Hi
VeloTron
2x20 L4 session @ 305W which is, for me anyway, not very comfortable but got through it Ok and it certainly didn't feel as uncomfortable as the last one of these so that was a small step in the righrt direction, even if a temporary one!
I think if there is one thing I have learned in the last couple of years it's that real lasting adaptations to a training load are very very slow in coming, Short term gains can definitely be made for example when you introduce L5 work but the long term gains that really make a difference are a long time coming. I currently reckon that if a cyclist is already pretty well trained and has been cycling for a few years he or she is probably going to be doing pretty well to make a 20W gain over a 12 month period of good quality training, 20W @ threshold that is.
My gut feeling is that over the last few months I may have increased my FTP by about 5W from 305W to about 310W and I'm going to test this shortly. If this were the case I would need, for the 20 minute TT in the Allen & Coggan test, to average just over 326W which I suspect I may be able to manage.
What I'd do is start the TT at 326W in manual ergo mode and then see if I could hold that for 10 minutes. If I could I would then increase the load to a level I started to struggle at and then select a load I thought I could hang on to the end at, this should give me my best average for the 20 minutes and avoid me blowing up too soon. If I can't hold the 326W for the 10 minutes I know I've overestimated things but I held 320W for 20 minutes at my last test in November and I think I've made small gains since then.
I think I'll schedule the test for a week today, nice to have something to look forward to! ;-)
[Uploaded 03/02/2009 16:23:20]
Big numbers!
ReplyDeleteI hope you're not losing sight of the biggest priority for 2010 --- economy and efficiency and that big one recovery from one day to the next.
You'll be awesome on the prologue and TT stages on current form tho!
Hi Mark
ReplyDeleteNot at all, all part of the plan. I'll slowly but surely raise my FTP as high as I reasonably can. Then, on long rides and multi day events I'll throttle back and at say 240W I'll be cruising and about 75% of my FTP and that will keep me at a good pace all day, mainly using fat for energy.
The main thrust is to raise my aerobic power so that I'm generally riding at a lower % of my FTP when I have to go a long way. I generally now feel much stronger after about 60-70 miles than ever I used to.
On the recovery front I'm trying to have as few days off as I can for this reason, I need to be able to recover overnight and not need 2-3 days off so that's what I'm doing in training.
Make any sense?
Cheers,
Q
you've finally caught up with colin griffiths blog-the bloke's a class act.
ReplyDeleteare you going to change your training if your thinking of doing some of Willy Thompson's TLI races.
Hello Anonymous
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting in touch, a pity I have no idea who you are!
I'll certainly be changing my training in response to both the time of year and the events I decide to enter, many of which I've already decided upon.
My primary aim remains 2010 and the TdF route but I'm always keen to draw upon the knowledge and experience of others as well as the literature to help me make progress.
I'm reasonably settled with my approach at the moment as it's delivering the sort of progress I want though as you will be aware I've not started to train the top end yet, all in good time.
Be interested to know more about you!
Cheers,
Q