How long are your LT and VO2 training phases?

Quadsweep said:

I like to do a long base period of about 12-16 weeks with one hard group ride each week.
I am a little confused as to how long you should to a lactate threshold focused training phase and then how long should you do a VO2 max focused training phase?....before hitting the full on racing season.

Tanx

This is sort of an individual thing. I've heard of people doing 12 weeks of threshold-focused training. But many plateu after 6-8 weeks. Personally, I'm doing 2x6 weeks of threshold focus (1-2 sets of 2x20's a week, lots of l3/low l4 work) with a two week block of v02max work (back to back days of 5x5's, relatively low volume) to raise my v02max so my threshold can keep coming up. Then I'll probably do a few weeks of mostly l5 work before my first peak of the year.

whoawhoa said:

This is sort of an individual thing. I've heard of people doing 12 weeks of threshold-focused training. But many plateu after 6-8 weeks. Personally, I'm doing 2x6 weeks of threshold focus (1-2 sets of 2x20's a week, lots of l3/low l4 work) with a two week block of v02max work (back to back days of 5x5's, relatively low volume) to raise my v02max so my threshold can keep coming up. Then I'll probably do a few weeks of mostly l5 work before my first peak of the year.

What is l3/low l4 work....and l5 work?

Quadsweep said:

What is l3/low l4 work....and l5 work?

I use Andy Coggan's systems for heart rate and power zones. Here: cyclingpeakssoftware.comlevels.htmlOpen ↗ is the link to how they are defined, as % of 1 hr max heart rate or 1 hr max power. Essentially, l4 is right around 1 hr max power/heart rate, and is the zone for threshold intervals, whereas l3 is "tempo" and l5 for v0max intervals.

Hello,

My name is Scott and I'm new to this forum and cycling for that matter. I just bought a trek 2100 in August. I have a few questions and I was wondering if anyone out there could answer them for me.

First, what is the correct way of determining one's Lactate Threshold? I've tried the Chris Charmichael method by doing two 8 miniute time trials and averaging my heart rate. I came up with the number 176. Is that my LT?

Next question. When working on improving one's LT, what improves? Does one's heart rate @ Lactate Threshold stay the same for there whole life or does the distance improve during the 8 miniute time trial. For example, say at the begining of April I do a 8 miniute time trial and when eight miniutes is up I cover 3 miles. Then at the begining of May I do the same 8 miniute time trial and cover 3.5 miles. What changes? My heart rate @ Lactate threshold or my speed and distance covered.

Last question. When doing a time trial, where should my heart rate be in relation to my Lactate Threshold? I've read somewhere that my time trialing heart rate should be just below or right at my Lactate threshold. Is that true?.............Please someone out there, please help me answer these questions. You can also e-mail me. [email hidden]
Thank you so much!!!

Hi, Scott. Welcome.

brewcityfirekid said:

First, what is the correct way of determining one's Lactate Threshold? I've tried the Chris Charmichael method by doing two 8 miniute time trials and averaging my heart rate. I came up with the number 176. Is that my LT?

The only correct way of determining LT is through blood testing while cycling in a lab. Since LT dictates one's sustainable effort level, other methods have been developed help estimate that sustainable effort level in terms of HR, power, or speed. An athlete can typically exercise at LT for ~3hrs, so an 8-min TT HR would need to have some correction factors applied to it before it gave a good indication of HR @ LT.

brewcityfirekid said:

Next question. When working on improving one's LT, what improves?

As I said, LT is a certain exercise intensity. What improves through training is *power* @ LT, *speed* @ LT, etc. In other words, your body is able to produce more output while producing the same lactate as before. It's possible that HR @ LT would be lower if your stroke volume had increased, but understand that HR is an indication of exercise intensity (like lactate), not a cycling output.

brewcityfirekid said:

Last question. When doing a time trial, where should my heart rate be in relation to my Lactate Threshold? I've read somewhere that my time trialing heart rate should be just below or right at my Lactate threshold. Is that true?

LT can typically be sustained for ~3hrs, so for most TT's your HR will be much higher than your HR @ LT. Additionally, it depends on the TT distance, as a 10K pace would be higher than, say, a 40K TT pace. If I'm not mistaken, HR @ LT would be in the upper 70's or lower 80's as a % of Max HR, whereas a 10K TT pace would be 90+% easy. Hope that helps.

Quadsweep said:

I am a little confused as to how long you should to a lactate threshold focused training phase and then how long should you do a VO2 max focused training phase?....before hitting the full on racing season.
Tanx

What is your background?
What have you been doing last season, and the one before?
When does the racing season starts?
What have you been doing since September?