Critique my training programme?



donm

New Member
Oct 30, 2006
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I'm training towards the UK national duathlon champs in April, and am hoping to get some feedback on the bike portion of the program I've come up with. The hardest phase is general prep. I've done this because specific prep will be a hard run-focus phase and I don't think it'll be possible to include an L5 and L4 bike session at that time. Any comments or criticisms are much appreciated.

Base (14 weeks)
  • Build to consistent 6 hours per week (4.5 hours for easy weeks, which come every 4th week)
  • 2.5 hour long rides
  • Build from 70min to 90min L3 per week, rest is L2
General Prep (8 weeks)
  • 7-8 hours riding per week
  • 90min per week L3
  • 40min per week L4 (one session 2x20)
  • 24 min per week L5 (one session 6x4)
Specific Prep (6 weeks)
  • 6.5 hours per week
  • 90-95min per week L3
  • 40-50min per week L4 (pushing hard on this session)
Peak (4 weeks)
  • 5.5 hours per week
  • 70 min per week L3
  • 60 min per week L4 (3x20 pushing very hard)
Taper (1 week)
  • Just a very easy week before the A race.
 
Anybody, anybody?

The race I'm training for is roughly 10k run / 40k bike / 5k run.
 
donm said:
Anybody, anybody?

The race I'm training for is roughly 10k run / 40k bike / 5k run.

If you are trying to ride a national championship you probably need to do substantially more volume, even allowing for the need to train running simultaneously.
 
Roadie_scum said:
If you are trying to ride a national championship you probably need to do substantially more volume, even allowing for the need to train running simultaneously.
I agree actually. At the moment my programe is optimised for running, as I find that my cycling consistently improves on relatively low volume. Also, the bike hours I've laid out in the program are minimum hours for that week. If I have extra time that week, I spend it on the bike. This week, for instance, I've spent about 3 hours more on the bike than planned.

That said, there are going to be weeks where I'm limited to the hours outlined in the plan. Are there other ways to up the training load and keep improving without spending more hours on the bike?

In an attempt to do this I've recently been riding almost all of my rides (except those >4h) at L3 rather than L2. It seems to be working fine and I'm recovering well. What about L4 intervals year round (i.e. even in the base phase)? Would doing either 2x20, 3x15 or 4x10 once per week add quality training stress and lead to greater performance, or would I burn out after 32 straight weeks of L4?
 
donm said:
I agree actually. At the moment my programe is optimised for running, as I find that my cycling consistently improves on relatively low volume. Also, the bike hours I've laid out in the program are minimum hours for that week. If I have extra time that week, I spend it on the bike. This week, for instance, I've spent about 3 hours more on the bike than planned.

That said, there are going to be weeks where I'm limited to the hours outlined in the plan. Are there other ways to up the training load and keep improving without spending more hours on the bike?

In an attempt to do this I've recently been riding almost all of my rides (except those >4h) at L3 rather than L2. It seems to be working fine and I'm recovering well. What about L4 intervals year round (i.e. even in the base phase)? Would doing either 2x20, 3x15 or 4x10 once per week add quality training stress and lead to greater performance, or would I burn out after 32 straight weeks of L4?

How are you managing your volume? If you are adding unstructured work whenever you have time, you have to be wary of ramping up too fast and overdoing it.

L4 year round is something a lot of people do. It can work very well or can burn you out. I say do it, but don't try to PB every session!
 
donm said:
In an attempt to do this I've recently been riding almost all of my rides (except those >4h) at L3 rather than L2. It seems to be working fine and I'm recovering well. What about L4 intervals year round (i.e. even in the base phase)? Would doing either 2x20, 3x15 or 4x10 once per week add quality training stress and lead to greater performance, or would I burn out after 32 straight weeks of L4?
I would definitely recommend L4 in the base phase, for me this is what 'base' really is.. not 6 hours going at a moderate pace:p
 
Roadie_scum said:
How are you managing your volume? If you are adding unstructured work whenever you have time, you have to be wary of ramping up too fast and overdoing it.

L4 year round is something a lot of people do. It can work very well or can burn you out. I say do it, but don't try to PB every session!
Basically I'm doing a 3 hard weeks / 1 easy week approach, keeping strictly to a low volume in the easy weeks but training as much as I have time for in the hard weeks. To be honest I don't think I have enough training time available to cause myself to overtrain on the bike. It's different on the run, where I have to be strict about volume or end up with shin splints or knee ligament problems.

I think I'll go for one L4 session per week, missing it out in the easy weeks as follows:

Wk 1 - 2x20
Wk 2 - 4x10
Wk 3 - 3x15
Wk 4 - Off

I can repeat this every 4 week cycle. I think your suggestion to avoid shooting for a pb every session is a good one. I'll just make sure I'm somewhere in the L4 zone.

Thanks for the help!
 
donm said:
Basically I'm doing a 3 hard weeks / 1 easy week approach, keeping strictly to a low volume in the easy weeks but training as much as I have time for in the hard weeks. To be honest I don't think I have enough training time available to cause myself to overtrain on the bike. It's different on the run, where I have to be strict about volume or end up with shin splints or knee ligament problems.

Yep, that sounds reasonable. One thing, if your volume really is relatively low (and even if it wasn't, actually), you may not need a complete rest week. You need to listen to your body on this one, but a lot of people find that freshening up for 2-4 days is enough to get the energy back and go into another 3-4 week block without overdoing it. This kind of management can be helped using the Performance Manager on WKO+. I'm not sure if you're using this for power analysis? Otherwise, you can just go off how you feel.

I think I'll go for one L4 session per week, missing it out in the easy weeks as follows:

Wk 1 - 2x20
Wk 2 - 4x10
Wk 3 - 3x15
Wk 4 - Off

If you are training for a 40k I'd keep the intervals on the long side, duration wise. As in, 2X20, 3X20, 2X30. You can hit up some shorter stuff closer to the day. See comments above regarding a full rest week.

I can repeat this every 4 week cycle. I think your suggestion to avoid shooting for a pb every session is a good one. I'll just make sure I'm somewhere in the L4 zone.

'Somewhere in the L4 zone' is a very good way to put it.

Thanks for the help!

No worries, good luck!
 
Jono L said:
I would definitely recommend L4 in the base phase, for me this is what 'base' really is.. not 6 hours going at a moderate pace:p

Yep. As someone once said to me, it's all about tempo climbing. Now can you start eating donuts and stop training so I can keep up with you? :p
 
Roadie_scum said:
Yep. As someone once said to me, it's all about tempo climbing. Now can you start eating donuts and stop training so I can keep up with you? :p
Just wait till schoolies! :D