3km Pursuit training - by power

peterwright said:

Hi Guys

I am training a guy for the masters Nat 3km pursuit - the race is in 10 weeks.

He has made great progress to date and is currently doing a set of L5 ints, a track session consisting of 60 sec ints X 10 at race pace and power on the track, some moderate tempo work and a moderate weekend ride.

He is currently able to ride at the calcualted power for 1 min (450w) and has also held it for 4 mins at least once.

What do you think I can add to his weekly menu to help ensure he continues to progress over the next 9 weeks to peak for the Nationals ? he does have a track (outdoor) he can get to.

Any help much appreciated.

10 x 1 min at pursuit pace isn't much of a stimulus for increasing anaerobic capacity, which is obviously critical to riding a fast pursuit. There are lots of different workouts that you could do that would address this ability, but at this stage I'd definitely recommend the "go hard, puke, go home" approach, i.e., a few maximal or near-maximal efforts of 1-2 min duration separated by significant rest, versus more efforts at a somewhat lower intensity and/or with limited recovery between them. It won't take long to peak when doing such intervals, though, so you'll need to be careful to work them in gradually, so that your rider isn't flying 4 wk out, and flat by race day.

You might also consider once weekly workouts aimed at neuromuscular power. How quickly you can get up to speed isn't a major factor in determining pursuit performance, even in a 3 km, but it doesn't take much training to improve this aspect either, so it's practically "free speed". Moreover, if you have the rider go all-out for as long as it take to get up to speed (roughly 1/2 lap on a 333.3 m, but of course it depends on who you are) then throttle back to pursuit pace and keep going for another 1.5 lap, they can practice their pacing as well.

acoggan said:

10 x 1 min at pursuit pace isn't much of a stimulus for increasing anaerobic capacity, which is obviously critical to riding a fast pursuit. There are lots of different workouts that you could do that would address this ability, but at this stage I'd definitely recommend the "go hard, puke, go home" approach, i.e., a few maximal or near-maximal efforts of 1-2 min duration separated by significant rest, versus more efforts at a somewhat lower intensity and/or with limited recovery between them. It won't take long to peak when doing such intervals, though, so you'll need to be careful to work them in gradually, so that your rider isn't flying 4 wk out, and flat by race day.

You might also consider once weekly workouts aimed at neuromuscular power. How quickly you can get up to speed isn't a major factor in determining pursuit performance, even in a 3 km, but it doesn't take much training to improve this aspect either, so it's practically "free speed". Moreover, if you have the rider go all-out for as long as it take to get up to speed (roughly 1/2 lap on a 333.3 m, but of course it depends on who you are) then throttle back to pursuit pace and keep going for another 1.5 lap, they can practice their pacing as well.

Thanks Andy

A few questions;

1. What power would you have him do the efforts at - literally as hard as he can ?
2.Can he do this twice a week ? Maybe one session a week now at 10 weeks out and then two sessions at say 6 weeks out ?
3. How many is reasonable in a 90 min session ?
4. Should I keep some L4 and L5 work in his week too to keep him busy - otherwise I struggle to keep him busy ?

Thanks very much

Peter

peterwright said:

Thanks Andy

A few questions;

1. What power would you have him do the efforts at - literally as hard as he can ?
2.Can he do this twice a week ? Maybe one session a week now at 10 weeks out and then two sessions at say 6 weeks out ?
3. How many is reasonable in a 90 min session ?
4. Should I keep some L4 and L5 work in his week too to keep him busy - otherwise I struggle to keep him busy ?

Thanks very much

Peter

1. Yes, at least/especially as the event draws near.

2. Sounds reasonable to me. Again, though, keep a close eye on the overall training load, as this type of training is obviously extremely stressful.

3. That would depend on the length of the efforts, etc. However, I don't think you need to do more than three or four really hard efforts (and in fact it may not be possible to do more than that without a significant decline in their quality)

4. Definitely need to keep the aerobic stuff going as well. For example, when my wife was training for the pursuit under Lucy Tyler they would do 4 x 4 km in team pursuit formation as their morning workout twice a week, plus some longer high cadence efforts on the road once per week. Other morning and afternoons were devoted to level 6/7 training or level 1 recovery rides.

The other suggestion I would make is that, if he's really aiming to peak for this event, make sure that you schedule a good 10 d or so taper...it simply takes longer for performance to be maximized when tapering than many people realize.

acoggan said:

1. Yes, at least/especially as the event draws near.

2. Sounds reasonable to me. Again, though, keep a close eye on the overall training load, as this type of training is obviously extremely stressful.

