L4 intensity/ timing timing question

[Conan]

Curious to hear how others approach L4 training as their A races approach.

I've been doing a lot of work at SST and lower level L4 (up to 95% FTP) CTL has been rising steadily as have my 20 and 60 min bests and FTP. My key races start in around 5 weeks and my dilemna is should I continue doing my sessions at SST/lower end L4 or should I start to throw in some work at FTP levels?

My focus is purely TT and my sessions are generally done in 3 day blocks such as day 2 x 30 mins at 95%, day 2, 60-75 mins at 90%FTP, day 3: 3 x 20s at 88-92% FTP approx. Also doing a 3.5 hour ride with a fair amount of lower end SST.

I'm not looking for a written program - I'm just keen to hear how others approach it.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

[frost]

"Push" method that you have successfully used is excellent for base-building but for race preparation I would schedule some (1-2/week) L5 into the mix and/or exercise (TT) race weekly. Obviously people differ but for quite many there is a sizeable difference what you get out of yourself training hard or then wearing a number and having someone chase you.

My approach is based on "normal" length TT's (10-50km). If I were doing 100k TT I would probably skip higher intensity and just ride a lots.

 

[Conan]

Thanks for your advice Frost. After reading a lot of related threads I've picked up some great tips from youself, Rapdaddyo, Dave Ryan and many others. Will start to incorporate some shorter stuff as well as a session of the 8-10 mins @ 100%ftp as recommended by RDO in other threads.

 

[RapDaddyo]

Originally Posted by Conan .

Will start to incorporate some shorter stuff as well as a session of the 8-10 mins @ 100%ftp as recommended by RDO in other threads.

This is about the right time to do these 100%FTP L4 sessions if your first target event is about 5 weeks away. And, depending on the courses and whether you plan to implement a variable power pacing strategy, you might want to spend some time on your AWC with some L5/L6 efforts.

 

[Conan]

Thanks RapDaddyo, One more question: do you still maintain a high volume of L4 @91% approx when you start introducing the shorter 100% efforts and L5. I'm guessing you'd allow your CTL to plateau or drop slightly...?

Cheers
Chris

 

[RapDaddyo]

Originally Posted by Conan .

Thanks RapDaddyo, One more question: do you still maintain a high volume of L4 @91% approx when you start introducing the shorter 100% efforts and L5. I'm guessing you'd allow your CTL to plateau or drop slightly...?

Cheers
Chris

Hi Chris, Yes, I maintain a pretty steady load of standard (20-40min) L4 efforts throughout the year and pretty much the same weekly volume of training time. What happens as I approach a target event is that I swap some long L4s with short L4s in order to do them at 100%-105%FTP and I increase my volume of L5 and L6 efforts. So, I basically maintain a constant volume of training but change the mix. What this does is to increase my total recovery duration per ride and decrease TSS a bit per ride because of the higher volume of recovery segments at ~150W. I have an advantage in that I have a tool that parses my rides by level so I am able to track very accurately not only my total training time and TSS but also the mix by level. Also, note that I almost never exceed my 90%MMP protocol since the 8-10min L4s may be 100%+FTP but they are also only ~90% of my MMP for that duration.