Fast Responders?
 

So how fast do you all naturally react to training efforts and building fitness?

I feel that I'm a pretty fast responder. In my first season I did pretty well, in all of my Junior races I never really left the top 5 or so, and since then I've been able to jump right onto the road after a pretty long time-out and be pretty competitive.


Just guaging how everyone here is able to respond to fitness.

i believe im a slow responder, but this may also be due to not riding enouhg/not structured enough. Pack fodder in cat5 here.

been riding a bit over a year.

Race results

crash
dropped
pack finish
dropped
dropped
2nd
dropped

I think I suck, but it might be too soon to tell.

I don't really have a very structured training plan and I never have. I don't do tons on intervals, and I don't really ride everyday, but in races I'm able to do whatever I need to do and sometimes sneak in a win.
Especially in group rides or invite-only private team races I'm able to see that I'm doing pretty well, even if I feel crappy or think I'm slow.

I am a cat V rider, the way I look at it I just need 10 races to move up so I am having some fun with it. So far in races I have been attacking like mad, being super aggressive, and typically paying for it in the end so the results are just not there.

However I have a coach and power. In the 4 months with a coach my FTP had nearly doubled and my max power has increased by over 300w. So yeah....I would say I am a fast rebounder. Of course I still suck at cycling.

I think we all do.

i want.

Takes me about 2-3 weeks to get payoff from workouts. The first 2 weeks of base this year I was slowish, but after that initial few weeks my endurance increased rapidly. Same thing seems to be happening with anaerobic power now that I'm a couple of weeks into build. If I'm anything like last year, I'll continue improving rapidly for the next few weeks, then the improvement curve will level off a bit.

Results...are not where I'd like them to be yet. Aiming for a July peak though, so I suppose I couldn't expect much better than I've been doing.

I'm not sure exactly how my body responds.

I'm still trashed after 2 days of riding straight. Day 1 was about 1hr 50 mins at 160 TSS, and day 2 was about 15 hours later where it was 2hrs 10 mins at 130 TSS. On the 2nd day, I couldn't get my power up at all. This was monday and tuesday.

Today's wednesday, my legs are still exhausted. Today was off, it looks like tomorrow might be off or an easy ride depending on how I feel.

Friday's going to be a med distance day, with a group ride saturday morning and an easy ride on sunday.

I have yet to see any big benefits in my FTP even after a few months of hard riding and racing, but I feel more comfortable on the upper fringe of that number.

I think I need to take another month and just get some more distance in so I'm not completely wiped out after a hard day and an easier day back to back.

Honestly, I have a feeling that all my rides have too much intensity. Most of my rides have an IF of around .9

I believe I respond pretty slowly. I also tend to stagnate for a while and then make huge jumps...

i'm a non responder...

crimson, of course you respond quickly, you're young

Eh, I'm 20 and I can't say that of myself...

(responding quickly that is)

My response to training varies. It has to do with being very, very old.

Doubled your FTP? I wish I could do that.

I've been recovering really well lately. In late March I was off the bike for a week (vacationing in Iceland!) and it took me two weeks to really feel like I was getting things back together, and by the third week (Battenkill), I finally felt stronger than I was before that break. I don't have much of a training plan but was making sure that I was doing a good mix of long rides and hard rides, when I had time between commuting and work (on the bike).

I've raced at the track three days out of the past five (saturday, sunday, and last night). Track racing is a day or evening full of accelerating a 90" gear nearly from a standstill, spinning it out, and sprinting, and I feel as though I have been making rapid gains in these past few days. Maybe I'd make the same gains from some proper intervals on my road bike but I find it's easier to do on my track bike and really feel like I'm flying, whereas I have a harder time with pacing and gauging my effort on my road bike. Too many gears. But it pays off.

Of course since I'm no longer working on the bike, maybe that's what's paying off. Spending four days a week navigating traffic, riding clips and straps and carrying a heavy bag is no fun and not as punk-rock glamorously toughening as one would hope.

Got a blog post/photo series somewhere? I had a great time when I was there.

Hmm, I should put 'em on flickr or something. I'll PM you a link when I do. It was excellent - great weather (though chilly); we went up to Snaefelsnes for a day, explored around Thingvellir another day, poked around in a lava cave, and spent our late afternoons soaking in public hot tubs. Plus Reykjavik is awesome. I want to go back.

depends on what I'm responding to.

at or around threshold level training blocks, these I build as I go but takes me 2 to 3 months to realize substantial gains

vo2max level training - 3 weeks, then I stagnate

AWC - these increase while I'm training the above, but take me a 3 week focus to really top off my fitness.

then a 2 week taper while sprinkling in all the above, short but snappy workouts.

So, to get to a "peak" for me as a 38 y.o. I've to plan for 8 weeks on top of threshold level training blocks. I havent started this yet as I'm still focusing on threshold and getting the rest while racing, but will probably start in June so that I'm hitting a late peak in August for out district RR.

Same here... My increases started to level the last 2-3 weeks, then this week I made progress out of nowhere. I guess the training may have helped a bit heh.

i made a 12.5%increase in FTP since november is that slow or fast?

I'd say pretty quick, but then again, depends on your background and training history.

1m power went up more than 100 watts in less than 2 months. But as WR noted, this could also be due to learning how to really do a 1 min. interval. Other numbers like 5 sec. have seen decent jumps as well. Just started training with power in Feb. as you can see from this chart.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...mprovments.jpg

I come around quicker from an hour at threshold compared to 3-4 hours of Z2, which correlates nicely with the numerous suggestions to check out the velodrome

How do you do a 1 min interval (besides riding as hard as you can for 1 min)?