bikeM3987

Background: I had a pretty rough crash about a month ago, and I am still feeling it. I have not been riding as much due to injury/school and I have been feeling like absolute crap on the bike.

I need to get back to where I was. I feel like I am far slower than I was 6-8 weeks ago before all this crap. I need to do some workouts or something to boost that 5-10 minute power. I have barely done any intervals this year (like <10 days of them), so I have no clue where to start. What can I do to get back this lost power and peak up quickly? Thanks in advance.


fwiw: I had a pack finish in the local cat3/4 crit today (mostly because of my giant mangina letting people pass me and take me off the front of the group). So I am not terribly out of shape, but definitely no where near where I should/could be.

UT_Dude

I am appointing myself your personal coach. Just FYI.

DrWJODonnell

How to peak up quickly: If you have the base (think years of training) and the guts, go for a crash cycle. It is very demanding but the quick gain in fitness is about the only way I can think of to "Peak" in a short time period.

bikeM3987

Ok, maybe not peak in the traditional sense, but more or less regain some of the lost fitness of the last couple weeks.

edit: oh, and I have no clue what a crash cycle is...

bikeM3987

Then help me.

Stallionforce

If you've had the years and years of base then it shouldn't be a problem. Just do a block (I also don't know what a crash cycle is) of M-T-W 2x20's. By Wednesday you should be hurting bad. Thursday rest. Friday tune-up ride. Sat/Sun race or group rides. I'd stay away from mid-weeker club races right now. Build up those 2x20's. I think that'll be your quickest way back to fitness.

If you don't have that base then you might just try a Monday-Tuesday 2x20 block, rest Wednesday, 2x20 Thursday, Friday tune-up, Sat/Sun race/group ride.

waterrockets 

^^^^ I generally agree. Long intervals 2x20s, 3x15s... Also, VO2Max intervals (hill repeats on one of the great hills around here -- Jester, Beauford, Far West, Courtyard, Ladera Norte, Lost Creek...)

aperez8264

I had a similiar situation back in February. I crashed and totaled my bike, it took a month to get a new one. Meanwhile i sat around waiting for a new bike and only had spinning class. Once it came in, i needed to get in shape quickly because my season started in March. I peaked right away with one simple workout. HILL REPEATS...

Find a long hill, at least 1 mile long and do repeats tilll you puke. Start out with 5 repeats, and add one each time you go out. By the end of the workout you should feel like sh*t, try it 3 times a week for 3 weeks. You should be fine after that, dont forget to throw in some fast group ride on the weekends.

mollusk

I hear you. I also had a nasty crash about 3 weeks ago. The first two weeks I felt awful on the bike. It felt like I was working hard, but my cyclometer was telling me that I wasn't. Now I'm starting to feel like my old self on the bike. I think that a big part of it was loss of "form". Being bruised and battered made it very uncomfortable to ride. Another part was difficulty breathing because of tender ribs.

bikeM3987

Thanks for the input. What kind of intensity am I looking at in 2x20's or 3x15's? I told you I am pretty new to intervals...

UT_Dude

Call me today, but not for another hour or so. I'll be out riding some seriously rough hills and will welcome a break

waterrockets 

You can go over threshold for these intervals, but it will take some practice to hold it. I would target just a touch under your 40k TT pace to start, and see if you can hold that through halfway on the 2nd interval. If you're feeling good at that point, open up for the last half.

bikeM3987

ah. fun. Ok, well here is what I am considering for this weekend:

Plan A:
Saturday: 3x20min l 10 min recovery
Sunday: 2x20min 5 minute recovery
Monday: 2x20min 10 min recovery
Teusday: off
Wed: easy
Thursday: Crit

or

Plan B:
Saturday: ATC Ride (fast, hard group ride)
Sunday: Progress(^not as fast as ATC)
Monday:2x20 5 min recovery
Teusday: off
Wednesday: easy
Thursday: crit


How does this look?

waterrockets 

Yeah, follow your heart on the ATC ride decision. It will amount to SST, which will develop FTP as well -- and it may give you some confidence/motivation. I've never done the Progress ride, but it sounds like a "skip" to me (do intervals instead).

I don't think I'd try diving into three 20m intervals if you've never done them before. I've been doing them for a while now, and I don't think the third one would do me any good.

I'd probably recommend hill repeats on Tuesday, then take Wednesday off. If you don't feel good on Tuesday, then skip the repeats, take the day off, and do the repeats on Wednesday.

I don't think the Thursday crit is that great of training unless you're doing the 3/4 and the Open, so going in a tiny bit tired from hill repeats isn't the end of the world. It probably won't slow you down much anyway.

UT_Dude

Keep with the crit. You need the racing experience. 3 days of hard stuff in a row is usually a bit much. I'd say go with the two weekend rides, an easy ride (or off) Monday, some hard-ish (V02 hill repeats) Tuesday, off/easy Wednesday and crit Thursday.

waterrockets 

diff'rent strokes

bikeM3987

Ok I agree with you on the 3 20min intervals. I don't know what I was thinking. I think I am going to do the ATC ride then the intevals on Sunday. Then I think I will follow Chris's idea from then on.



Thanks. How about that training plan you have promised me? Let me know when you're back btw, we need to ride.

DrWJODonnell

Pg. 134 Joe Friel's the cyclist's traing Bible:

Then later in the same page:

esammuli

I did something similar last year. I had established a very good base then raced hard for 3 months, tapered, peaked, then I took a week REALLY easy to avoid burning out. Then I pretty much murdered myself for 3 weeks with high volume and high intensity. I did 16, 18, then 21 hours of tempo and threshold work. Then I backed it off to 10 hours per week of easy rides and 1-2 interval sessions per week for maintenance. By the end of the block I was flying and set season best wattages in every range. I set a 5 minute that I've still never beaten.

bikeM3987

Thanks, that is some good stuff. I really need to pick that book up

UT_Dude

You typing now = not on ATC ride?

bikeM3987

Just got back.