BASE training with watts

BullGod

FTP is 350 ish.

Considering races don't start til march there is very little need for any intensity right now. Most of my teammates are doing longer rides on the little ring 2/3 times a week.

Due to work I am starting to work out in the evenings on the KK. Sanity demands that I can only realistically do 90 - 120 mins on the trainer in one session, so there is no way I'm doing only L2 work.

I want to at least feel some "burn" on the trainer, but on the other hand I don't want to go to intense, and move out of BASE.

For indoor workouts in November / December what % of FTP is sensible? I'm interested right now in raising the level at which I can "comfortably cycle" - I don't want to start honing FTP or VO2 max yet at all.

Was thinking around 250w (70% of FTP) at a high RPM - is this too high?

It's sort of a balance between effectiveness and boredom ;-)

feedback appreciated - next year will be my first year in the elites. I don't want to undertrain, but I don't want to burn all my candles by january either....

BG

root

I'm certainly not an expert, but L4 level work (i.e. 2x20s at 91% of FTP) are not terribly hard intervals (if you do them every other day with some L1-L3 in between).

I would not do L5, L6 work until much later, and these are harder and more taxing intervals (until say February). I can't imagine myself spending all winter doing only L2. The boredom would kill me.

postal_bag

My choice would be more like 90 minutes @ ~300w, 120 minutes @ ~285w, 3 x 20' @ ~315w, etc., using a normal cadence.

Spunout

Do some power, strength, and speed intervals all while keeping the ride in Z2 overall. See Van den Bosch's book, great power intervals with Sven Nys, etc.

All endurance rides have a speed component, beats the trainer blahs.

There was a good thread here on SST protocols from FasCat, very good article for making time on the trainer more productive. IMHO, get 1 long day per week, if not on the bike do a ski or cross train with 1 hour on the trainer to top it off for 'souplesse'.

giannip

do you have a link to the Van den Bosch book ?

Spunout

BullGod

I would still feel that is too intense for November.....I spoke to a couple of seasoned elite riders and they are all telling me to ride long and easy. 300w for 90 minutes is pretty demanding any time of year. I'm not so sure about mixing that up with 5 hr weekend rides either.

I'm thinking more 20 minute intervals at 300w, with 20 mins at 240w in between.....low overall intensity with enough variety to make it interesting.

giannip

thanks

has anyone read this that could give a short review ?

Spunout

Good book, old-school somewhat. Shows the immense hours required to perform at high levels. Good concepts in active recovery.

peterpen

I'd agree with you. I'd add in some 3x 10m or 6x 5m @ 90 - 95%FTP once or twice per week and some sort of neuromuscular/ L7 effort on a weekly basis. Sprints on a trainer suck, but you could do a 10m On-Off effort. I started with 10m (10s >150%FTP + 50s@70%FTP) and moved the ratio up each week until it's 30s on/ 30s off.

koger

Here's how I am doing it this winter, maybe it can help

http://www.amazon.com/Base-Building...95501219&sr=1-1
http://www.ultrafit.com/newsletter/november07.html#AA

rmur17

i don't quite understand. You say you don't want to ride only (or predominantly?) L2 yet suggest you're thinking about workouts at 0.70FTP. That's still L2 ... and you could likely keep that up for several hours outdoors.

Why waste time on the trainer?

__________________
rmur

postal_bag

I was actually thinking 90 min at ~85% was taking it kind of easy. It leaves room to ramp up the either wattage or the duration.

You could start with 1 hr, and build up to 2 hrs. Last winter, I managed to work my way up to 3 hrs at this intensity. I also got my 90' power up to 95% FTP.

Or do the 20' intervals @ 85%, but do 4 or more of them, and spin for 2 - 5' at ~170 w in between. 3 x 30' is good, too.

You don't have enough time available to go "long and easy", and I don't think going short and easy (i.e. 2 hrs @ 70%) will do much to raise the level at which you can ride comfortably.

BullGod

I think that sounds sensible. I don't want to come out of winter underdone, but I still want to leave some room for improvement when I ramp up the intensity in february