How long can you maintain peak fitness on just races?

[bgoetz]

So here is where I am at. I have put in a significant amount of time/effort over the past few months, building base, building fitness, etc., following my periodization plan pretty much to the hour. I am not sure if it is a result of too much volume, too much intensity, I have developed a significant amount of muscular endurance, but seem to be lacking a bit on the top end (I crush my competitors in tts, but seem to lack the last big kick at the end of a long leadout). So now I am to my last week before I move into my race weeks, where I will cash in on some of the fitness I built. These last two weeks have been lower volume, so I have been able to focus a bit more on the top end. After this week I have three race weeks where all I planned is racing on the weekends and touching things up during the week, by doing maybe an hour of L1/ L2 with some sprints or 30 to 45 min on the rollers a couple days a week, but pretty much my focus will be racing. So my question is how long will I be able to maintain peak form by mostly just racing? I want to get as much from all of the hard work as possible, but I don't want to get to my key race at week three and find my fitness lacking.

 

[swampy1970]

I would not lay off the hard training during the week. By all means lay off the big volume of work but it's a good time to include some hard top end work during the week. Personally, I needed intense work, not to exhaustion, to keep the legs feeling good. Some 3 to 4 minute digs at L5, some flat out efforts of ~25 to 35 seconds - hard work at a relative high output but without pushing the duration of each effort such that it brings feeling of intense fatigue. If you're lacking "snap" then some very short, very hard 10 to 15 second efforts will help. Make it fun - and give the head a rest. Ride a favorite training route and dose of the hard/short efforts accordingly. Treat small hills and town signs as a means to have some fun and the rest of the time just turn the gear over (L2) and enjoy the view. Ensure that you get enough to eat/drink and rest properly and resist urges to make last minute changes to your bike.

 

[Alex Simmons]

Originally Posted by bgoetz .

So my question is how long will I be able to maintain peak form by mostly just racing? I want to get as much from all of the hard work as possible, but I don't want to get to my key race at week three and find my fitness lacking.

You can maintain a high level for long periods, but real peaks? A few weeks maybe. It can be mentally fatiguing as much as anything, depending on how lofty the goal is you are aiming for.

Higher your sustainable CTL is to begin with, the longer you can keep making withdrawals. It can take years to build additional CTL capacity.

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by Alex Simmons .

You can maintain a high level for long periods, but real peaks? A few weeks maybe. It can be mentally fatiguing as much as anything, depending on how lofty the goal is you are aiming for.

Higher your sustainable CTL is to begin with, the longer you can keep making withdrawals. It can take years to build additional CTL capacity.

I'm not sure who coined 6-9-12 (if anybody), but if I'm focusing on any races and not just showing up to have fun, that seems to be the pretty close to my own peak and hold. 6 weeks to get sharp after beginning intensity, 3 more weeks or so to get to my best, which I can then hold for another couple weeks.

As far as additional CTL, Phil Gilberts must have been through the roof to have the kind of season he did last year. Winning almost every race he entered in his typical 1-2km "escape" fashion. It's a little easier when one is winning race after race in a sprint finish on what could amount to largely genetic talent and a competent team, but to carry the form needed to win day in and day out is truly awe inspiring.

BG from what I have read of your posts you have certainly done things by the book and made considerable gains with corresponding success in a short amount of time. Certainly moreso than myself so it feels a little odd giving any advice, but Swampy's wisdom on trimming volume and maintaining a day or two of intensity works well. I used to be able to manage two interval days during the week between weekend races to maintain and build speed after the season start, but these days my body says it's only interested in one.

 

[bgoetz]

Thanks guys, seems like I am right on track. Currently my CTL is 110 and slowly dropping, the quality of my workouts, especially yesterday's club race is certainly better than it has been all year. I will spend the next 3 weeks focusing on races and staying fresh with some mid-week sprint work, at the end of which I figure my CTL will be 90-95. From there I am changing thing up a bit from my original plan of re-building and having another peak at the end of the season, I will just be doing what I can with 12hrs per week to keep my fitness and then tapper again before my end of season races. I have a 11 week old baby girl who I really need to spend more time with. On another note, does anyone else have a feeling of "walking out of a fog" after reducing training? It has happened to me before and I just have this feeling like I can finally think after 3 months of numbness.