Specificity

[AntLockyer]

I believe I've seen e-Richie talk about only training for 90 minutes for 'cross, I've seen running things where the advice is to not run considerably more than your target distance in training (and in the case of amateur marathons to not run full distance at all).

Being an Englishman I have a certain love of time trials and given my health issues see that as a decent way back into cycling (short event easy to manage fuel and meds).

So my question for those who know, when does specificity become appropriate? What does a 3 hour ride gain someone whose events run between 20 and 60 minutes? If you were just training for the 10 mile TT could you make good gains by training for 30 minutes at a time? Starting slow and gradually increasing your effort over time until you are up to race pace?

I have a basic understanding of the Friel style of periodisation, I'm just wondering if there is an alternative? Apparently Wiggins is trying to stay at 97% through the entire season rather than having a huge peak and troughs like before.

[John Mansell]

All cycling events longer than 10 minutes are aerobic in nature. The bigger you build your aerobic base the faster you will get. To build an aerobic base take time in your aerobic zone and the more time the big the base gets. Once you have developed your aerobic out and race season begins you need to focus on the Specificity of the event but you should not abandon you aerobic base and hit it every week or two.

As a general rule (using a proper training plan) the more time on the bike the faster you get. You will pick this up in Friel's books. There are other ways to skin the cat but are not as good. The time crunch cyclist address ways to get fast doing anaerobic work but at min 6-8 hours of week need to be done.

I don't think you can train 30m a day and reach your potential for a 10 mile TT.

[AntLockyer]

If it's about volume how about doing 2 (or 3) 30 minute stints a day? I don't really understand why the base is important.

[Jacques]

I look at it this way: how many full-out cross race efforts can you do in a week?

For most people, maybe 2-4 before performance begins to drop. Even if this is the most effective training for what you want to do, it's probably not a bad idea to pad those 3hrs/week out with more training to develop abilities perhaps not as specific to, but still beneficial to the task at hand. Enter endurance training, vo2 intervals, sprints, etc.

[AntLockyer]

So just too tiring to do enough of?

Coggan Power Zones - Power Training Levels by Andrew Coggan | TrainingPeaks

I went there looking for the effect of 'base' or Zone 2 stuff and his table would seem to bear out that Tempo and above elicits the most adaptation.

[John Mansell]

If it's about volume how about doing 2 (or 3) 30 minute stints a day? I don't really understand why the base is important.

I think this work is good if the intensity is high enough but more volume in different zones will be needed to reach potential. The more intense the workouts the less time is needed to create adapations. Frank Overton took Coggan zones and created Sweet Spot Training. (the zone bewteen 3 & 4) Many top coaches use work in this zone a lot because is causes the more adapation and it can be repeated daily. It is an excellent way to build an aerobic base. Work in SST should be done for 1 to 2 hours a per session.

Please note when I say build aerobic base I do not mean long and slow miles. You should be touching all the zones in coggan chart. The best bang for the buck will be zones 3,4, & 5. The more 3 you do, the longer you will need to ride, the more 5 you do the shorter you need to ride. Keep in mind a bunch of 5 doesn't make up for the doing the longer 3 rides. You just need both. Some types of adapations take a long time on the bike.

[Too Tall]

I like what you are saying John.
There is more, alot more. Some of this I'm good at, finding how to get the most out of folks given their constraints.
The books only tell one story. If you want to be fast, ride alot. That simple statement sums it up in the fewest words I know.

[WadePatton]

If it's about volume how about doing 2 (or 3) 30 minute stints a day? I don't really understand why the base is important.

I didn't either. But there's a book on it: Base Building for Cyclists, Thomas Chapple 2006.

I won't pretend to begin to esplain it all (as i read more than i ride-and my conclusions must therefore be suspect) but to say that how you train affects what fuels the body uses and what sort of muscle function is supported-which affects how often and effective your training can be.

My personal issues were being too casual/flippant about base and also being bored by long steady efforts-as there is no such thing as "steady effort" in off-roading.

But i learned to understand.

Ride Lots is the surest, simplest route, but most folks are too busy for all that.

[AntLockyer]

I think what John says kind of agrees with what I was saying, kind of :)

I always thought base as long slow sessions.

I'll just ride my bike more.

[John Mansell]

I think what John says kind of agrees with what I was saying, kind of :)

I always thought base as long slow sessions.

I'll just ride my bike more.

I should have used a different word instead of base. Replace aerobic base with aerobic engine.

Base has lots of different meanings. Base use to mean riding around for lots of miles in zone 2. I think most coaches still perscribe lots of miles as base but they will tell you to mix it up and touch on other zones.

[AntLockyer]

That makes a lot more sense, thanks.

[Watoni]

I may have posted this before, and think what you will of Ferrari, but this makes a lot of sense to me regarding why riding in the sweet spot makes a lot of sense

"When pedaling at a slow pace, for example when cruising at 26-30 km/h on a flat course (corresponding to a Lento Intensity), the tendency is to utilize a mixture of roughly 50% sugars and 50% fats as fuel for the activity.

By speeding up a little, the percentage of utilized fats decreases and further drops down as we progressively increase the intensity, reaching minimal levels at anaerobic threshold.

In fact, laboratory research widely documented that for efforts involving lactic acid concentrations close to 4 mM/L, the energetic source is 100% carbohydrates. The same happens for intensities higher than anaerobic threshold values.

The lipid power is the absolute quantity of fats that muscles utilize as fuel for activity expressed in g/min.

If, instead of the percentage of utilized fats, we consider the absolute quantity of fats consumed per minute (the lipid power), we find that the higher value corresponds to intensities equal to 80-90% of the anaerobic threshold (within the range of Medio pace).
Such intensities generally correspond to lactic acid concentrations close to 2 mM/L.




Every cyclist should have the interest in improving his own lipid power: increasing fats consumption at medium intensities allows the rider to spare precious glycogen stores, saving them for the highest efforts or the final part of the race.
The maximum lipid power in well-trained athletes can reach values of 0.7-0.8 g/min, equal to 380-400 Kcal/hour.

Medium intensities are therefore crucial for a cyclist’s training, especially when focused on long endurance sessions, being the most effective in improving the muscular capacity to utilize fat amounts per minute.

Such intensities should be calibrated on the personal capabilities of the athlete, pointing out the great importance in checking lactate values at different intensities of effort through proper testing protocols"

[DOOFUS]

if you can do it -- and most of us can't -- nothing beats high volume.

I do a lot of low threshold work during the winter, training no more than 10-12hrs a week. like Overton and Coggan say, it does yield the most "bang for the buck" in terms of building threshold power and base fitness.

but, I've found my best fitness comes after piling on 300+ mile weeks in May through July, divided 80-90% zones 1-2, 10-20% zones 4-5. whatever the physiological mechanism, it just works.

Intervals, Thresholds, and Long Slow Distance: the Role of Intensity and Duration in Endurance Training