Help me meet my goal

haribodie

I have a hill climb race coming near the end of september and a shiny new power tap sl. Please help me meet my goal of doing as well as possible based on the following information. I will respond to threads and post my workouts and progress so this can become a collective power experiment for the benefit of all.

- I was sick for about five months up until mid july and have been doing basic aerobic training since then.

- In february I did a v02 max test which revealed a v02 max 0f 84 and a ventilatory threshold 2 power of 400 watts (the was a to failure test with 20 watt increaseas every minute). It was explained to me that 400 watts was a power that I could maintain for 20 minutes by the person that gave the test. My hr at 400 watts was 170 during the test. I have maintained an average of 170 for one hour during workouts before without power. I had a blood infection at the time of the test and so I do not know how reliable that information is.

-In my first intense effort with the SL and my first intense effort since being sick I rode a six minute climb with an average power of 411 watts and an average HR of 165 (my hr at the end of the effort was 170). I was having fun during a group ride

- The hill climb I plan on doing is 4 miles of flat and then 8 miles of uphill at 4.5% average. I will just stay on wheels for the flat part so I want to concentrate on the uphill portion.

I have a max hr of 197 (as in highest I have ever reached) a weight of 69 kg and a 188cm tall.

Please help me

-Figure out a realistic wattage goal for the hillclimb and
-figure out the workouts to get there.

I just want to ride up as fast as I can. If I get good feedback Ill post my workouts and progress and then finally post my performance on the big day.

Squint

With those numbers, I think you could win the race right now.

RapDaddyo

Do you have a route profile for the climb? Are there grade changes? Can you practice on it?

haribodie

The route profile can be found here http://www.californiaroadclub.org/r...mb_profile.html.

There are some grade changes but it is hard to judge from the profile. I can practice on it but only starting September 2nd as I am currently in a different country.

Thanks.

RapDaddyo

Nice looking course. At least you get to get warmed up before you go vertical. That first 4.5 miles presents an interesting decision as to pacing strategy. And, it looks worse than it is -- ~5% avg grade. These profiles are so deceiving because of the different scales. What kind of gears are you thinking about? Do you have a PM (oops, my mistake -- "shiny new SL")? What's your 1HR MP (the 170 doesn't sound like your max -- oops again, you mean 170HR, right?)?

ric_stern/RST

It appears the original poster can maintain 400 W for 20-mins, with a mass of 69 kg (according to his 1st post). Thus, at that power to mass ratio it's only going to be a pro or similar who could likely beat him.

Ric

__________________
http://www.cyclecoach.com

haribodie

Gears- I'll have to go test the climb. Right now I am thinking 53-39 up front and 11-21 in the back. Although maybe a 51-42 and 11-23 would be better because it looks like I'll be switching from big to little several times and that would smooth the transition.

I HR MP- I don't know. I live near the mt. ventoux that sounds like a good place to go find out if I need to. Sounds pretty brutal though.

Yes I meant 170 HR, I know I can maintain at least 170 hr for an hour but I dont know what the corresponding power is.

RapDaddyo

Well, I would definitely want 1 cog steps for the power/cadence range I'm going to be spending most of the time in. If I read your original post correctly, I don't see a max power test at any duration. Even the 411w 6-min ride was not an MP ride. I know that Ric bases his training zones on a test to exhaustion, but I've personally never tried to correlate that with MP over a duration. Ric might be able to help you estimate your 1HR MP based on your power in a step-up test to exhaustion. I think it would be useful to know what your maximum sustainable power is over at least 20 minutes.

haribodie

There will be (US) pros at the race, likely attracted by the 1000 dollar prize money for breaking the record and I will be racing in the Pro/1/2 category. What kind of workouts do I need to do get up this thing as fast as possible? Or perhaps a better question is where should I start? With some self testing or some intervals. I have unlimited time.

RapDaddyo

400w is good power. What has your training schedule been like since your illness. I know you said you were sick for five months, but what kind of weekly mileage and intervals have you been doing since you got back on your bike and have they been power-based or HR based?

haribodie

Since my illness I have been cautiously doing almost entirely unorganized aerobic work. Longest ride was 5 hours. WHile I was sick I was riding four times a week for two hourse maximum. Now Im Just doing things on feeling. I live in a quite hilly area and have done plenty of long climbs but I just go up them at my rhythm except for the occasional group ride. However I feel like I am ready to start doing some intensity and Id like to take advantage of my new toy but dont really know how. It seems like I need to do some kind of mP test to start. 20 minutes sounds pretty intense! But it since the race will be a half hour of climbing I should get used to it. Does everyone think a 20 minute MP test is the best place to start? Other suggestions?

ric_stern/RST

I'd suggest some testing to start with (either self tested or under the eye of either a sports scientist or coach). Personally, i'd suggest both a TT type test as well as a MAP test.

As to how to improve, it's a question of looking at your limiters and seeing what needs to be improved. For e.g., what's the ratio of TTpower to MAP? Have you thought of coaching?

Ric

__________________
http://www.cyclecoach.com

RapDaddyo

Well, I think you face two interesting (although maybe not unique) problems in designing a training program. First, I think there are fewer people qualified to advise you on how to increase power from a 400w starting point. I, for one, am not qualified. Second, you have the issue of your recent illness and the constraints that may place on both testing and high-intensity work, at least in the short term. I'm going to focus on the pacing strategy because that's an area of interest to me. And, I echo Ric's suggestion to consider getting a coach. I think training issues such as interval protocols get progressively more complex as you move up the power curve and you're pretty far up the curve.

ric_stern/RST

Definitely, he's quite high up the curve! Luckily(!?), we've worked with riders in the TdF, other Euro Pros, female pros (obviously less power), as well as masters, elite, and more modest racers (i.e., 1st to 5th cat).

Ric

__________________
http://www.cyclecoach.com