ZeCanon

The 6x5's build threshold quick, so I leave them out of base. Or at least until the very end when I'm sort of transitioning into a build-ish phase.

Here's the "full season" concept (and this concept is NOT mine): think of your fitness as a sort of bell curve. Coming off of zero riding, or time off, fitness climbs dramatically with just regular riding. That's why a new riders' best bet is just "ride lots." For those of us with some residual fitness, this is your transition into Base, taking you to maybe 60% of max.

To continue the upwards trend, you need more training stress - Base. At this point, the curve is already starting to level off. It takes more stress to raise fitness than it did before. Lots of riding gets you that extra 25%, up to 85. At this point, you can race and do just fine but you don't have that edge. Problem is, you can't spend a whole lot of time over that 85% mark before you start running into injury, burnout, etc. So you go up briefly (peak), then swing back down to 85-90%.

That last bit of the curve is the hardest bit, and requires the most training stress. That's when you add in the WRI's and other evil sort of intervals. It's the only way to bump up that last 5%. Adding in those sort of intervals before you NEED the last 5% is foolish for anyone with the time to do base/build right (in my opinion...).

Any training stress that's going to take you up and over that 85% is also starting the injury/burnout clock. So if you hit those 6x5's in January and bump that FTP way up, you're already running out the clock even though you want to be racing hard in June. You're not going to make it. People in a slump will often tell me that just a few weeks ago they were flying - they ran out their clock. They're body is forcing them back down to 85%, or lower, because they didn't bring it back down themselves.

Yes, you can up the stress then bring the load back down and give yourself a bit more time. But your body can really only do that so many times before it's going to start fighting back harder. Building up to 90%, peaking from there, coming back to 90%, and repeating works for a while, until the clock runs out. It certainly works better than just hitting a peak and trying to ride it off a cliff.

Bigger base = more time on that clock. That I can explain later.

This is all easier to show with a graph, but hopefully you get the idea. And all the numbers are sort of random - again, this is just to illustrate a concept.

Crash716

3.5 hours yesterday of local group ride hell....just over 23 above 188bpm..hit 203bpm 4 times...uhhggg..out of shape.

rode 24 miles with 3k of climbing this evening...

tomorrow off. I really need to get my arse in gear.

kensuf

I quit.

procrit

Yea yea... Aren't you over 5w/kg nowadays?

echappist

ZC, thanks for going into details about this. This is only my second year of serious cycling and third year of doing an endurance sport with a training schedule. So i think most of my riding now will still be JRA. I'm trying to peak for the collegiate season in mid/late March and then peak again for summer. Either way, i was itching to do ZCI as i finally have a PM to pace myself. Looks like i'll have to be patient and just do a bunch of Tempo (as RTC suggested) and a few SST between now and early February.

bostongarden

92' of wet and cold this morning -- it was nice to hear someone walking her dog say "you're dedicated," although, I was going slow enough to hear that. I am glad that I wore my ski goggles. As I headed in the general direction of Crested Butte and higher elevation () I came upon some fresh snow on the ground.

ridethecliche

Tempo is the meat and potatoes of your riding. It allows your threshold to go up and starts getting everything else moving upwards as well. It's definitely not sharpening the knife, more like crafting the blade.

If you want to do a ZCI or a WRI, go for it. One session of those really won't hurt you, but will likely be better for motivation. Go out for an hour one day and try a 5 min, 1 min, and sprint interval. Do tempo/endurance the rest of the ride. It's really not a big deal. You just shouldn't be doing a lot of that stuff now. You're not risking your entire season by doing the interval though.

You have a new toy. Enjoy it. Just don't get carried away. Monitor your progress. As you get more familiar with 20 min pacing, you'll start to see that your wattage starts going up for tempo without you trying harder. That's progress too!

kensuf

right now about 4.1. At peak I only hit 4.3. My best 20' was in the mid-340's, but I was about 78.5kgs (I'm below 77 right now). 360w 20' @160 is sick.

ridethecliche

What he said.

Procrit, I hope life cooperates with you. You're going to have a crazy good season already, but man get your butt on a bike and put in some hours!

StefanG

Is that "base training endurance/tempo" pace for those guys? If not, why are they "hammering" in November? I ask because I've been considering doing some group training rides (in the Atlanta area), but I always tell myself to stay disciplined and "keep with the base training". Was hoping to hear that the "fast paced group rides" slowed the pace down during the winter, and maybe they have, but just not enough for my level of training.

ZeCanon

Like RTC said, give them a try. Doing them once or twice now will let you do them right when the time comes to put in your schedule consistently. They take some practice.

jwible

I just read up on those. The Airport ride is more of a grudge fest than the WBL. Three sprints, attacking, and general crushing of mortals. You'd like it. Somebody had a helmet cam. If they post it I'll link it.

kensuf

Ahh, but mom lives in Athens.

johnybutts

My coach left me an all caps note after I did a 80 mile ride when she scheduled a 50 mile ride =\. To be fair, I did ride myself into the ground last week. Guess I need to straighten up. I just want more hours, more riding, get big, get strong, etc... All these guys posting their 20 hr weeks. I want one too damnit!

badhat

my 20 hours is pretty ill advised at this point too, i'm just trying to burn calories and enjoy the absurdly nice weather while it lasts.

rkwaki

I think 20 hour weeks are overrated.
My fear with aggressive fall training is getting cooked mentally for the following season. To be honest I haven't done crap through the fall with the exception of riding the spin bike and my weight workouts (mainly due to my two surgeries) and I am not all that concerned as the weather is going to take a dump soon and much of the work I would be doing now will get lost through the winter anyways. Spring will suck/hurt but that's ok.

ridethecliche

You've been doing this a lot longer than some of the guys that are posting. They need the base, while yours is already pretty developed.

ZeCanon

Unless you start racing in February, you don't need to be doing much right now.

jwible

Ahhh. Probably good. I wouldn't want my sucktitude witnessed.

rkwaki

True but one point of advice I can give is have fun with it, don't stress if you aren't making the numbers you want. The form will come along. As this is a sport that is as much mentally difficult as it is physically your brain needs a break and a reminder as to why we do it. In my opinion fall riding allows me to re-charge my mental batteries and have fun whether it be by myself or with fellow riders, I have rarely worried about the fall training.

I have always felt that the manner in which I handle fall allows me to have the same enthusiasm to race/train when spring comes around.

rkwaki

Good post Ze - like I said in my post this is the time to enjoy riding and the company of others while watching diet and recharging your batteries.

johnybutts

bu- bu- but I start racing in January!!!

esammuli

I do, hence why I am.

All of my favorite races around here are in February, March, and the beginning of April. I generally take a break then rebuild for July and August.

JohnKScott

5.5 hours of "strength" training (knee rehab) exercises last week. 0 TSS. Watching CTL line looks like a waterfall

rkwaki

You're all good - plenty of time to train when we finally get some daylight to train in.