training update

I'm enjoying my recovery week in Breckenridge right now.  I haven't ridden in a few days, but I did get a chance to go tele-skiing today.  Great weather and had a blast with my sister snowboarding and wife tele-skiing also.  Last week, I had planned for a heavy session, but I spent a full week in Atlanta and managed to only fit in riding every other day.  I took my bike and trainer down south, but it's hard to fit it all in with the holidays.

Starting next week, I'll be in my last strength (or base) block.  I have planned 3 strength blocks (base), 3 speed blocks (build), and 3 sprint blocks (peak).  The blocks are all 3 weeks of 12-15 hours, and 1 week of 4-7 hours.  At the end of my 3rd speed block is the Tour of the Gila which I am gearing up for.  I have bought a time trial bike and have a TT helmet and skinsuit.  I am looking forward to the new year and I plan on putting all my eggs in one basket for the home stretch.

baseline power levels

I did a power test this past weekend.  I did an all-out 5 minute maximum effort time trial.  I finished with a 436W average, and a max heart rate of 191 bpm.  I'm pretty satisfied with that effort since it's the highest I've ever recorded for that test.  That puts me at around 5.34 W/kg for that test, which is around mid-upper level CAT 2 and bottom of barrel CAT 1 which is pretty much where I am.

This is a pretty crude test to determine VO2max, but I don't want to go into a lab, so this is what I'm using.  I generated the graph above based on a percentage of VO2max.  My heart rates are always higher than the associated power level, so I must be doing something wrong.  Either way, it's pretty easy to tell if you've got the power levels too high because you can't maintain the effort.  A 1 hour temp ride at 318W gets pretty dang hard towards the end, but I can definitely manage it.

New Team for 2010

The Rocky Mountain Bikes team folded at the end of this year, so most of us on the team scrambled to find new homes.  I found my home with the BRE Real Estate Team.  We don't have a homepage yet (I don't think), but we've got some great riders and I'm looking forward to developing that cohesive bond that is vital to having a successful and fun season.  Our P12 team consists of 9 riders, and we have a 3s group and 4s group with 15-20 riders each (I think).  Anyway, it should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the upcoming season.

80:20

I read a paper recently by Stephen Seiler and Espen Tonnessen called "Intervals, Threshold, and Long Slow Distance:  the Role of Intensity and Duration in Endurance Training".  This was a very well researched and thorough article that helps give insight to how the best athletes in the world train.

There were some important things to take away from the article.

1. Elite cyclists train 25-30 hours a week.
2. 80% of their training consists of low-intensity cycling.  This is classified as below 2mM blood lactate (or below 73% VO2Max, or below 80% max heart rate, or power levels that can be maintained for 1-6 hours continuously).  Example workouts are continuous exercise without breaks or intervals.
   
3. 20% of their training consists of high-intensity cycling.  This is classified as above 4mM blood lactate (or 90-100% VO2Max, 90-100% max heart rate, or power levels that can be maintained for 1-8 minutes continuously).  Example workouts include multiple sets 5-40 sets of 1min-5min intervals.

 Here's a link to the article.  I'll probably write more once I've assimilated all the information in my new training plan.