3. That would depend on the length of the efforts, etc. However, I don't think you need to do more than three or four really hard efforts (and in fact it may not be possible to do more than that without a significant decline in their quality)

4. Definitely need to keep the aerobic stuff going as well. For example, when my wife was training for the pursuit under Lucy Tyler they would do 4 x 4 km in team pursuit formation as their morning workout twice a week, plus some longer high cadence efforts on the road once per week. Other morning and afternoons were devoted to level 6/7 training or level 1 recovery rides.

The other suggestion I would make is that, if he's really aiming to peak for this event, make sure that you schedule a good 10 d or so taper...it simply takes longer for performance to be maximized when tapering than many people realize.

Thanks Andy - much appreciated. He is doing well and knocking out 480w at 84kg for his min ints. Needs about a 3,45 for SA record for masters. An cycling says about 450 for that sort of time. I reckoin he is on track (so to speak)

acoggan said:

1. Yes, at least/especially as the event draws near.

2. Sounds reasonable to me. Again, though, keep a close eye on the overall training load, as this type of training is obviously extremely stressful.

3. That would depend on the length of the efforts, etc. However, I don't think you need to do more than three or four really hard efforts (and in fact it may not be possible to do more than that without a significant decline in their quality)

4. Definitely need to keep the aerobic stuff going as well. For example, when my wife was training for the pursuit under Lucy Tyler they would do 4 x 4 km in team pursuit formation as their morning workout twice a week, plus some longer high cadence efforts on the road once per week. Other morning and afternoons were devoted to level 6/7 training or level 1 recovery rides.

The other suggestion I would make is that, if he's really aiming to peak for this event, make sure that you schedule a good 10 d or so taper...it simply takes longer for performance to be maximized when tapering than many people realize.

One more thing.. he has provincial champs 2 weeks before nats - do we train through it or use it as a small peak with small taper - my gut says just an easier week that week but nothing major...

peterwright said:

One more thing.. he has provincial champs 2 weeks before nats - do we train through it or use it as a small peak with small taper - my gut says just an easier week that week but nothing major...

Please order a Coggan/Allen book so he at least gets $0.22 for all this coaching advice. 🙂
And let us know what happens.

Woofer said:

Please order a Coggan/Allen book so he at least gets $0.22 for all this coaching advice. 🙂

$0.22 is about all my advice is worth. 😄

(BTW, if you buy the book from Amazon I only get about $0.06...but don't let that sway your decision!)

peterwright said:

One more thing.. he has provincial champs 2 weeks before nats - do we train through it or use it as a small peak with small taper - my gut says just an easier week that week but nothing major...

Assuming that the provincial championships aren't nearly as important as nationals, then I'd just go easy the last 3 d or so, then immediately hit it again hard for 3-4 d before starting the final taper. (Actually, what I'd do is adjust the training program based on feedback from the Training Manager, but that's another story. 😄 )

acoggan said:

Assuming that the provincial championships aren't nearly as important as nationals, then I'd just go easy the last 3 d or so, then immediately hit it again hard for 3-4 d before starting the final taper. (Actually, what I'd do is adjust the training program based on feedback from the Training Manager, but that's another story. 😄 )

When (if ever?) are us poor sods stuck in the stone age going to get a chance to play with Training Manager?

Scott

scotmart said:

When (if ever?) are us poor sods stuck in the stone age going to get a chance to play with Training Manager?

I'm beginning to think he's making the whole thing up, with Beerco and rmur17 as co-conspirators. 😉

Andy, do you have a PayPal account where those of us that order the book through Amazon.com can donate the other $0.16 directly? :p

acoggan said:

$0.22 is about all my advice is worth. 😄

(BTW, if you buy the book from Amazon I only get about $0.06...but don't let that sway your decision!)

FWIW I have already got two copies coming to SA and am working on a deal to get some more here with Hunter.

scotmart said:

When (if ever?) are us poor sods stuck in the stone age going to get a chance to play with Training Manager?

Scott

That's up to the folks at TrainingPeaks.

frenchyge said:

Andy, do you have a PayPal account where those of us that order the book through Amazon.com can donate the other $0.16 directly? :p

Hey, now there's an idea! 😄

Seriously, if anybody feels bad about those $0.16, I encourage them to assuage their guilt by making a contribution to their favorite charity. 🙂

frenchyge said:

I'm beginning to think he's making the whole thing up, with Beerco and rmur17 as co-conspirators. 😉

Andy, do you have a PayPal account where those of us that order the book through Amazon.com can donate the other $0.16 directly? :p

Pretty sad how much gets thru to the authors actually ... I guess I won't be writing "Memoirs of a Guinea Pig" 🙂

rmur