Winter Cycling Plan Official Thread (Page 2)

Day 1 down..Even stayed withing my Guesstimated HR.

Fair question; let me explain why I suggested setting training zones (using a HR monitors) the way I do and why there is a discrepancy with the HR calculators offered here at BT or Trainingpeaks.

I am base training levels (aka training zones) based on the work of Andrew Coggan PhD who has done extensive work with USA Cycling for power training seminars and co-author of the Training with a Power Meter Book. The way he established this training zones is based on physiological adaptatations based on how our body responds to different training intensisties. More specifically he determines power levels of power/pace functional threshold which roughly is the maximum effort we can sustain all for around 60 min. In endurance sports this is commonly referred as LT though scientifically this intensity is more related to the maximum lactate steady state which is the most important physiological determinant of endurance performance, because this integrates VO2max, the % of VO2max that can be sustained for a given duration and cycling efficiency all key components for performance, not to mention it is an excellent way to predict performance.

If you click here you will get a description of the different zones suggested and the reasoning behind it. Given the extensive experience and his work I believe his training levels offer a better way to establish zones to better manage training load and accentuate specific adaptations.

The BT calculator on the other hand is based as far as I can tell off Joel Friel’s 7 training zones. Now I’ve done a bit of research and I haven't been able to find out anything indicating how does Friel defines his suggested training zones (if someone does please share the info) hence I am a bit skeptic of that.  Trainingpeaks gives you the option to choose different ways to set up your traing levels and one of those Friel 7 levels or Coggan 5 trainingl levels. Ask your coach how did he defined your training zones and if you feel more comfortable using those do so, as long as you are consistent you should be fine.

Anyway, I personally like Coggan's levels because 1) there is a physiological explanation behind it 2) He has great credentials when it comes to cycling training and 3) they are simpler to follow.

Now let me remind you; training zones are man created as a way to address different physiological adaptations and to allow us to train more efficiently. But your body doesn’t really know when one zones starts and another ends, they all blend together fort that reason when you are doing work at certain intensity while it will produce more specific adaptations achieved at that intensity you still are producing other adaptations achieved training at other intensities at some degree.

For instance doing interval sessions at threshold power/pace will primarily produce adaptations such as increase muscles glycogen storage, muscle mitochondrial enzymes , increase lactate etc but also adaptations at a lesser degree achieved when training at endurance power/pace (z2) such as improvement of slow twitch muscle fibers fatigue resistance. On the link provided above you can see this illustrated on Table 2.

For those who want to follow the Coggan's training levels just follow the next link and you’ll get an online calculator for Andrew’s HR/power zones. Once you done the test (power or HR) and determine your LTHR (97% of avg for test) or FTP (critical power for 20 and 5 min test) just plug in the value on the calculator and voila, you have your training zones.

Finally, why 97%? well, it is just a guesstimate - In order to obtain your true LTHR or functional power threshold you would need to ride 1 hr all out and that's ideally the best way to test. However that's a very intense test and something not many athletes are willing to go through every 4-6 weeks. The good news is that in general the max effort athletes can sustain for 20-30 min is roughly done @ 95-97% of the max effort they can sustain for 60 min. The actual number might be higher or lower but since it is a guesstimate to begin with as long as you are on the ball park it will work. I hope ths helps to explain as to why I suggest why I do