Hammonjj

The title says it all. I'm planning on changing up my training quite a bit for this next season (read: loads of FTP work) and I don't want to end up peaking in January. So what makes a January star? Is it V02 work, AC, tempo, or some combination of all of them?

Thanks in advance!

kj5423

I hope to peak in July. Ragbrai.

kensuf

for Ragbrai you need lots of pie intervals.

botto 

don't forget the beer, or what passes as such in iowa, intervals.

YMCA

You can be a Jan star and a June star and an Oct star.
It's called consistency.

carpediemracing 

For literally decades I've tried to peak in March/April. I tried all sorts of things to do this, settling on the following:
- Phase One - Massive for me hours in Dec/Jan, usually 8-12 hours/week. Throw in some 3-5 hour rides (on the trainer) in preparation for the next phase.
- Phase Two - Even more massive week or two in Jan or Feb (25-33 hours/week for a week or 10 days). Do some sprints in there, attack hills, etc. Intensity goes up, even on long days there are intense periods. I'd get my "crick in the neck" (I get this on my first 100% sprint after lots of less intense riding, usually in Feb, hopefully not in March), feel my leg speed coming back.
- Phase Three - Taper a bit (it's forced really, since I'm too busy catching up after my Jan/Feb training camp trip).
- Hit March/April hard. Although I may not be in great shape relative to the rest of the year, I'm in great shape relative to the other racers. So I can do well, even against riders who are normally much better than I am (during the year).

What I've found is that even though I try and peak in March/April, I improve throughout the year, probably until July/August. I do an easy period sometime in late April/early May, then focus on the Memorial Day - late July crit season.

The thing that would kill me is doing intervals or other repeated short efforts in the early season. This would burn my out pretty quickly, late June or early July.

One of my teammates had the best year of his life when he just did long steady miles in the winter. Ends up that although initially he was rolling a 42x16 or 17 most of the time, by the end of his winter training he'd be rolling a 53x15 all over the place. We trained together the next winter like this, two ~120 mi rides per week, and I had literally the best year of my life. We were both super enthused as late as November of that year, driving to Baltimore for a Turkey Day race.

We took inspiration from from Giogio Furlan, an Italian pro that claimed to have done 15,000km over one winter season. He came roaring out of the blocks, dominated the early season races. Granted he was toast by mid-season and this happened to be just about when EPO first came out, but we didn't know that. We just did what we thought he did.

I guess ultimately I'm saying that if you avoid the super intense stuff then you'll have a great solid base for the whole season, and you'll start off a bit more fit than everyone else. If you race smart and selectively the results should follow.

Hammonjj

You totally missed the point of the post...

big john

I think he knows a few things about it....

echappist

you are 80% of the way to cat-2 upgrade. Shouldn't you be telling the newbs (e.g. me) how you avoided becoming a january star and moved up the ranks instead of asking others?

YMCA

actually I did

you are worried about burnout?

jwible

To me it's her smile and girl next door looks that make January a star in my books.

kj5423

pie and beer intervals

should peak at my highest weight ever just in time for "the big ride"

fordfasterr

I haven't had an "off-season" in 4 years. I always race good in January and place in the winter crit series year after year.

botto 

do you then "race good" in february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, and october?

MDcatV

dude, there are books written on this question. lots of them.

IME, higher volume lower intensity (by lower i mean threshold range and below) + a sprinkling of NM work in winter (Nov - end of Jan) prepares one to add in all the vo2 and AC work in Feb - March then race a bunch/recover a bunch to peak in May, keep racing but recover more to another peak in July, hold on to declining but still race winning capable fitness until mid september. at that point my wheels usually fall off. if you want to peak earlier, shift the vo2/ac work earlier, if later, shift it out more into the year.

MDcatV

well, no one in FL races good in july because, well, it's hot then.

merlinextraligh

although it's starting to blur a little, we essentially have 2 seasons a Spring and a Fall season.

So racing starts in Jan, and pretty much ends the first part of June, then there's a second seaon starting end of August through October.

A lot of people go back to somewhat of a base phase in the summer for a bit, before the fall starts back up.

Thus you can be strong in January, without having to worry about holding fitness continuously through the end of the year.

botto 

guess that's why nobody pays attention to the FLA racing scene.

YMCA

I resemble that remark

currand

In the off chance I understand OPs question, I'd say a "January star" implies someone who began building race-specific fitness sometime in November. Meaning, doing interval work at above threshold on a regular basis. The negative connotation of a January star being that you burn out in March. For many, doing this high intensity work for long periods will cause this. So, to prevent this, the general consensus is to not start "too early".

But, I thin, to YMCA's point, you may also avoid this by being consistent in your training and not building to a huge peak and then letting it slide for the next 4 months as so so so many people do.

shovelhd

Swap May for April, and that's pretty much exactly what I did this season. My wheels fell off at the end of September.

racin jasin

lol me too!

Creakyknees

... and this is why I will never be accused of being a January star.

carpediemracing 

Now you're in the single season north so you should be good to go.

I struggled for 1:15 last night. To be fair I was a bit tired, but still, it's kind of pathetic for me. My trainer rides are almost always old school off season pace, i.e. JRA with some Lemond efforts thrown in.

I don't know if I said it but my best years went from early season straight through to the winter. I had about 5? 10? years where I only took a break when I was sick (2 weeks a year, typically). Yes, I tapered off season, but I never took a lot of time off. I don't think I trained enough to burn out, just raced and did sprints. I remember melting my receiver/amp listening to Green Day one winter night, pushing max volume to 4 floor speakers (after hours, my shop, huge volume of space, no neighbors present, enormous for the day TV from a roommate, it was ideal for a single guy to train in).

Having said that I have to admit that the other aspects of my life weren't too great. It was just the cycling. Bike race versus life race.

fordfasterr