Cycling program v4.0 2011-2012 (Page 23)

Short answer yes, it matters.

Long (and geeky) answer; since the 6x4' are aimed to improved both the slow glycolysis and the aerobic pathway, is important to keep the rest short. Since different processes go into play, mitochondrial activity always lags behind those processes that deliver energy that are first available.

By decreasing the concentration of those energy systems will lower the ATP availability activating the mitochondria. If you keep the rest short, then the phosphate potential will not recover completely and the mitochondria will remain active, hence the total delivery of energy from the aerobic pathway will remain the dominant one. 

If the rest is too long (the longer the more phosphate potential will recover), then it will allow for ATP to re-synthesized, hence the contribution from the fast glycolysis on the next interval will be greater, hence potentially reducing the specific adaptations we are aiming.

Around 5min it takes for ATP to completely get re-synthesized. 3 min might still give you some benefit but if the rest was shorter to ~1 min then it might be maximized. since we are trying to achieve the greatest fitness level within a time 'budget', the more specific you can train the better. I hope that helps

While cadence on the trainer can be lesser than outdoors, the difference shouldn't be dramatic. Varying the gear and trainer tension should allow you to achieve similar cadences that outdoors. If you are using the power curve to estimate your power and training with that, see if you can achieve your with an easier gear, higher cadence.

As someone mentioned above, constant low cadence on the trainer can place a lot of strain on the knees we lack the ability to balance our body as we do outdoors hence the knee strain gets magnified.

It is important to find the right balance between fueling before, during and after these sessions. If you feel the fueling before the workout is adequate then up your fueling during and certainly do a good job refueling after.

Remember, we can store so much glycogen on our muscles, depending on fitness perhaps up to 400gr of carbs. That's around 2000kcal. If you use around 750 kilo joules (kJ) per session, since we are only around 25% efficient using fuel for energy then even when 1 kcal equal 4 kJ, due to our inefficiency it ends up been around 1:1 hence you technically burn ~750kcal. that's close to 40% of your reserves. add the Kcal you burn through the day and if you are not refueling properly, you can easily get in a deficit within days.

You can determine roughly how many kcal you need based on height, weight, body composition, activity level, etc. and get a rough estimate of you daily kcal needs. with that you can guesstimate how much you need before, during and after and voila. That or get a cool coach who can do that for you (as we do to all our 1:1 athletes ). But seriously, it is easier than what it sounds.

The trick though is that we all respond different to training loads hence while some may recover within 24hrs and be ready to do a 20 min test, others might need, 48 or 72 hrs of easy training to be able to recover. As you get fitter, the recovery period actually gets shorter which is another benefit from training; you can train more and recover faster. But, while you are going through the process, you have to learn what works for you and adjust accordingly. 

Still, if you manage your training load well and push when you have to push and take it easy (train a bit less and easier) when you have to back off then, by testing and having the best possible results you will keep pushing your body to new heights. It is not hard to push to the limit one day. what's hard is to do so and be patient enough to train less/easy the next session (within hours or next day) so you can achieve that balance.

Makes plenty sense when you say it. Thanks a bunch.

5 min at 85-90% followed by 1 min at 70-75%, repeat 6 times.  Enjoy!

a) I wanted to know yes or no

b) I wanted to understand why

c) I wanted to feel there was actually science behind this

I got a) and c). If only this program raised IQ and FTP :-)

In previous years I found the 6x4s were a big part of my improvements so I will follow instructions to the letter.

Thanks for everything Jorge

Jorge,  Thanks so much.  It looks like I need to be a bit more specific and scientific about my energy needs.  I really appreciate the thought and time you put into this.  Cheers

Coach J-

    Looking for some advice... I have done a nice job thus far of balancing the first 3 rides each week in this program with my running but I was looking at my calendar and realized that this program and my half marathon training plan are on a collision course next month... my HM is 12 Feb... and thus my taper week coincides with the beginning of Week #14 of this program... I want to maximize my potential for a new HM PR without jeopardizing the hard work and 13 weeks of following this program... do you have any recommendations? Can I push week 14?

Thanks!

Coach J can certainly correct me if I am wrong, but once you start burning glycogen you don't fully go back to burning fat.  In other words, after the warm up, when you get into the main sets are burning glycogen, the short rests and cool down you do not go back to burning just fat.  I could be wrong though.  Jorge?

I don't really focus much on fat because in caparison with glycogen, fat is 'unlimited'. A 150 pound athlete with 15% body fat has around 22.5 pounds of fat, that's around 78,000 kcal, therefore fat is not a limiter specially in a workout like the 6x4'. Glycogen is because at most, a very fit athletes can store around 2500-2800 kcal worth of it. And since we can't replenish at the same rate what we burn versus what we intake, once you start burning glycogen, the clock is ticking. 

