Increase your Cycling Power over the winter = Faster times on 2009 (Page 30)

I'm still working on this as well, but due to illness and some travel for work I ended up doing weeks 8 and 9 several times and am now on week 11 (I was adjusting my finishing date to tie in to this year's training plan).  At this point I should be finished in late April when outdoor cycling season really gets off the ground for me.

D

Jorge, during last winter I followed you cycling plan. Many times I hated you because it was damn hard

But last week I did my power test and I wanted to thank you for this awesome plan. Since the last power test I got a 10% improve. 

Thanks a lot to puting that plan together and letting us gets improvement from it, I really appreciate what you did.

Gang,
1st of all I am very happy to read through here or via PMs about the great improvements most of you achieved by following the plan and most important training consistently through the winter. As you know the plan was just a general guideline to help you get you focus through the winter and make you train efficiently by targeting specific adaptations.

My personal believe and experience has taught me that AGers biggest two limiters are 1) lack of time for training and 2) lack of consistency to do the training. For that reason I prefer to follow a training approach in which we can address these two limiters that provides the best results for most AGers and that was the main goal of this plan.

You often read or hear about doing “base” training, limiting training at low intensities through the winter and bla bla bla; and while I don’t want to get into a debate (we have had many of those at tri talk) about what works best for many athletes I think this plan is a great example of my approach. Although let me be clear, I do believe doing training at lower intensities has a place and time for some athletes (like untrained individuals) but the biggest caveat many people don’t consider is that for that type of training to work is that athletes need to do a lot of it to really produce the necessary adaptations to benefit significantly.

On the other hand and as I mentioned above since most AGers lack time and consistency to train; if we set up a program in which the athlete builds up gradually but at the same time makes every session count, every session has a focus (adaptation), the training is consistent and follow a progression, then it is almost guaranteed the athlete will experience significant gains. Most important, by doing this training early in the off season (winter) the athlete will have a head start in terms of fitness and all achieved on relatively low training hours.

Considering most of you guys will race from Olys to IMs and races will take place anywhere from May to November it is very common for those athletes logging 12-14 hrs x week so early in the year to struggle with mental motivation and burning out by the summer; OTOHour cycling plan avg hrs x week was 3 hrs + our swim and bike session we probably averaged around 6-10 hrs x week. Based on the data some of you have shared we can conclude that with the 14 week plan doing 3 session (around 3 hrs x week) BTers experienced a minimum 5% increase in power for those already relatively trained and as much as 20% for less trained BTers. The average seems to be around 10% increase in power which is a very significant improvement!

Plus remember that you still will continue to train for at least another couple of months before your races hence don’t be surprised if your power continues to increase! Oh, before I forget; for those who rode the trainer exclusively and that haven’t ride outside yet – please expect to feel a bit off or rides feel a bit tough the first few times you ride outside due to the variability in terrain and because you now have the power but you will need to work on the endurance by riding longer. Don’t be afraid to ride a bit harder outside of what you are used to; doing some portions at z3 on rides 3 hrs or longer and some z4 on rides shorter than 2 hrs should be part of some of your long rides.

I am very proud of all of you and I am very happy I was able to help you, that’s a great reward and something I’ll seek to do every winter to help new and old BTers alike. I also hope you guys learned lots and realized you can incorporate some of these sessions to your plans year around, you learned why doing training at different intensities helps, and that consistency is the single best thing you can do to improve in this sport. Training shouldn’t be difficult, training concepts shouldn’t be complicated; we just need to do be consistent, have achievable goals and do the work. There are no magic plans, no magic approaches and no magic pills; if some coach wants you to believe that run far away!

For those still following the plan just go to my log under the archives to find the sessions and info. Good Luck!

Jorge

Make sure you say when you are in Mi at ILRA for a workout.  I can a least come down and bring a some after work out 12oz carbs, a lttle thank you for the winter program.

Joe

Sounds like a plan!

