jorge's winter cycling program (Page 2)

Great reply Jorge. I have a follow-up question to that...

I'm certain it will vary from person to person, but how long should I expect my run fitness to come back after taking off completely for 4-8 weeks? I ask because I'm nursing a stress fracture in my left foot and I'd prefer it to heal properly than nag me through next season as well. My expected biking/swimming schedule during this time would be about 2 hours/week swimming @ endurance pace, with some intervals thrown in for fun and 4-5 hours/week biking @ endurance pace.

Thanks!

Jorge,
On the HR mode of training, I think you should also state RPE as well as having the HR targets listed like in the week 1 Q1 workout (5x1' @106-110% HR + 15' @84-89%).  HR has such lag once it does get up to the zone for the main set intervals, no way is it getting down to the RI target range as stated.  On the trainer I switched to going by power since it is instantaneous feedback on the effort.

Other than that I don't know what could be changed, its a great plan and really works. Looking forward to V3.0!

If I have a late season HIM (early August) when would be a good time to start the plan?  Right now I was thinking mid December and then transition into a 20 wk HIM plan.  Or would it be better to do it earlier and then fill the gap with spinervals?

I don't like that I don't have power but I guess you'll probably not send out powertaps to everyone.

That's my question ^.  Any chance you'll be able to score the same powertap "bulk" order deal you did last year?

Let me see if I can get another group order going...

I definitely would be interested in a powertap bulk deal.

x2

Also interested in your thoughts on wired v. wireless, especially re: iron-distance and battery life, ie can a wireless unit stay powered for 6-8hrs?

I've had two wireless PTs (one for the wife) for a year and a half, and I just had to replace the batteries for the first time this month.  That's with an IM and IM training and a lot of riding this year.  They're just the small watch batteries and can be found cheap. 

So if mine can last a year and a half, I think you should be okay for an IM! 

+3 on the powertap deal (if possible!).

I too am looking forward in making a first time attempt to this fabled winter biking plan!

OK, I thought they might be rechargable batteries such as those in my Forerunner.

Jorge - I was wondering do you have it in spreadsheet format?  I'm not an Excel guru but it'd be cool to be able to type your current FTP into a cell and have it update all the targets for each workout.  That way you could just look at the watts instead of figuring out the percentages.  It would make it easier because the values can change each time you repeat the 20 min / 5 min tests over the course of 12 weeks.

Other than that I like the overall layout.

oct 1st is so early....crapola...i wanted to do it this year but my last season race is nov 14th....that means i would miss 6 weeks.

that is what i used to do till i got WKO+...it does exactly that for you the moment you put in your FTP and weight.

I am in the same boat (last race Nov 13th) and won't start this until Dec 1 (2 weeks to let the body heal) but I started this years in May (I believe) so you don't have to start at the same time as everyone else.

As for things to improve.  The Excel idea is great, each week could be a different worksheet.   What I did was put my max HR into my Garmin and then displayed the % of max HR which helped a lot.  A power meter would be much better but don't see that as an option.

The only thing else I could think of was this year I was going to print then laminate the workouts.  Last time I had to reprint several wrinkled, sweat soaked pages.

Now that would be a clever idea - why didn't I think of that?  I kept writing each workout on the back of an envelope and then sticking it in my aero bottle holder during the workouts.

This user's post has been ignored.

Yup PT's just use easy to find watch type batteries---last year I was down in NC for B2B and after a quick little BT spin on the bike I realized that my LYC was almost dead---quick stop at Walmart took care of that!!!  Talk about easy.

That also brings up the starting time of the program---I was in NO condition to start this last year "on time" so I took some down time and started the whole thing several weeks (month probably) after it "started."  Jorge leave the work outs up and even in the thread for the plan people post all over the place in terms of week of the plan and everyone is very helpful---obviously Jorge still answers questions for those that are "behind."

Pros/cons of wired v. wireless?
Which is the better wheel [for PT]: Mavic Open Pro or DT RR 465?

Wireless is nice if you plan to swap the wheel between different bikes.

I'm debating between rollers and a trainer. Would rollers provide sufficient resistance for this plan?

No real difference between the two rims - both are solid.  Wireless means the PM will be ANT+ compatible so if you choose to run it with a different computer - i.e. Garmin, you can.  I went with wired simply because the budget didn't allow almost double the cost for a wireless model.