That's because we always burn a mix of fat and glycogen and what side the balance tilts is based on intensity (among others like gender, sex, age, fitness level, diet, temperature, etc); the point at which we burn around 50/50 fat vs carb is at our lactate threshold (LT) defined as 1 mmol/liter of an athletes based line. That's lower of what most coaches refer to LT; true LT is around your marathon/tempo pace (or the maximal effort athletes can sustain around 2-3 hrs and why most athletes hit the wall of a marathon around 18-22 miles).

What most coaches refer to LT is actually the Maximum Lactate Steady State (MLSS) which is the point at which roughly we clear lactate at the same rate it accumulates. This relates closely to Critical Power; therefore knowing your CP means your know roughly when you are around MLSS, and that is important because it means you can only exercise for so long. why? because if at LT we are burning around 50/50 fat/carbs, then at MLSS we are burning it at a higher rate, hence we can only maintain CP around ~1 hr; because glycogen IS the limiter in terms of fuel available.

Since the 6x4' is an intensity above CP, then even in the 24 min we exercise, if you are somehow depleted for previous days of exercise and poor diet, then it is very easy to struggle to complete the session on a given day. It is also why when you do that workout early in the AM, you struggle, because your glucose in the liver is usually depleted in the AM (as we burn it while sleeping), and since glucose is the primary fuel for your brain, then when your body is low, as a defense your body forces you to stop and you feel like 1 set at your 20MP feels more like a set at 160% of your CP.

Fat, in this particular case (and most tri distances) is rarely (if ever) a limiter.

that's one of the reason I personally don't believe in 'base training' limiting your intensity. It is simply not supported by physiology and more based on popular beliefs. I follow and evidence-based common sense approach addressing the needs of each athletes and laying down a foundation based on the athletes goals and limitations. Hence, this program, many athletes are doing 'base training' right now keeping their heart rates at z1-z2 while all of you are mixing your intensity (some days easy, others moderate, others very hard) and targeting different energy systems maximizing your gains within a time budget. by the time those base trainers are done, you will be a mile ahead!

you could place the plan on 'hold' for a few weeks while you taper and such by doing easy riding sessions with 'some' intensity. i.e. if the plan normally calls for 6x4' then do 3x4' or if suggest 4x10' do 1x10'. That way you get a bit of work to maintain your fitness without inducing much fatigue. when you complete the HM (and you better PR! ) then come back and continue week 13 and move forward. just an idea

PS. for my athletes, even for IM, the week of the race I have them do something like 3-4x4'@ 20MP no problem. just see what works for you

Remember, the 6x4' are done at 105%> above CP and also, as I mentioned above; CP relates to MLSS which is harder than LT. LT (1 mmol/liter above athlete baseline) which is when we are around 50% fat and 50% carbs oxidize is more like 75-80% CP. at CP with are prob more like 30% fat - 70% carbs. at 105% CP even higher. 

You are correct, not all kJ will come entirely from carbs but the majority will, in the case of the original question, the point is, to be careful as these workouts (plus your other tri workouts) can easily put you in a deficit if you are not fueling/refueling well, hence a workout that was easy early in the week might not be the same late in the week. 

Thanks.. will give that a try... BTW... I had 80's streaming on Pandora this morning during my ride and oddly enough during the third 9' interval... your theme song came on... King of Pain by The Police! Have a great weekend!

Scott

This might explain my last few rides.  My 5 minute test was dreadful, as was the first 6x4' interval day.  Both of those were first thing in the morning with next to nothing eaten.  The 20 minute test was done later in the day and I had a great result, with a pretty good jump from the first test.  Thanks for the explanation.

I am torn between riding ERG mode on CT for testing and riding a regular flat ride (on CT as well). 

So far I've been doing my testing going as hard as I can for 5 or 20 minutes (flat ride).  It would seem that ERG mode would make it easier to push bigger watts as it adjusts the resistance as you pedal (so you could just hang on for dear life and unless you blow up you'll hit your targeted watts).

Riding flat-out ride means that there is some variability in the power output. 

Thoughts?

Definition of Sweet Spot,
  A small area of intensity characterized by 88-93 percent of one's FTP.

As described by A. Coggan,
Training in the 'sweet spot' is the relationship of volume, physiological strain, and training effect.

Briefly, as intensity increases so does the physiological strain to the point that training effect is reduced.
The other factor is duration.  There is a limit to what the maximum tolerable trained duration or volume is.

The resulting curve is where the sweet spot is.
http://www.freewebs.com/velodynamics2/loadeffect.pdf

(Coggan_Sweet Spot.png)

Thanks so much.  That was really helpful.  I can see why you re-read Skiba's book.  I read it over the summer, before getting a power meter.  I have Coggan's book ordered.  I'm looking forward to wrapping my head around these concepts more.  Thanks again.