AWC year round?

[MDcat2]

Hi -

through power profiling and observations from racing/group rides, I've concluded AWC efforts that fall into quadrant II (i.e. 1' to 3' maximal efforts that go up hill) are a limiter.

i've always trained with the understanding that these types of efforts are to be introduced into training close to race season since they have a fairly high physiological "cost", which would compromise quality of threshold development training.

assuming my racing begins in earnest in late march of 2010, and assuming that i've diagnosed the limiter correctly, when is it recommended to introduce awc specific sessions into my training?

I realize lots of other data/info could be beneficial, but any thoughts on what is presented in this post are appreciated.

fwiw, i'm a 35+ y.o. cat 2, have been racing/training w power for 3 seasons, and my profile is that of an all-arounder with an upward point at 5 sec. and a dip at 1', otherwise it's within the cat 2 range.

 

[DancenMacabre]

New poster here? Welcome.

I asked something kinda similar & got great info from the guys here. Excellent info it was. A few questions for you that might help people respond.....

What CTL range do you carry year round, including now?

Whats your winter training like, indoors on the torture rack (trainer!!!) or outdoors or both?

Is the 1 min figure from an all-out 1 min test or cherry picked from race/ride data?

What kind of races do you do or focus on most?

When you say: "I've concluded AWC efforts that fall into quadrant II (i.e. 1' to 3' maximal efforts that go up hill) are a limiter" do you mean repeated, short steep climbs in a course or one-off climbs? Quad 2 would mean steep, low-cadence, high force stuff.

 

[NomadVW]

Hey MD - since you don't seem to be getting much of a response, I'll chime in. We know each other, so you already know my training thoughts. For me, it makes no sense - at your current fitness - to work hard on the upper end stuff until beginning of February - at the earliest.

Couple modes of thought -

If you're training low enough hours that fatigue isn't a factor, you can work a couple SST days and a AWC day in this time of year.

I find that AWC hurts me more on recovery than a similar TSS SST day, so I simply avoid sub 3 minute AWC stuff as a whole. That allows me to keep the SST / endurance workouts where I want them to. I also know that once I start working the 1-3 minute areas, they come back fast enough that beginning to work on them in December only means they'll plateau to a large degree by the end of January.

This year I am following a much more "Friel-esque" periodization with the high volume/long SST sessions that I like. I'll trade the volume for intensity/AWC in Feb. I'll start Sat morning's at the 10am in January to "prime the pump," but it'll be a ride to DC, 10am, ride home - so we're looking at 4-4½ hrs all around that day.

Edited to add - if you get any stronger next year, it's gonna hurt me more, so take my advice with a grain of salt

 

[MDcat2]

Hey MD - since you don't seem to be getting much of a response, I'll chime in. We know each other, so you already know my training thoughts. For me, it makes no sense - at your current fitness - to work hard on the upper end stuff until beginning of February - at the earliest.

Couple modes of thought -

If you're training low enough hours that fatigue isn't a factor, you can work a couple SST days and a AWC day in this time of year.

I find that AWC hurts me more on recovery than a similar TSS SST day, so I simply avoid sub 3 minute AWC stuff as a whole. That allows me to keep the SST / endurance workouts where I want them to. I also know that once I start working the 1-3 minute areas, they come back fast enough that beginning to work on them in December only means they'll plateau to a large degree by the end of January.

This year I am following a much more "Friel-esque" periodization with the high volume/long SST sessions that I like. I'll trade the volume for intensity/AWC in Feb. I'll start Sat morning's at the 10am in January to "prime the pump," but it'll be a ride to DC, 10am, ride home - so we're looking at 4-4½ hrs all around that day.

Edited to add - if you get any stronger next year, it's gonna hurt me more, so take my advice with a grain of salt

thanks Nomad, my thoughts as well, but wanted to get some opinions/feedback from some others.

me hurt you ... ha ha.

see you on that 10 a.m. in January.