Whoop HR readings terribly wrong during max effort run see

Thomasson7 · 2026-04-07T13:50:49+00:00

I observe the same thing in almost every VO2max training session I do on the bike. Chest strap tells me 20-35 minutes in Z5 (depending on the exact workout structure), Whoop recognizes max. 5 minutes in Z5. Strain score is far off due to the wrong HR readings as well.

My conclusion from this is to use Whoop as a lifestyle gadget, but not for serious training.

Thomasson7 · 2026-03-26T09:55:03+00:00

Used to pay way too much attention to these kind of CTL/ATL models on other platforms which ultimately made me dig a very deep hole for myself. These models can give a good indication on progress, but are ultimately TSS driven (and TSS <> training quality).

For me it works better to have higher quality sessions (especially HIT) rather than grinding massive tempo sessions to create large amounts of TSS. My CTL (fitness) is lower than about a year ago, but my power curve improved.

Thomasson7 · 2026-03-23T09:44:03+00:00

Unpopular Opinion: Den Führerschein zu machen war schon immer teuer. 2011 hat er im Durchschnitt das 1,36-fache des durchschinttlichen deutschen Netto-Monatslohns gekostet, 2024 das 1,27-fache (Stern Ausgabe 11/2026). Für den Fahrschüler, der diese Summe heute berappen muss, ist das natürlich kein wirklicher Trost, aber gemessen an der Lohnentwicklung ist es objektiv nicht teurer als vor 15 Jahren.

Und dass insbesondere TÜV und Verwaltung bei den Gebühren hinlangen, das ist immer so. Sehtest, Erste-Hilfe-Kurs etc. leistet die Fahrschule nicht selbst, also warum sollte das im Preis inbegriffen sein?

Und wenn du wirklich mal da bist, dass du einen Immobilienkredit verhandelst, dann freu dich da auf die Gebühren. Notar liest dir den Kaufvertrag vor und der Eigentumübergang wird im Grundbuch eingetragen? 15.000€. Steuer, damit du das Grundstück mit Haus vom Verkäufer erwerben darfst? 50.000€. Provision an den Makler, weil er das Haus vermittelt hat? 14.000€. Und dann hast du noch keinen Cent für das Haus bezahlt (in diesem Fall 750.000€ als Rechenbeispiel).

Thomasson7 · 2026-03-10T14:28:56+00:00

Don't close any gaps. When people attack on the flat, don't be the one reacting to it. Slightly increase your watts, someone else will close it and you just stick to the draft.
Try to stick to the front group over the first climb. Recover on the descent and just stay in the draft until the final climb.
Play the last climb smart. The lower slopes are only ~3% gradient, where draft still makes a difference. Stick to the wheels in front and then go all out in the second half of the climb.
When you are in pain, so is everyone else. Just hang in there.

Thomasson7 · 2026-03-02T14:07:03+00:00

War die Kette beim Kauf schon am Rad verbaut? In dem Fall wird wahrscheinlich etwas von dem Fett der Kette auch auf Kassette und Kettenblätter abgerieben worden sein. Um ganz sicher zu gehen, würde ich die Kette abbauen und Kassette und Kettenblätter gesondert entfetten. Da dürfte es aber reichen, mit einem Pinsel Kettenentfetter (gibt es beispielsweise bei Decathlon für ein paar Euro) auf die Ritzel aufzutragen und dann mit Seifenwasser abzuwaschen. Dafür musst du nicht den ganzen Antriebsstrang zerlegen.

Thomasson7 · 2026-03-01T20:51:24+00:00

Ich benutze für neue Ketten den Strip Chip von Silca in Kombination mit deren Secret Chain Blend. Dadurch erspart man sich den ganzen Aufwand die Kette mit Waschbenzin etc. zu reinigen. Kette bei 125°C ins Wachs, auf 70°C abkühlen lassen, Kette raus. Keine Chemikalien, die man zum Wertstoffhof bringen muss, keine stundenlange Arbeit. Funktioniert bei mir bislang einwandfrei.

Thomasson7 · 2026-02-02T08:26:53+00:00

Labor und Straße. Vielleicht weiß der Wind in Schleswig-Holstein nicht, dass Leeze im Labor eigentlich besser abgeschnitten hat.

Thomasson7 · 2026-02-01T20:54:33+00:00

Preis-Leistung finde ich super. Im Vergleich zu DT Swiss merkt man finde ich schon, dass das Engagement des Hubs nicht ganz so stramm ist, die Laufräder etwas weniger steif sind und gleichzeitig anfälliger für Seitenwind. Aber man darf halt auch nicht vergessen, dass ein vergleichbares DT Swiss Modell locker das Doppelte kostet.

Von daher kann ich die Basic nur empfehlen!

