My season was derailed this year due to some heart issues. (severe, persistent a-fib) I was able to get back on track in August and peak for my a race and set a pr by 34 minutes!
I owe that time largely to switching to a mv plan for the first time and partly to changing my nutrition.
2020 training should already have started since I’m hoping to complete DK200 in May, but I have a surgery scheduled in 3 weeks.
With the results I had late this season I have decided to move towards a consistent mid-volume training schedule and continue to refine my nutrition and eating habits to more closely follow the “Endurance Diet”.
Goals?
Changed my cockpit setup on the road bike… dropped two spacers, shortened and flipped the stem in order to make the drops my primary position (instead of hoods for climbing rides). Finding it much more comfortable in the drops now.
Doing short power build to lift VO2max ceiling after years of sustained power as a triathlete. Hope to excel in early season crits because of it.
Might get back into tris later in the season, we’ll see what life allows. San Diego Tri season runs May through October, so I’ll have time for another Build/Specialty and to build some run and swim fitness.
Incorporating skills drills into my easy days, in hopes of getting better, but also building my skills as a skills instructor. This has me hunting a nice used Mountain Bike.
Reincorporating strength work in 1x per week.
Joining a road race team and club after years going solo.
Big change for me is nutrition. I’ve been reading The Endurance Diet and have been trying the recipes in there the past couple weeks. I definitely notice a difference in how I feel during workouts already.
The other big change is that this will be my first year using TrainerRoad for my structured training leading into and throughout the season.
Reduce cadence vs last year in sweet spot and threshold workouts.
Don’t obsess too much over FTP number, since the same reported FTP can be achieved with less actual effort, or more, depending on gearing and cadence choices.
In previous years my tendency to spin very quickly in sweet spot/threshold workouts (often 100+) somewhat “cheated the system” (i.e. allowed me to produce higher watts in ERG mode than I can produce at lower cadences) and as a result concentrated my development on cardio vascular to the detriment of strength endurance improvements.
I took one step in this direction last winter (lower cadence in general than previous winter) with great effect (same FTP but stronger hill climbing and TT performances especially on rolling courses), so I want to take it another small step further on by reducing cadence still further.
I take VO2 Max intervals out of this, as I feel that they have to be done in “survival mode” which for me means very fast spinning!
What trainer do you have that makes high cadence = easier?
What gearing did you have before, and what do you use now?.
After reading the big vs small chain gear thread you train more for climb in low gear and high speed TT in high gear. But you also increase youre TT speed in low gear?.
My biggest goal is to incorporate more weight lifting. I use to be a gym rat before getting focused on bikes about 5 years ago so that has allowed me to coast by without worrying too much. I like the way Frank from FasCat incoporartes strength as well as what Dialed Health is putting out.
For a given wattage (say 250W), on any trainer, ERG mode or not, if you are pushing 250W, it is easier on the legs to do it at 100rpm (more reliance on your cardio vascular system) than pushing 250W at 85rpm (harder on your legs). To take the theory to the extreme, try 250W at 40rpm, vs 100rpm.
My point is that if I want to develop what TrainerRoad likes to call “Strength Endurance”, dropping my cadence a little bit puts less emphasis on cardio and more on muscular stress (my legs).
To tackle this on two fronts I’ve been working on (a) dropping my cadence a little bit (from 95-105 a couple of years ago to 85-90 this season, for sweet spot & threshold, and (b) using a lower gear, 50-16 instead of previous 50-14 or 50-15. Not a big change, but noticeably harder when I do a workoout where I’m on the limit. I also sometimes do workouts in 39-16, especially extreme VO2 Max burst intervals, as it’s easier for the ERG mode to track the big wattage changes than using big ring for these types.
For whatever reason this approach has improved not only my ability to hold power on hill climbs and hilly/rolling TT courses, but also on flat TT courses too. I’m not sure why, but it’s working, and I’m 55 years old so I’m sticking to the plan, haha!
For the record I use a Kickr Snap in ERG mode for all workouts.
I stopped training on June due to… say non functional overreaching? mental crushed(so depressed all the time) body always fatigued. Job performance fallen… so spent summer and fall being noodling around with friends occasionally. when I felt my mentality healed a little bit, started high intensity things again. and recently, I suspect my fail on spring training might because of lack of good sleep.
Till june, I trained late at night and it definitely disturb my sleep. Took a shower, it gets over 12 o’clock… Being a father of two twin boy(even one with CP condition) also prevented me from getting good quality sleep. Wake up 6 AM makes my sleep below 6H. When I have rest day, I still slept late to crawling over internet…
As winter is coming, I made up my mind to brace myself. Instead of training late at night, do early morning workout.
