Because it needs to be made. Let stalk power, diet, periodization, weight training (or lack thereof), intervals, base, specificity, physiology, peaking etc.
Also, GTFO all tl;dr haterz. R.T.F.M.
'sup ya’ll. Imma start with this:
The Next Level by Hunter Allen:
http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/Articles/the_next_level.pdf
All the really good reasons why you should be focused on improving FTP if you want to go faster.
Disclaimer: I’m not an adherent to all of Hunter Allen’s training philosophies, but this is spot on. Also, he coaches way more pro athletes than I do. Hell, so does Chris Carmichael, but I feel like that guy is a kook.
the truck bros refer to this as doom week.
the week we would most like to be gone all the time on bike rides but the bossy bitches be pms’in and all sensitive n shit.
so this is week most beer is consumed.
[quote=Halbritt]'sup ya’ll. Imma start with this:
The Next Level by Hunter Allen:
http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/Articles/the_next_level.pdf
All the really good reasons why you should be focused on improving FTP if you want to go faster.
Disclaimer: I’m not an adherent to all of Hunter Allen’s training philosophies, but this is spot on. Also, he coaches way more pro athletes than I do. Hell, so does Chris Carmichael, but I feel like that guy is a kook.[/quote]
So basically, by doing tempo/zone 3 work (with upper 3/SST being optimal) and some zone 4 TT-type efforts, yeah?
FTP is definitely what’s holding me back. I can throw a mean first lap in a cross race, or a mean final 5 laps leading up to the sprint in a crit, but on breakaway/bridging/slow burn type efforts, I drop out earlier than the top cat 3’s.
i feel like a lot of my “getting faster” effort is wasted
get me into this thread
the truck bros refer to this as doom week.
the week we would most like to be gone all the time on bike rides but the bossy bitches be pms’in and all sensitive n shit.
so this is week most beer is consumed.[/quote]
also known as shark week
From what I know about how much you’re riding, I’m just gonna say, ride more. Get a solid base, then work on FTP.
Yes, but with the caveat that we’re really only talking about the upper end of tempo. Big point of that article is that you need to bump your training stress up. SST ride is upper tempo, those should probably be 90m long or longer if possible. 2x20 at threshold should hurt like a motherfucker. Probably ought to have a minimum of 2-3 hours of solid L4 work per week. Most of the rest should SST and recovery.
You’re cat3? Probably going to need a power meter to help establish and track your goals for a significant performance improvement. Power meter is good for helping you learn where you’re at and do workouts at the correct intensity, but that’s only half of it. The performance manager is the other half of the benefit, the explanation for which will take more time than I have right now. I’ll write a tl;dr on that later.
I did lots of diff intervals last night. It hurt really bad. When I was out on my own doing laps of the 'drome I tried to do everything on except for the back stretch, and then sprint again into turn one as hard as I can. Tried also saving up and then using all the last power at the very end. Felt awful/great.
for reference, what is meant by --x- intervals. what’s the significance of the two numbers?
I can put down 10 hundred watts.
srsly tho… this is pretty much exactly what I needed.
[quote=AndreBear][quote=Halbritt]'sup ya’ll. Imma start with this:
The Next Level by Hunter Allen:
http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/Articles/the_next_level.pdf
All the really good reasons why you should be focused on improving FTP if you want to go faster.
Disclaimer: I’m not an adherent to all of Hunter Allen’s training philosophies, but this is spot on. Also, he coaches way more pro athletes than I do. Hell, so does Chris Carmichael, but I feel like that guy is a kook.[/quote]
So basically, by doing tempo/zone 3 work (with upper 3/SST being optimal) and some zone 4 TT-type efforts, yeah?
FTP is definitely what’s holding me back. I can throw a mean first lap in a cross race, or a mean final 5 laps leading up to the sprint in a crit, but on breakaway/bridging/slow burn type efforts, I drop out earlier than the top cat 3’s.[/quote]
i’m in the same situation. i have the 1-3 minute power of a cat 2, but the ft of cat 3. luckily, ft has very little importance in road racing, but i still start losing ground during long digs in cross races. i can usually limit my losses by being strong technically.
ft/tempo is just such a boring/painful thing to train for.
repetitions x duration in minutes
[quote=white folks]i feel like a lot of my “getting faster” effort is wasted
get me into this thread[/quote]
F’in Aye. Can sprint, can’t do anything else.
i think its funny how much fitness guys and software nerds have in common.
for instance wats up with so many three letter acronyms?
