"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Preventing Early Peaks?

or:

How not to blow your load too early...


I peaked poorly in mid April.

I started a nice, steady build in early May and have been building ever since.

The last 4 weeks I've had some pretty stellar legs, leaving me to feel like I may be hitting a nice peak (we all know the feeling), and I'd like some advice on how to prevent a full on "Peak" followed by the typical "Un-Peak" that follows.

I'd like to Peak for a Sage race Sept 4th.


So, my perspective thus far has been:

Dont apply enough stress on my body/mind that I over-extend to the point of an early Peak in fitness (and the mental burnout that accompanies)
BUT
Dont keep riding at the same intensity so that my fitness wont stagnate/regress due to "understress".


So lately I've been bringing 1 VO2 max WO per week into the fold and have been hitting some solid LT work including some BT workouts as of late, but trying to keep BT workouts to 1-2 times per week, at most.

What this means is that I'll aim at 420w as opposed to 440w OR do fewer reps OR really listen to the body if it wants to shut it down.

So far I feel pretty confident about my plan, But I'd love some advice on postponing/preventing a peak.

Thanks!

-L

how do you know when you peak?

How not to blow your load too early...
-L

:twitchy:

sadly I usually only know until I've "un-peaked"... this is marked by crap legs, no motivation and decreased power at higher RPE.

It is hopefully preceded by a period of great legs, tons of enthusiasm and increased power at lower RPE.

clear?

-L

sadly I usually only know until I've "un-peaked"... this is marked by crap legs, no motivation and decreased power at higher RPE.

It is hopefully preceded by a period of great legs, tons of enthusiasm and increased power at lower RPE.

clear?

-L

Well, looks like I've totally unpeaked then...

I had an awesome peak for 3 weekends. First weekend I felt like I could walk on water. 2nd weekend I placed top 5 in 3 races. 3rd weekend placed 6th on saturday and blew up on sunday. This was 2-3 weeks ago, and I still haven't felt anywhere near as good since then.

I'm exhausted and the motivation is fading exactly as you describe. And all the road races are just coming up. Ughh...

ciclus interruptus.:eek:

this is why I love this forum. So much to learn.

and it's free.




sorry, though RTC. I wish I had a trick to "re-peak" but all I do is rest, think positive thoughs and nail down my eating/hydration/sleep schedule. That and lots of caffeine!!

-L

I don't do caffeine, but it does seem to help performance on days when I feel like crud. Worked on tuesday.

No need to apologize. I'll just talk to my coach soon. I have a feeling that my body can't handle too much threshold work and volume at the same time. If I'm training/racing 10-12 hrs a week, I need some more easy riding in there if I want to keep the volume high.

Hope you get some more good info.

Keep the super high vo2 stuff at a minimum until a month or two before your target and mix it up to keep it fun and keep you mentally fresh.

Also, find a training partner -- regroup on the recovery portions for each interval. It really helps.

Incorporating rest weeks helps.

Don't listen to me because I haven't written any books, but I have been riding a long time.

To repeak you need to follow the same pattern that you went through to reach the peak (for me it is rest, base, "long" intervals, "short" intervals), except you can make every step in the process shorter because you are starting out in reasonable shape.

If I was pointing at a particular weekend I would do these things in the same temporal proportions that built up the first peak unless you recognize/feel a particular weakness that should be addressed. In that case spend more time in the appropriate training mode.

You're looking for a peak in early september. Green mtn?

that's roughly 7 weeks from now.

I can hold a peak for about 4 weeks before things start falling apart. the legs are still there but the rest of the body and brain are unwilling.

I would take a rest week, then race and recover my balls off, and you'll be there on the sharp side of the edge.