CTL aims over winter

[steelwheels4]

Hi Guys, I will try to keep this very short if I can. I am aiming to do a series of mtb xc races over the winter between October and mid-January. Therefore after a very short break I am back training hard again to stay in shape. While i want to do well in these xc races, I also want to be in race shape again come April when the road season starts again.

What I am wondering is what should I be watching for when looking at the PMC. My CTL normally goes down over the winter due to the shorter hours most of which are spent on the turbo. It could go as low as 45/50 but by April I will have up at about 80/85 and can maintain it at 80/85 during the season. I couldnt maintain it at this level on a normal week, but every so often I can get in a much longer ride, or sometimes I can have a week light on other commitments where I really go to town and bump up the hours.

Should I be trying to get it back up now to about 80 and holding it during the xc season, and on limited time do i need to forego some turbo sessions for some longer road rides if possible to get the CTL higher. Not sure how to manage this to try and have both targets of a good winter race series and then fresh and strong again for April.

Many Thanks

 

[RapDaddyo]

As one who trains year-round, I certainly think you can maintain 80/85 CTL through the winter from a physical perspective. Whether you have the available time in your schedule and how you handle it mentally are separate questions. You will actually find the trainer more efficient than road rides in terms of getting quality minutes. I have no problem achieving a ratio of 80%+ high-intensity efforts (L4-L7) to total time on the trainer, but this drops to about 65% outside. But, some people don't enjoy trainer rides. If you can tolerate your trainer mentally, it is much more efficient and you can train everything, including L7.

 

[steelwheels4]

Yeah, I think that I could keep it going all year as I don't tend to put in the big hours, but am asking on here for others experiences or thoughts as I don't want to ruin next seasons road racing by trying to keep race fit for the mtb xc races this fall and winter.
I do start of the winter not liking the trainer, but actually grow to enjoy it in some perverse way, you can really control and measure what you do on it and can get competitive on it ! So trainer training is not as issue.
For me to keep a CTL around or close to 80 requires a lot of higher intensity as I have limited hours, that is my only concern.

 

[GlennC]

The only issue with maintaining your training over winter is avoiding becoming stale or tired of training. I would suggest taking a week or two rest/very easy off programmed training before starting your road season to freshen up. You will lose alittle fitness at this time, but will bounce back quickly.

 

[steelwheels4]

OK, so to put things simply for me...with only about 8 to 10 hours to train on a normal week, is it still better to build slowly over the winter and forego doing any mtb xc races with any hope to be competitive, and gradually build CTL. Or with so little time is it OK to reach my ceiling over the winter and then try to maintain it as high as possible that these hours will allow. I have picked up that once your CTL reaches its limit then you plateau. But what I guess I am trying to ask is it such a bad thing to reach this plateau and then stay there ? Or does it not work this way, if you plateau for too long do you begin to see bad things happen ?

I am fairly new to following really structured training, and trying to plan training with CTL in mind. I sort off think that I cant burn out with so little training time and so much recovery time even if fairly intense, but any experience or knowledge so I don't have to go through the pain of trial and error and failure would be most appreciated. As I don't tend to focus on any particular races so no need to peak, but I focus on a season long series of races on a league basis, I guess I would rather have fairly decent long term form, rather than really good form for a few races.

Thanks

 

[gudujarlson]

If I understand the Impulse-Response model (which ATL/CTL/TSB is based upon), fitness is related to CTL and thus if CTL is constant fitness is also constant. However, the Impulse-Response model also predicts that fitness will increase without bound as long as CTL increases, which most people agree is not true in reality. So I am also left wondering if many months of SST work with a constant CTL will increase my fitness or just maintain it. I suspect the answer depends on the individual's genetics and past training history.

 

[speedysniff]

I think that you should train for XC races specifically by spending a lot of time in upper zone 3/SST. At about 8hours a week of this and not only will you have the endurance to finish strong in your XC races but you will be building excellent base!

Whatever your CTL is then is pretty much all the CTL you can build in 8hrs or so a week! You need a higher CTL your gonna have to increase volume and that's limited. Increasing intensity usually doesn't work in my limited experience because I can't handle the stress for more than a few weeks.

What I'm finding out is after blocks of time spent training in SST, I can reach a higher peak and can handle more time in L5-L7 without burning out so quick!