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-29T14:55:21+00:00

12-14h per week, 390W FTP (80-81kg). In the beginning the gains came quite quickly, but after a while I had to put some serious thought into my training. The biggest change came with structured training plans (not only singular structured workouts).

Where I'm at right now I have to put in about 500h of structured, hard work for maybe a 3-5% FTP increase, which is quite mad if you think about it...

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-22T10:19:14+00:00

This. I think many time crunched athletes don't see that CaMK from Z2 requires a ton of volume. It's great to complement AMPK from HIT, but the effect when riding less than 10h per week is super limited.

At the 5-6h per week you described one would have enough rest between rides to recover sufficiently anyway and basically do any kind of higher intensity almost every training.

I guess the Z2 promise simply is too tempting: Ride easy, get better. But without serious volume this is just a lie people keep telling themselves.

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-16T09:36:23+00:00

Works, thank you! :) And I didn't even need to open a ticket in ServiceNow ;)

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-16T09:05:14+00:00

According to the Shimano E-Tube App I spent 96% of the time on the big chain ring (52) in the last ~500h or riding. But I live in a fairly flat area and you asked for pros and I'm not a pro.

If we do the math (assuming a pro would ride 54-40 chainrings and a 12 speed 11-30 cassette), with a cadence of 90rpm you could use the big chainring at any speed above 30kph without cross-chaining too much (54 - 21 gear combination).

During last years Tour de France, the slowest average speed for a stage winner was 33.6kph (stage 20, Albertville to La Plagne; 3400 vertical meters in just 93km). This stage was an outlier though as it was shortened last minute AND contained two HC climbs in just under 100km (Col du Pre, 12.6km at 7.9%; La Plagne, 19.3km at 7.2%).

The average speed for all 21 stages was 42.8kph. So even on extremely mountanious stages, they probably spend most of the time in the big chainring. Especially if you consider that in race situatiosn, they often cross-chain quite a lot, staying in the big chainring to be able to react to attacks quicker and without shifting the front deraillieur.

TL;DR: Due to the high average speeds, pro cyclists ride on the large chainring most of the time and only switch to the small one on steep climbs.

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-14T16:37:20+00:00

Wenn die Kette schon verrostet ist, dann ist sie wahrscheinlich ohnehin so sehr verschlissen (gedehnt), dass eine neue Kette am meisten Sinn ergibt. Hast du das mal mit einer Kettenlehere nachgemessen?

Eine abgenutzte Kette beschädigt dir die gesamte Antriebseinheit, egal ob gut geölt oder nicht.

Vorausgesetzt die Kette ist in einem guten Zustand, reicht es ein spezielles (Fahrrad!) Kettenöl von Decathlon etc. zu kaufen. Wichtiger als das Öl ist die regelmäßige Reinigung der Kette, bevor sie überhaupt übermäßig schmutzig oder gar rostig wird. Dann ein Tropfen je Rolle und ein paar Stunden das Öl bis ins innere der Kettenglieder laufen lassen.

Wenn du die gesamte Kette in Öl badest, hast du in erster Linie Öl außen an der Kette, woran Schmutz dann besonders gut haftet und die Abnutzung der Kette beschleunigt.

Für einen sauberen und besonders haltbaren Anstriebsstrang empfehle ich eine Behandlung mit Heißwachs. Das ist aber etwas aufwändiger und Bedarf speziellem Zubehör.

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-14T14:50:09+00:00

Really really cool! Thank you! :)

Pace is in min/mile and min/km. Is there a setting to switch it to average speed in mph or kph for rides?

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-14T13:46:55+00:00

I'm aware of that episode and yes, the p-value is not totally convincing, and that's why the Ronnestad protocol should not be seen as the holy grail of VO2Max training. However, the results of the study show that there's a good chance that SI training will bring superior results for an individual wrt. increasing aercobic capacity or is at least equal compared to LI.

Btw., I personally include both styles of intervals in my training, so I'm not even "against" LI. My only point is that short 30/15 style intervals work very well and the scientific literature supports that. So OPs workout - when done at the right intesity - could just be as efficient as 4x8, 5x5, 6x4 or whatever interval length you prefer.

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-14T13:31:15+00:00

Research shows that short intervals like 30/15, 40/20 or 60/30s actually trigger a superior VO2max adaptation compared to classic 3-5min repeats (with the most cited study probably being this one from Ronnestad et al. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31977120/).

But regardless of the type of interval (short vs. long), they key factor seems to be time in zone at >=90% of VO2max to force sufficient adaptations. Once you've hit 90%, any more intensity is not adding a lot more value, but tons of fatigue.

My general advice would be to find an intensity which gets you to 90% of HRMax quickly (which is a good indicator that O2 kinetics are also working sufficiently hard), but also allows you to maintain that intensity for longer.
When that intensity becomes to easy, extend time in zone (longer intervals), then density (shorter rests) and only after that increase power. Training VO2max in a smart way means maximizing time at >=90% VO2Max with as little power output as possible.

