This question was spawned by a quote from a recent thread on TSB.

PROCRIT wrote:

"One thing I had tendency to do last yr was trying to set pr's on my intervals on weekly training rides because my legs felt so great, but wound up 'using them up' sometimes before I'd get to a race. I think once you get the form going, you really need to race and not waste it on crazy training rides... But I digress... "

The tendency to really listen to my PE scale while training and generally "hold back" durring training rides is also something I practice.
I even seem to periodize my "holding-back": holding back more in the BASE periods and slowly allowing myself more freedom to let the legs and lungs truly deliver hard, hard efforts.
As BUILD periods begin I allow more race like intensities, but rarely. It is not until 4-8 weeks out from a peak that I really open up the throttle in some mid march training crits.


ALSO: Friel speaks similarly about "finishing a workout with the feeling that: 'I could have done one more interval'". Or to paraphrase: never really emptying the tank in training.

So, my question is this:

Do YOU think that delivering "all out, i puked, couldnt have done another, bonked" performances too often in training is a detriment to season-long success in road racing?

If so, why?

If not, why?

Defining YOUR preferd frequency of "all out" efforts may be helpful too.

-L