Timing peaks in your season with available races
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#27
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I've been doing 2 peaks a season, typically 4 weeks each. The second peak tends to go possibly a little longer depending on races, but the last couple races of the year aren't typically big goals anyway so I try and maintain. It has worked well for me because it gives me a variety of work to do throughout the entire season. Also gives me that mental break in the middle where I can take some time off to recover then get back into a small build. Typically by the time my 2nd peak hits I feel just as motivated as I did in the beginning of the year. I've had to be willing to accept that I may not be 100% physically for some races, but allows me to relax more. Like my past race I was able to get in a 4 man break, but didn't have the top end to stay with the attacks from the group. Everyone is different and mine has been solely by trial and error and past experience. In college for swimming we used to do 3 peaks and I've taken what I learned about how my body responded to that and applied the same principles to cycling.
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peaks are important in my book. But it is as much the recovery / burnout prevention aspect of it as it trying to peak for a specific race. Although I am trying to learn how my body responds to limited time off and shorter duration intervals to time those peaks. I, like nearly all cyclists, have many peaks and valleys to my season and have plenty of life to get in the way of my riding so I tend not to plan time off the bike ... it will happen regardless. And if not life, then weather, sickness, or eventually burnout. I get in my base miles with lower intensity, then starting adding intensity, then tend to find a spot where I just don't mentally have it anymore and take a break, if something hasn't taken me off the bike anyways. I often find that after my break my peak power for various durations is better, but my recovery and threshold are worse. I have to build into recovery and threshold again, but as I do that I start to lose a touch off my top end.
My goal this year has been trying to time all three items (peak power/recovery/threshold) to merge into a single peak at the same time ... I am 4 weeks away from my hopeful peak, will have to wait to see how I did.
So I am not sure where I fit into the peak/maintenance mode of training styles, but for most of my time cycling it has just been ride as much as possible and maintain. Recently I have been trying hard to organize and plan my schedule along with taking better notes so that I can figure out what works for me. The biggest issue I have so far is that nothing is the same from year to year and my body seems to respond differently to the same stimulus depending on things that I can't figure out.
My goal this year has been trying to time all three items (peak power/recovery/threshold) to merge into a single peak at the same time ... I am 4 weeks away from my hopeful peak, will have to wait to see how I did.
So I am not sure where I fit into the peak/maintenance mode of training styles, but for most of my time cycling it has just been ride as much as possible and maintain. Recently I have been trying hard to organize and plan my schedule along with taking better notes so that I can figure out what works for me. The biggest issue I have so far is that nothing is the same from year to year and my body seems to respond differently to the same stimulus depending on things that I can't figure out.
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