Racer Ex 

That's always the fly in the ointment, and I'm not sure that evening out the hours isn't going to diminish the effect of your build phase. When I backed off my hours I started paying a lot more attention to JRA time, shortened my warmups and cool downs, but made sure I was really disciplined in both.

Another thing to consider: I try to look a bit in advance on the races I'll be doing as we set up my training; if you're looking at 1-2 hour events I'm not sure you can't get as sharp on somewhat less hours and adding a bit more intensity. If I've got something deadly like Gila on tap I bite the "big hours" bullet.

The nice thing about having that underlying fitness is that we can get a lot done in a month or two depending on what came before.

I'm sure you've considered all this stuff. Now you need to grab a beer and have a heart to heart with your coach

YMCA

That's not too much at all for a pro, especially if recovery is taken as seriously.
This neo-pro obviously hasn't worked out those details yet.

gsteinb

ok coach, so what do you think?

I hear you on the sharpening hours. I'm at my best this season right now. Hours are down. Weight lifting has been jettisoned for quite a while. Food for thought for sure?

Racer Ex 

No doubt. I know once I start flying I don't need a lot of training miles to stay sharp, I just need the race miles. Hardest thing for me is shutting it down when the wheels start to come off; I've ridden myself into some deep holes a couple of times.

gsteinb

rereading

YMCA

That's the curse of every good bike racer I ever knew.

Usually a couple good nights of sleep and a cleansing of the diet will take care of those ills.

gsteinb

So looking at my data from last year I put in roughly 300 hours from the first week of October-last week of September until the end of January and the start of my build phases. I used a traditional Friel micro cycle plan to do that, and my long week was an unmanageable 26 hours. My possible scenarios are cut my hours so my max week is a, still difficult to get in, 25 hours. Average each month so my weekly hours increase each month 20, 21, 22, 23. Or do a steady 21-22 hours a week. All plans assume a recovery week. In all cases I'll be lifting less though with a bit more piss and vinegar.

YMCA

I vote for steady 21-22 each week, with the two HEAVY weeks thrown in seperately. One in mid-Dec and one at the end of Jan. Kind of like a pro going to their annual training camps.

I always felt consistency in anything lead to better results.
Too much variation brings chaos in my world.

gsteinb

heavy meaning higher hours?

MDcatV

what is your daily/weekly breakdown of a 20 hr. week?

gsteinb

m-f
5,3,5,3,5

5s being double sessions of 2 & 3
and 3 being a single session.
The m, w, f a.m. workout will generally by two hours of threshold work, like 3x20s.
The second session is an hour of rollers followed by an hour of weights followed by an hour of rollers.
t, th will be a three hour easy ride.

MDcatV

thx

YMCA

Yes, if outside riding is possible. Instead of 21 hours, go 27.

Keep M/W/F the same, but make Tu/Th 6 hours each, with the last 2 hours behind a motor if possible. No motor? Then do the last two hours on smaller gears @ 105+ rpms, keeping the effort like you would behind a motor.

This way you'd get 5-6-5-6-5-0-0 , followed by your normal rest week.

Do it once about six weeks before your season kickoff and then again once two weeks before that first race.

If it's crappy weather then look at doing LT type stuff everyday instead, without upping the hours.

Whatever you do, I am absolutely positive blocks of work like that give you the advantage. Every longer stage race I ever did, had me flying for 6 weeks after.

8-9 days of 3-4 hour races made me tired, but after a litle rest, the form was really something.

ccrnnr9

Take my advice with a grain of salt as I don't have a smidgen the resume you do but as one who has done his hw on training practices...

In terms of the hours/week debate, I say if you can stomach those hours and still put up the results you are then it's hard to argue against staying with a regimen like that. Normally I say that you can do fine with a lighter weekly load (in hours) but you seem to be handling it fine...different strokes for different folks. If it were me I would sway towards keeping a constant number of hours/week and letting the dependent variable be intensity of rides.

I like how you structure your 2 wo days. I think doing the more intense work in the morning is probably the best way to go about things. That being said I am a strong advocate against lifting (that's another argument for another thread that will get kicked up at some point when the weather cools). I think you could be best served spending those hours a week adding a higher intensity session (and still hitting the rollers to add to a total of 3 hours for the second half of the day) one day weekly and another just a longer tempo ride. I like adding a little bit of intensity (1-2 hours worth) once a week in the off season. I think it's some added "fun" and always has me feeling fresh the next day.

Also, I don't know if you would be up for it as it seems your current way of scheduling works best for you, but I, like Zecannon, like to schedule in terms of blocks, not weeks. I was a bit confused about what you are doing with your weekends in the off season (off the bike completely?) but I like to do 3 days on, one off followed by 4 on, one off if I can stomach it. This is better for me as it allows me to get into a better rhythm and doesn't get me mentally bogged down in planning out week after week. I have a general plan from the get go, but find this method to be more fluid and flexible for my schedule and personality.

Good luck with it. With any luck (although with the work it looks like you put in, it's a bit more than luck) you should have a successful career ahead of you. I think it's the marriage we'll have to worry about .
~Nick

gsteinb

I take weekends off. I have a house in the mountains, and I go to hang out up there.

No marriage for me. Women weaken legs.

ccrnnr9

Wow...good deal. I would be curious (and this is something that power training could possibly answer) if a rest day on Friday would be better and would allow you to hit Saturday hard. I tend to like the schedule I already mentioned but like I said, your plan seems to be working! Any reason you don't (maybe you do?) take advantage of your time in the mountains and train?
~Nick

Grumpy McTrumpy

MDcatV

this has me thinking of M->Su

1, 2, 1.5, 2, 0, 4, 3 w/m being ez spin/core, power stuff and threshold work tu, we, th, off friday, group rides sat/sun.

that'd be about double what i've done past 2 years. I think the lower volume past 2 years has left me lacking some pop, and lead to august/september collapses in fitness.

gsteinb

I take two days off before most of my races. Guys don't recover enough. For instance if I'm racing saturday and sunday I usually take thurs and friday off. Taking sat, sun off in the winter and I can
really drill Monday's workout. After 5 days I'm ready for two off. I don't really need a power meter for any of that. Since I do the same workouts week in week out, feel and simple metrics (I monitor distance covered during specific time intervals) are really very adequate.

It's pretty inhospitable up there in the winter. I could XC ski, but I don't get up to my house enough
and it's kind of fun to just hang out with the kid and enjoy the place, act like tourists etc.

YMCA

Wow. I don't see how you are not completely blocked at Sat's race?

gsteinb

blocked?

YMCA

gsteinb, you never heard of being blocked? Man, you are one lucky dude.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I think "blocked" in this case means he will knock everyone's block off.

gsteinb

In my experience if you're properly prepared the best thing you can do is make sure you're fully recovered.