Hill TT training strategies



EmPat

New Member
Dec 9, 2006
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Can anyone offer any tips for specific Hill TT training? To compound things further I have a 75km road race about 3 hours after the TT.

The TT should take me about 7mins so is it a matter of replicating that period of hurt in training?

Any advice appreciated.
 
EmPat said:
...Any advice appreciated.
Train similar courses as much as you can, look for hills that will take you five to ten minutes to climb. And on race day get a very complete warmup including a couple of hard minutes above your expected race pace for an event that short. Don't forget to refuel with your favorite carb and protein recovery drink immediately after the event, it'll pay off in that road race later in the day. I like Hammer's Recoverite, Endurox or low fat chocolate milk which is easy to find when I'm on the road at stage races with exactly the recovery problem you describe.

Good luck,
-Dave
 
Thanks Dave. Will have to find something that matches the course as much as possible and let the legs know how its going to feel.
 
EmPat said:
Thanks Dave. Will have to find something that matches the course as much as possible and let the legs know how its going to feel.
Sounds good, BTW, your event is right on the line between long VO2 Max efforts and shorter than usual Threshold efforts. IOW, training for this on representative courses is going to be a lot like doing VO2 Max work so fit them into your weekly schedule accordingly and don't be surprised if you can't do more than three or four repeats per workout (total time in VO2 max around 25 to 30 minutes).

From your original post it sounds like you haven't done a lot of prologue style TTs. They key is going to be pacing, you have to go out hard in something that short but don't want to fade before the finish. Use your training to figure out your best pacing, you should finish with very little left in the tank but with a very strong effort from start to finish. These are hard to figure out so play with different start strategies till you find something that works for you. Most time trials, even short prologues, are lost in the first couple of minutes by riders that go out way too hard and blow up before the finish. But you can't roll easily into something this short either so spend time figuring out your best pacing.

Good luck,
-Dave
 
My recommendation is to do some practice runs while focusing on maintaining a relaxed upper body and upright seated position. Get your breathing in sync with your pedal stroke and just let yourself be a machine. Climbing is partly mental and people can do well even when they don't have a great power/weight ratio if they can learn to relax when climbing, spinning and breathing easy.