Gathered information from a thread above and tested several 5AM trainings and It seems working. It requires me to sleep 10PM but since I recently got no interest on misc things to crawling over internet, it’s possible. Getting sleep quickly is also possible. When doing late night workout, i felt my body still hot and nervous and thereby sleeping was so hard. Early morning workout doesn’t have that problem!
During summer season instead of cycling, I hit some weight training and it also worked as I gain some muscle which I absolutely never had in my life. Still I’m smaller in figure than average male person, but i’m quite confident on myself.
So… my big change fot this 2020 is
Sleep ealry. 10 PM
Wake up early. 4:50 AM
Being good father(keep good mental health)
Big target for me is ftp of 250w(near 4w/kg). I know myself is so weak entirely on my life. But this time I feel I can get stronger. Hope this works.
Thank you for detailed answer. Then i understand and agree with what you meant.
But doesn’t all your gearing options favour “high speed/TT” over climb?. I would say even 39-16 is a high speed gear. I’m at 39-15 now, been at 39-21 last 6 months.
Wow, yes, my gearing is high compared to yours! And yes, it’s still essentially focused on high speed/TT, but even my small changes are making a difference.
Not going to be racing (lost the bug totally), but have a few long events that will need focus, starting with the Dirty Reiver. Did a 100km (88km non-paved) a few weeks ago, and realise I’ve to re-up. FTP has been pretty static.
Consistency
I was consistently riding, but not consistently training. Happy I can cope with mid volume TSS load, but I wasn’t consistently doing the Tuesday/ Wednesday/ Saturday workouts, especially Saturday in favour of group rides/ events.
Group rides and events is what I do it for though, so I’ve rescheduled, albeit with minor compromises, to the key workouts being Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday, so it’s the “Sunday” workout that will go outside.
Bike events are my goals, so I’m going to focus on the bike and drop the runs (which I tended to slot in instead of the easy/ recovery midweek workout, to my overall detriment I think)
Trusting the plan
Resting on rest days the big one for me. Already failed once, yesterday, as I got a late availability for a group spin after doing my moderate workout on Saturday. Today is rest though instead.
Fuelling
Adequately fuelling workouts and recovery.
After losing a substantial amount of weight, I feel my lack of proper fuelling has held back progress. So rather than rely on just stored glycogen for morning workouts, I’m going for a carb bottle mix/ gel as well as the evening before “loading”. I’ve also started taking a specific recovery mix post workout. The reality is the calories were being consumed anyway, but mainly on a treat/ junk/ just because I could.
Sleep
Really working on more sleep!
Strength
2 sessions of Strength Exercises for Cyclists. I’d love to say I’ll commit to more, but if I hit two a week of this (preceded by glute activation work), I’ll be making progress!
Balance
Notwithstanding 1-5, I’m trying to get a bit more balance. Coming with trusting the plan, and switching schedules, I’m hoping to enjoy the social side a bit more. And if that means joining the coffee stop, and eating cake so be it! I maybe skinny, but I think I may have gone too far the other way in my relationship with food and exercise.
More volume. I’m 53 in a couple of weeks, so I can see racing in 2020, and 2021, and then that’s it.
I’ve usually hit ~600 bike hours/year. I’m aiming for 650 at the end of 2019. Basically, just get in 14-15 hours each week, a lot of zone 2 with two hard days each week. Continue in 2020, maybe hit a 700 hr/year.
At my age, I don’t know if I’m going to improve any, with regards to FTP (and I’ve been doing this since 1981). But, more volume could yield more biological durability and help with stamina, which is already a strength, but if more zone 2 over the next year can eek out a few more minutes at FTP, or increase the ability to go deep in workouts and races, I’ll take it.
Logistical changes - I have switched to morning training and would like to continue that throughout the off-season
Training changes - I am doing a more polarized approach to my off-season. This has meant two hard interval sessions per week with lots of base rides on the other days. I am still undecided on if I will keep this up indefinitely, or switch to SSB at some point
Goal changes - I achieved my primary racing objective last season (cat 1 road upgrade) and am now transitioning my strengths to be (more) of a support rider to help a couple of teammates chase upgrade points. This actually won’t change my power profile dramatically as I have been focused on breakaways and thus sustained efforts were already in my wheelhouse
Life changes - I have forever been a roadie and only a roadie - I am considering buying a gravel bike and beginning to dabble into some other areas, but this is TBD