Is there value for a long-course triathlete to develop 30s or 1 min. power?
I rode outside yesterday for the first time in about two months. (During those two months, all the weekday mornings have been too dark, and it seems like every weekend I'm out of town, or it's 35 and raining, or there's snow on the roads.) During that time, all my riding has been on preprogrammed erg files on the Computrainer where I do the prescribed workouts and nothing else. It was great to be on the open road on a sunny 50 degree winter day as the snow was melting around me.
I feel like I've significantly improved my 20' and FTP and my ability to grind out at a steady pace over the last couple months. But my legs felt lifeless charging up the hills outside. Most of my ~1 hour rides outside are done on local neighborhood rolling hills that feature constant 100' climbs and descents on relatively steep grades of 5-15%. Because I haven't ridden like this in so long, I didn't have the snap and strong feel that I usually get charging up these hills. Due to hills, traffic, stop signs, and stop lights, I can't do any constant intervals on these roads, but they're fun to ride and I'm often there on weekday mornings in the summer when I don't have time to seek out flatter, uninterrupted terrain.
Are we shorting ourselves at all by never riding above 120% of FTP in the Out Season? Even if there's no physical benefit that is expressed on a 6' IM ride, the mental freshness of a casual fartlek type ride seems to be lost in the EN training regimen. Similarly, I've been so cuaght up on running the intervals as prescribed on the local flat MUT, that I haven't done casual trail runs in the local woods that keep my mind fresh. How do we mix up the fun with the regimented training?
Comments
Keith,
You will hit the Vo2 Max work at week 9 of the OS. This is the short all-out efforts you are describing. In the house the specific bike workout is known as 30/30s (meaning 30 sec hard/120% and 30 secs much easier.) This effort is repeated several times and is the regular "bike flavor" for 6 week prior to returning to the FTP work.
Depending on where you are in the OS you may not be there yet. I am just starting this phase of work and welcome the bit of change.
Stay the course and you will exit this OS very strong and ready to build upon your new long-course fitness.
Another key point is the proper execution of the 30/30s.
See the link to the old forum post attached. www.endurancenation.us/en_forums/showthread.php
I'm just about to start week 9. But that still only takes power to 120% or about 275 watts for me based on 230 FTP. My 1m power used to be about 500 or so, and the Out Season plans do nothing to develop (or even retain) those short intense bursts used in a sprint or over a short hill. I know that I shouldn't be doing that in an IM, but short intense bursts like that do a lot to keep bike riding interesting and fun.
Keith,
you'll probably see this advice pretty consistenly, but in the out-season, do what it takes to make sure you're enjoying yourself. There's nothing magic about doing exactly the workout as written, with absolutely nothing else. If you like cranking out 15" at 500 watts every once in a while to finish a workout, and it keeps being inside from numbing your brain, then go for it.
Of course, recognize that too much of that might affect your ability to get the other work done. While having a really high 30" or 1' power is an asset in bike racing, it doesn't do much for upping the speed in a tri (of any kind), so try not to do so much that you're left unable to do the workouts.
As RnP are fond of saying, this is all just a game...
Mike
Keith,
Riding up a hill very, very hard, outsprinting friends for the town sign, etc is all good. I don't think it does anything for you for race day, but it's just fun, makes you strong, and maybe that stronger applies somewhere on race day...if it doesn't, who cares. Beating up on your training partners is often what it's really all about