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Yes, dropping epic cash on bikes is nice but there are better ways to approach it. Building Rich's TT and HC bikes this year was a good example of that, the HC bike was ~£800.
Have a play with some maximum unpaced work as a full session in itself - when I coached the Uni of Birmingham squad one of their turbo sets was 4x70sec unpaced (ie as hard as you can from the start, no changing gear or resistance) with about 10min rest. Absolutely brutal when you get it right and an excellent session for developing a range of energy systems, plus no fancy kit necessary as it doesn't matter what power you do, you'll be spinning >120rpm to start and then just clinging on.
Adding work at the end of endurance sets I'd reduce the duration - make it 3x10sec sprints rather than 2x30sec. Doing those will actually improve growth hormone secretion and in a weird roundabout way can help you recover better within your program. In the past we've had someone inadvertently drop weight doing these as testosterone levels can rise as well.
xavierdisley-
I loved the HC bike you built, very purposeful and great to see with the TT bike that you don't need £5k minimum to compete (win!!). I've raced that 10 course a few times as I'm local to it as I'd cringe if I had to take an expensive bike on that road surface!!
Being new to the track (and single speed) I love riding fixed and quite fancy knocking up a commuter next year around a TT frame to replicate my TT position. Any concerns training fixed a couple of times a week? I race on a standard 10 speed set up.
I'll certainly give those max efforts a try. I only have a simple turbo, no PM and trainer road so things tend to be simplistic but I like it that way (until I can justify a PM).
So a maximal effort session would include 4x70 second efforts with 10 mins recovery between? I find I need at least 15 mins to warm up these days!!
I can creat that one on TrainerRoad. So just absolutely nail it and hold on even if your form (inevitably) tails off? -
Coach gets me to do those workouts once a week (well 60s with 8 mins rest). They are brilliant. Every week you can go a little deeper and because of the longer recovery periods you get really good quality efforts without being in a hole afterwards. Only thing holding me back is my rollers moving all over the shop when I get over 700w.
BeaconJon
dan
I hear you Xavier.
Not poo-pooing anything you do as it clearly works but I often see lads spending a fortune on kit and little else.
I think the point I was trying to make was that equipment alone isn't the answer. Good solid training costs little and often reaps higher rewards than just spending cash on kit, certainly at club level anyway.
Getting to your point about hitting some high end stuff in the winter, I've started adding short 30 second, flat out sprints to the end of my sweet spot intervals on the turbo, just to hurt my legs a little. Hopefully it'll keep me a sharper.
SQT's at Derby when I can and some MTB'ing without looking at my data until after the ride also helps as pace is often dictated by faster riders which is always good IMO.