Looking for advice on how best to integrate VO2max (zone 5) workouts into structured block training. First, some background info..
Attempting to make a long story shorter.. I had a great start to this year with focused block training in 3 or 4-day increments. I found that consecutive days of hard training followed by complete recovery off the bike was working well for me, and I was making solid gains in FT. I learned that I could still hit desired power numbers on the 3rd or 4th day, even when I felt fatigued and had sore legs. My FT progressed from 270 to 310, with a peak CTL of 70 in mid April. Things were rocking and I was feeling very good and very motivated. I only did a few races, but I was happy with the results.
And then.. the 20-day vacation hit (the big whammy), along with periods of business travel afterwards. Being without my Powertap for a month (technical reasons) certainly didn't help. My CTL hit a low of about 20. Needless to say, it has been a huge struggle since. That crappy feeling of not quite being comfortable on the bike and lacking motivation to do any racing. I wanted to get back onto my block training schedule, which was working so well earlier, but I was not able to. Whether due to physical or mental reasons, or some combination of both, I'm not sure. So I was mostly alternating days of medium intensity (Z3/SST/Z4) with easy or off days.
Now.. I've built my CTL up to around 50 and lo and behold I'm finally getting that comfortable feeling on the bike again. I've felt so good this past week that I had my first quality training block since the big trip:
Sa - 290 TSS
Su - 110 TSS
M - 170 TSS
Tu - ? (haven't decided yet)
What really makes me happy about this is that yesterday (Monday) was my first dedicated VO2max day in months. I preceeded the intervals with a "blow out the pipes" 10-min effort up one of the local hills. I averaged 357 watts (360 NP) which, while painful, was surprisingly doable. This is a very good number for me and now I'm thinking I need to re-test my FT which has been stuck at 310 for a long time. Even more surprising to me was that I was able to do this after two quality training days. In the past, I've always done the highest intensity at the start of a training block.
Sorry about that lengthy prelude.. here are my questions!
Is it better to do the harder workouts, specifically VO2max intervals, early in a block, or late? Or best to mix it up? I see trade-offs. Doing the hard work early would leave you more sore/fatigued on subsequent days, while doing it later might make it more difficult to achieve the quality.
How much can one expect their FT to improve upon incorporating VO2max and higher intervals into regular training? I saw great improvements early in the season from Z3/SST/Z4 training alone, but now I'm ready to "pull up" rather than "push up" my threshold.
Thanks in advance to the training gurus!
Attempting to make a long story shorter.. I had a great start to this year with focused block training in 3 or 4-day increments. I found that consecutive days of hard training followed by complete recovery off the bike was working well for me, and I was making solid gains in FT. I learned that I could still hit desired power numbers on the 3rd or 4th day, even when I felt fatigued and had sore legs. My FT progressed from 270 to 310, with a peak CTL of 70 in mid April. Things were rocking and I was feeling very good and very motivated. I only did a few races, but I was happy with the results.
And then.. the 20-day vacation hit (the big whammy), along with periods of business travel afterwards. Being without my Powertap for a month (technical reasons) certainly didn't help. My CTL hit a low of about 20. Needless to say, it has been a huge struggle since. That crappy feeling of not quite being comfortable on the bike and lacking motivation to do any racing. I wanted to get back onto my block training schedule, which was working so well earlier, but I was not able to. Whether due to physical or mental reasons, or some combination of both, I'm not sure. So I was mostly alternating days of medium intensity (Z3/SST/Z4) with easy or off days.
Now.. I've built my CTL up to around 50 and lo and behold I'm finally getting that comfortable feeling on the bike again. I've felt so good this past week that I had my first quality training block since the big trip:
Sa - 290 TSS
Su - 110 TSS
M - 170 TSS
Tu - ? (haven't decided yet)
What really makes me happy about this is that yesterday (Monday) was my first dedicated VO2max day in months. I preceeded the intervals with a "blow out the pipes" 10-min effort up one of the local hills. I averaged 357 watts (360 NP) which, while painful, was surprisingly doable. This is a very good number for me and now I'm thinking I need to re-test my FT which has been stuck at 310 for a long time. Even more surprising to me was that I was able to do this after two quality training days. In the past, I've always done the highest intensity at the start of a training block.
Sorry about that lengthy prelude.. here are my questions!
Is it better to do the harder workouts, specifically VO2max intervals, early in a block, or late? Or best to mix it up? I see trade-offs. Doing the hard work early would leave you more sore/fatigued on subsequent days, while doing it later might make it more difficult to achieve the quality.
How much can one expect their FT to improve upon incorporating VO2max and higher intervals into regular training? I saw great improvements early in the season from Z3/SST/Z4 training alone, but now I'm ready to "pull up" rather than "push up" my threshold.
Thanks in advance to the training gurus!