Has anyone done their 1st outdoors ride of the season after the winter program? what was the experience? I am still on the plan as I felt behind and just started doing FTP session a few ago, still I went out this weekend for the 1st time and it was fun. Of course I knew the 1st ride was going to be tough and my endurance will be lacking as I haven't work on it yet but I figured by staying within my zone 2 watts and to limit my ride to 2 hrs I would be able to enjoy the ride .

Well famous last words; riding with fast friends who rode through the winter is not the best way to keep the effort even and steady. My ego got in between my plan and common sense and rode like usual pushing on climbs, taking pulls at the paceline, etc. The 2 hr ride turned into a 3hr one and my steady zone 2 turned inot a tempo 53 mile ride. Needless to say I felt strong for 35 miles before I exploded like a bomb and just survived for the rest of the ride. Still I am happy to say that with 3x rides x week and focusing mainly on VO2 max, Threshold and Tempo power like we did (or have done) through the program I managed to avg 80% of my FTP for 3 hrs even when it was much more of what my current fitness can handle and made for a painful last 18 miles of the ride.

I know it will take me a 4+ weeks at least to get comfortable riding outside again, get my endurance back and feel like I can put the same (and more) power on the road like on the trainer but that's expected. Anyway, what was your experience?

I cracked - somewhere around km 45-50 the legs gave out, of what was a 73km ride.  I started out with the wind at my back and specifically made sure I didn't try to go too hard on the way out so I would have something to fight the wind on the way back.

But I was a bit aggressive in choosing my route.  Total climbing elevation for the ride was around 2,000 feet and the legs suffered quite a bit on the higher % slopes.  By the time I reached the turnaround point, I knew I was cooked - the HR was fine, but every time I hit an incline the lactic acid just poured into my quads.  A good part of the trip on the way home was downhill so that helped (got the hils out of the way at the beginning), and for a while I was pushing a decent gear and had a good cadence, but then I just hit a wall. 

I sat up and took it pretty easy for the last 15km cause the legs were fried.  I wish I'd had a PM to know exactly what was going on during the ride, cause the HR really didn't tell me much.  It spiked really badly on the hills, even though trying not to push up them, and took a bit to come back down even though I felt good (this was at the start of the ride).

Anyway - it was fun.  The legs gave out, they were sore every time I hit a hill, but I loved being outdoors.  This was a completely solo ride, and the one thing I did notice is that I spent very little time aero - I rode on the hoods 95% of the ride.  I need to hook up the used iBike I bought off eBay so I can start seeing some power numbers on the road.

Anyone else?

Good stuff! I left you some Qs on your log.

Does still following the plan; how are you gusy doing? still going strong? anyone?

I am still at it, tommorrow is week 11 Q3 the 5 minute test.  My 20 minute test on Tuesday was lower then my one in the fall.  I did push a larger gear and seemed more even on my cadance.  I was also sore from climbing alot at work that day.  In the fall it seemed I was push hard and suck air, push fast and suck air.  This just felt better, smoother, more like I was riding the bike and it was not riding me, you know what I mean.

Last night on the wk11 Q2 40 minute ride, I was feeling good and the music was jamming so it stretched into an hour.  I hit a high for me, 355 watts, only held it for about 90 seconds, but it was cool.

Once they clean the roads around me I am going to do the 8 mile ride.  I did this the first time I got my bike last April and my time was 43 minutes.  I am thinking this ride again should be a good judge of improvement.

Joe

I'm still at it - on week 13 at this point.  My re-testing in week 11 showed a 3% increase so far - but I have not been as consistent as I should have been.  Life keeps getting in the way and I am lucky to get two sessions in a week.   Also, frequent work travel keeps knocking me off schedule.  I'll keep at the program until I complete the last testing and I'm hoping that things will slow down and I'll be able to get more riding in.

I am taking tomorrow off and hope to get my bike on the road for the first time this year.  It is forecast for rain though so it may not happen (biking in cold rain - yeuch).  If it's raining I'll run instead.

D