I am approaching Build phase (ala Friel) and thus increasing intensity and decreasing volume. I know that I desperately need to work on these abilities after getting shelled in a crit (early season, yes, but still I'd like to improve throughout the series).

I know that there are several different varieties you can do:

- neuromuscular training (very short, 10s) - say 1 min of 10s on/10s off

- threshold (sweet spot training) - I think these are the 2x20min (?)

- VO2 max - 3-6min of suffering - I think I have seen 1:1 recovery or 2:1

- anaerobic - 1min - I think these are sprints where you have a lot of recovery after each one

If anyone could offer any more knowledge on these, that would be appreciated as I am not sure if I am understanding them all correctly.

My other question is what is the best way to stack these in a workout because doing them each on their own day does not leave any days for rest or tempo riding or hills, etc. Friel mentions doing intervals before you do something like neuromuscular training so I am assuming you can stack those in a workout. It seems to me that VO2 max is very painful and should be done on its own day, but can you do tempo afterwards? Is it more trial and error to see how your body responds and then set up your training accordingly? Sorry for the confusion and thanks for any advice.

Nickel - Lots of questions here, I'll see if I can help a bit. The key factor is to know why/how you got "shelled" in the crit. Was the pace simply too much? then threshold power or FTP is the limiting factor. Too many pace changes/accelerations? Intervals to train recovery. The list goes on.

A safe bet is to pick two days of each week for intensity training, three if you are recovering well. I like to make the first one the toughest, focusing on the VO2 stuff, 30-60 second efforts with short recoveries. Finish this off with some short sprints until you can't repeat your power/speed. Next day is threshold work with efforts of 2-6 min above your threshold and 10-20 minute efforts just below.

I hope this helps a bit, figure out your limitations and really train in that area.

Good riding - Coach Kevin
www.twowheelscycling.com
www.wheeltags.com

This is exactly the info I was interested in. I know that this training is stressful and didn't want to overdo too many intervals on the same day.

I would say my shelling comes from:

- limited to no work for preparation (during base, the most recent advance was doing cruise intervals at and above LT for 6 minutes so no VO2 max work yet. I had planned my first peak for the summer but next year will try peaking earlier.)

- inexperience in pack placement (how it is very important to stay out of the wind)

Yesterday was another crit, which even though I was still shelled, I could tell some improvement. One was that I almost hung onto the pack, even though my placing in the beginning was poor and I got stuck behind someone who had trouble clipping in. I could see them slow down on the uphill section and I knew if I could just gun it a bit more I would be in but I just didn't have the juice. I was able to keep them in my sight for a longer time this time and I was still lapped but I could feel myself being able to recover and keep up the intensity.