Road Race versus TT Training Regimen

[robkit]

my training since December has been focussed on increasing FT power (i used 20 min -10 watts as as rough proxy and i've got up to 300 watts.

but since ive now got a couple of road races in the legs the main observation is that the efforts required are nothing like a time trial effort.

last race required 20 min power of only 260 watts, well in the comfort zone, yet the short duration powers especially 1 and upto 5 mins are pretty impressive given what ive done in training.

its seems to me that the biggest determinant of the ability to finish a road race, especially when there are no long climbs, is 5 minute power. most people can dig in for a minute or so, and the rythm of any race does not seem to stretch 20 min power, yet at the 5 min duration..for example 2 or 3 decisive laps of a crit, thats when people get popped.

in fact in amateur racing, even the final sprint seems to have more to do with who comes out of the last 5 mins with spare capacity, than who is the better sprinter.

so my proposal is this...quit the focus on threshold and concentrate on VO2 max intervals as the lions share of training.

 

[gvanwagner]

my training since December has been focussed on increasing FT power (i used 20 min -10 watts as as rough proxy and i've got up to 300 watts.

but since ive now got a couple of road races in the legs the main observation is that the efforts required are nothing like a time trial effort.

last race required 20 min power of only 260 watts, well in the comfort zone, yet the short duration powers especially 1 and upto 5 mins are pretty impressive given what ive done in training.

its seems to me that the biggest determinant of the ability to finish a road race, especially when there are no long climbs, is 5 minute power. most people can dig in for a minute or so, and the rythm of any race does not seem to stretch 20 min power, yet at the 5 min duration..for example 2 or 3 decisive laps of a crit, thats when people get popped.

in fact in amateur racing, even the final sprint seems to have more to do with who comes out of the last 5 mins with spare capacity, than who is the better sprinter.

so my proposal is this...quit the focus on threshold and concentrate on VO2 max intervals as the lions share of training.

Well if you have been doing mostly FTP work over the past 3 months then your improvement is probably flattening out. I think you've answered your own question. If you really want to do better at these races now then start doing more high intensity intervals.


Also, if you're last race required had 20 min at 260 Ave. Then it is more then possible that the Pnorm could be ~300 watts. that would explain why you're having trouble with the surges. So it might be worth it to "raise your ceiling" so those 1-5 min efforts are at a lower percentage of what you can normally do for that duration.

Also, since you have only really been focusing on threshold then you would probably see a pretty rapid improvement at those intensities in a short time.


Greg

 

[WarrenG]

my training since December has been focussed on increasing FT power (i used 20 min -10 watts as as rough proxy and i've got up to 300 watts....

its seems to me that the biggest determinant of the ability to finish a road race, especially when there are no long climbs, is 5 minute power. ...

in fact in amateur racing, even the final sprint seems to have more to do with who comes out of the last 5 mins with spare capacity, than who is the better sprinter.

so my proposal is this...quit the focus on threshold and concentrate on VO2 max intervals as the lions share of training.

It sounds like you've learned some valuable lessons and now you're ready to get better.

This approach of training only one aspect of fitness at a time is not optimal for nearly all circumstances except at the very beginning of the training season. Your body likes multiple forms of training stimulus, you get more recovery time between days of hard efforts in one area while you train another, training is more interesting, and you can improve more than one aspect at a time.

You can improve your threshold and 5-minute ability simultaneously, no big deal. One a day a week for the 5-minute (VO2max) focus and reduce the threshold stuff by one, or one and half days per week or so. You can also devote another day to your sprinting so you'll be looking forward to those last few laps.

 

[bikeguy]

It sounds like you've learned some valuable lessons and now you're ready to get better.

This approach of training only one aspect of fitness at a time is not optimal for nearly all circumstances except at the very beginning of the training season. Your body likes multiple forms of training stimulus, you get more recovery time between days of hard efforts in one area while you train another, training is more interesting, and you can improve more than one aspect at a time.

You can improve your threshold and 5-minute ability simultaneously, no big deal. One a day a week for the 5-minute (VO2max) focus and reduce the threshold stuff by one, or one and half days per week or so. You can also devote another day to your sprinting so you'll be looking forward to those last few laps.

I agree. VO2 max (intervals 2-5 minutes) training should be done to raise MAP
to it's full potential. The higher MAP will then increase your FT and long term endurance, although there may be a lag time.

-Bikeguy