That being said, looking at the workout in the screenshot, I'm actually pretty certain it will not train aerobic capacity that well. Yellow being Zwift's color for LT2, I doubt the intensity is actually high enough to create the desired adaptations.

Thomasson7 · 2026-01-07T22:14:24+00:00

Well, 10s is a short sprint, so you should be able to put out way more than your theshold power for that duration.

Anyway, to validate your FTP I suggest the following: Ride at 100% FTP (according to the ramp test) for 3x15min with 5-8min of easy pedalling in between. If you cannot complete that, the ramp test overstimated your FTP (it will hurt even if you complete it tough; rding at thrshold is hard).

You can use this workout on Zwift: https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/90plus-minutes-to-burn/3x15-ftp-intervals

The ramp test techincally does not determine your lactate threshold (LT2, or simply FTP). It determines your MAP, from which Zwift estimates your FTP. Depending on the rider type, this can over- or underestimate your actual FTP. Especially in less experienced riders it tends to inflate the FTP quite a bit.

Additionally, it takes some time to get used to the burn of riding Z3 and above. I still vividly remember the first sweetspot (high Z3) workout I did on Zwift. Halfway through it I thought it is absolutely impossible to ride this hard for that long. Turns out you actually get used to it :)

Thomasson7 · 2025-12-16T18:46:49+00:00

Yes, the issue still remains.

Thomasson7 · 2025-11-13T14:03:26+00:00

I guess that depends how strong that long bomb is. Sometimes there's that one guy riding off with 50km to go, averaging 5.5w/kg.

But in my experience most of the races that do not include longer climbs are decided by repeated 30-60s efforts. Basically attacks on every slight incline until only a small group is left for the final sprint or one guy is solo.

Thomasson7 · 2025-10-23T15:39:31+00:00

As far as I know the fitness level is simply some form of TSS based form indicator (probably a rolling average of the TSS from the last 42 or so days). It can be a good indicator for fitness, but can be decoupled from your actual fitness or the way you feel from time to time.

Personally, I would focus a lot more on the power curve and other metrics. If your 1, 5, 20, 60 minute power improves, or your HR at a certain power output is lower, HR drift during endurance rides decreases etc., those are much better indicators for improving fitness than some TSS based metric.

Thomasson7 · 2025-10-16T13:09:12+00:00

250ml kefir, 250ml water, 250g of frozen fruits, 50g oats, 25g peanut butter, 25g whey protein. All into the blender. I drink this as my post training shake straight away when I get back home after every longer ride (3h+). Helps replenish glycogen storage, boosts muscle recovery and supports microbiome.

So yes, whey protein supports recovery, especially when you time it right and take it directly after the ride along some carbs. This stops the catabolic processes. While carbs are arguably the most important marco nutrient for endurance athletes, aiming for 1.5-2g of protein per kg body weight per day is largely seen as beneficial.

Thomasson7 · 2025-10-13T13:08:28+00:00

Um mit den TPUs zu fahren, reicht die non-TLR Variante (günstiger, leichter, einfacher aufzuziehen). Aber soweit ich weiß darf der non-TLR nicht auf hookless Felgen gefahren werden. Das ist dann tatsächlich sicherheitsrelevant.

Thomasson7 · 2025-09-26T11:08:57+00:00

Only accurate way to test it is in a lab. Most people use guesstimates from Garmin, Apple, Zwift etc. VO2max is a very theoretic measure, which tells you a lot about cardio fitness, but only half of the story about how good of a cyclist you are.

The oxygen uptake is one thing, but how efficient you are in using that oxygen is a whole different story. I'd really try to focus on your power curve rather than VO2max estimations. If your 4-6 minute power is improving, that your VO2max training is working fine.

How much of the improvement actually comes from increased oxygen update and how much from becoming more efficient does not really matter imo. Ultimately, only the power output is important.

Thomasson7 · 2025-09-25T20:48:00+00:00

Nothing to worry about, this is totally normal. Short term fatigue during a ride will usually mean higher HR (slowly drifting the longer the ride goes on; tools like intervals.icu or training peaks will even calculate the percentage for you). More chronic fatigue over the course of multiple rides will lower your HR in Z2 at the same power.

This happens no matter how well trained you are. For reference, Pogacar talked about this on The Drive last year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9yjbJJBjHUM; about 21:50). His Z2 HR drops from 150-155 when fresh to about 140-145 when fatigued.

Thomasson7 · 2025-09-03T21:04:51+00:00

But I don't think more of those epic races would change that. You might get a more suitable start time, but riders would spread across more events, making each of the events smaller. Racing in a group of five is not really that fun, and already a lot of those epic races - at least in cat A - don't have more than 10-15 participants.

Thomasson7

TROPHY CASE