Wow there’s a lot of sprinters on tarck.
My whole team is all TT type dudes, which is FANTASTIC for my sprinting, but if they decide to string any of the races out and get a breakaway victory… that’s all she wrote.
Anyways… I sprint.
Seriously. Why do you think I got interested in training with power.
FTP - Functional Threshold Power
TSS - Training Stress Score
CTL - Chronic Training Load
ATL - Acute Training Load
IF - Intensity Factor
NP - Normalized Power
etc…
Most of these terms were invented by Dr. Andrew Coggan who has done a lot of groundbreaking work in terms of training with power. Power meters have been around since the 80s, but very little was known about them outside of professional circles until the book “Training and Racing With a Power Meter” came out in 2003. That book was an accumulation of knowledge that was borne out of the early “wattage” list that still exists today on google groups. Here’s a bit of history:
I recommend the book to anyone interested in training with power that has twenty bucks to spend. I have most of the books published on the topic of training. None of 'em really enlightened me much until I read this one. That said, I’m pretty sure the book has a disclaimer somewhere that says, “if you buy this book and read it, you will have to buy a power meter.”
So, on the topic of acronyms, Imma go ahead and 'splain one and then throw some other details around it.
FTP - functional threshold power. This is an invention by Coggan, who only happens to be an exercise physiologist. In his professional life, he doesn’t really focus on cycling training. Power training is really just a hobby for him and his wife who have both won national championships in pursuit. He’s pretty good, but the power numbers I’ve seen for his wife are unbelievable.
So, FTP is the maximal power a well-motivated and well-rested person can average over the course of an hour. Sounds pretty simple, but a lot of people get hung up on it. Basically, it’s a measure of maximum sustainable aerobic power, though not the maximum oxygen intake. Folks often think of this as LT or lactate threshold. The problem with LT, which does correlate very closely with FTP, is that it requires lab measurement and it’s measured in a few different ways, so one is never really certain how to compare.
FTP is easy. Taper off for a few days, find a good course, then get out and kill it. Whatever you average over the course of an hour is your FTP which then becomes the prescriptive basis for training intensity. There are several power zones that describe the various energy systems used that are all based on a percentage of FTP.
Note: FTP can be a goal, but it helps to understand it’s usefulness, that is, as a basis for training intensity. It’s not proscriptive and it’s certainly not a very specific measurement. Hitting it within 5-10w is all that’s required to start training following which adjustments can be made to intensity. There are a number of ways to estimate FTP and seven deadly sins when it comes to doing so:
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2008/05/seven-deadly-sins.html
Next tl;dr will probably be training zones.
so what numbers would a person without a powertap use to determine ftp? could i do it running instead?
You’d use perceived exertion. I’ll write about that tomorrow.
if i wake up in time/don’t drink too much tonight i’ll be going on my first group ride tomorrow morning, and going to the velodrome for the first time on tues. being the competitive person i am, i have a feeling i’ll be reading this thread every day
I can outsprint anyone I ride with but my FTP sucks. No bullshit when we do long rides I throw in a sprint every once in a while just to tire everyone out from trying to catch me because I can’t hold the same cruising speed as them.
<- total TT dude. Not a sprinter. I can also climb like a sherpa.
I dunno what my FTP is, but last time I was f’ing with a powermeter I definitely felt like 260-270 watts was something I could sustain for an hour.
the problem is after a hard sprint of >400W (I hit about 450-500W in my intervals. That’s about all I could muster repetitively for an hour) I drop back down to like 180-200 watts. NOT GOOD. In a race, it would seem like this is a wasted sprint since I’d have to slow down too much to recover and lose any advantage I just made
Good roadie sprinting isn’t just raw wattages a lot of the time (as opposed to track sprinting which is a total wattage contest), it’s also really good timing, whether or not you caught a ride off someone, positioning, etc. You can throw down 1500 watts for a 5 seconds but it’s not going to help you when you did it too far away
The whole FTP increase thing makes a lot more sense than focusing on sprinting/1 minute power, being in the lower cats (eg 3 and lower). We’re honestly not at such a well organized level that we can throw up a good sprint train. If you can basically out time trial your competition, or just hang out up front, then break with your mega TT power, you’re going to do better than hanging around in back but with massive sprint power that is more or less useless without being up front (which I’ve done myself).