4 weeks prior. (Jeasous? haha) There was no special training or build up. Just hop on the trainer and suffer. Some numbers were ok. Some sucked. Got “Attacker”. Was always a crit/sprint guy who could also pull off a top 3 TT on occasion, so went with their results.
During the past 6 weeks of training my HR is ALWAYS (well, 95%+) of the time lower than the range given. Also, my P.E is almost always way lower than what the program is telling me. Only failed on one work out and that was Nine Hammers. Ouch. Even then, I just needed to pause for 10-15 seconds on the 5th and 6th but killed the last 3. I just feel like these Half Monty results are closer to where I probably am based on years of riding and knowing my body and how I react to training.
So, thoughts after my long rant? Would you change? I feel like at the very least I’d change my HR settings because that’s consistently been wrong and the number I got today lines up more of what I know about myself. As far as my MAP and FTP I got today, those are closer to where I used to be when I actually rode. I just think that my Full Frontal was off because of my utter lack of riding up to that point and now that I’m back to consistently riding/training, these are closer.
Adjust? Adjust HR but not MAP or FTP. Adjust MAP and FTP but don’t go all the way? Split the difference from FF and HM or reduce the HM results by 10% or something?
If you’ve made it this far…thanks. Don’t really have any body to bounce this kinda stuff off of these days.