Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

I'm switching to rollers in the hope I'll be able to do longer sessions on them than the turbo. 60t chainring should give enough resistance.

I'm not really doing intervals this Winter. Did almost exclusively sufferfest vids last Winter. Didnt really work for me. I'm mainly doing base/Z2 stuff outdoors, and Z2/longish intervals indoors.

Might throw in the odd sprint session to break Things up. But its not really part of my plan as such.

I didn't touch a bike for the whole weekend. So far my plan is get fatter, drink more beer, eat more food. Think about riding some time in the future. #janullrichtrainingmethod

Boom! #win

Want to TT (primarily 10's but a few 25's) from April onwards so aim to do some kind of structured training thing for 3 months from January. 2 questions:
any recommended plans out there assuming 10 hours a week training,
how should I allow for Saturday crit racing in a plan for TT training?

My assumption is that it won't make much a difference which plan I use, and that an hour of racing a week won't really affect things either but I'm ready to stand corrected.

http://flammerouge.je/drills/ttten.htm
http://flammerouge.je/wwpp/manualtt10.htm
http://flammerouge.je/wwpp/manualtt25.htm

What was your experience of these?

I lack a power meter (or any computer), gears and motivation so I certainly didn't get the most out of them. The forum BAR tells you all you need to know...

However none of those (apart from motivation) are essential.

If you can't afford a coach but want some structure, they're worth considering: you can update MHR/FTP etc and re-use the programs, which makes them even better value.

Ride your TT bike over the winter to adapt to the position.

Great, thanks for the tip. It would be about the same price as 3 months of trainer road but as you say, reuseable.

@Pifko yes, I'd planned to train on it exclusively. Except from the crits, obviously.

The TrainerRoad 40k prog is pretty good but I found starting the 12 week session in Jan left me flying in April/May and then pretty much a plateau. I've done it for the last two seasons and went ok with a 25pb late in the season.

This year I'll continue with a reasonable amount of sweet spot (turbo and road) MTB'ing and some track just to keep things mixed up.

I might tackle one of TR's road race progs and see where that gets me.

I'm currently commuting 16 miles a day each way on mainly flat terrain with three minor hills each way. Usually a headwind in the morning, tailwind in the evening. Fixed of course.

If I want to transition into TTing (and I do), what's my best approach? Turn the commuting miles into training rides (incl. recovery) or just zone 2 all the way there and back and get a turbo for building power separately? A carefully blended mix of the two?

Z3. Throw some intervals in there as well to get sharp.

I am doing alot of hours 546km this week. Oct it was 400km a week and through november/dec it has been over 500km a week. Some hill intervals but mostly low heart rate ride. No indoor training. I ride twice a day monday to saturday with a longer ride on sunday.
I do 20 minute road test (shortest route home on the commutor) and at a heart rate of 140bpm I managed 271W in november and while more fatigued last week it was 288W at the same heart rate. That is one way of improving FTP. Obviously that is not an FTP test as that heart rate is lower than my hour pace HR.

There are many ways to increase FTP. base miles at low HR is another way. So Ptown your 32 fixed miles a day is a good way to start and do what I do most of time it is a slow plod but 2 or 3 rides a week has harder intervals with easy inbetween. One ride week is as hard as your legs allow. Some of the best ammateur riders I know ride every day in the manor I have described I am copying them. I will leave the high intensity work until the spring and the racing and TT's will be the high intensity work.

How are 'base miles at low HR' a way to increase FTP? Show workings.

Depends where you're starting from, but 25 hours of Z2 a week will increase most people's ftp

Well it works for me and others. The base miles build leg strength and build cardiovasular fittness. This makes interval work very effective. It is possible to do this on a turbo in a very structured way but it require alot of displine. The only displine I need is to get out and ride and not to push too hard on the days I feel fatigued.

Low HR would be 100 to 120 bpm for me max is 167 bpm. I suppose that is low to mid Z2. Today ride was mid Z2 for 85 miles. Most of my rides are Low to mid Z2 with about three Z3 rides a week (about an hour). Z4/5 interval work I will leave for racing next year and interval work when I am not racing.

Most people who've sat on the sofa for the last 20 years.

"base miles build leg strength" ? Again, maybe if you've been on the sofa for the last 5 years but base training is not what you would use to build muscle strength.

Thanks all for the input!

I'm currently alternating between z2/z3 depending on fatigue/lateness so I'll progressively start incorporating some more structured intervals. Fingers crossed. Cheers!

Filled out my training diary for my coach last night - dropped pretty strong 'give me an easy week over christmas' hints. Woke up this morning, looked at next 2 weeks of training - 60s full gas efforts today ffs. I think he's trolling me.

#fastinfeb

Yeah well, I'm setting all kinds of power PB's for short stuff at the moment and in the gym, which is good I guess. Not gone anywhere near threshold since the end of the season - just top and bottom. Should be racing indoors a little over the next couple of months, but probably only sprint events.
Turns out everyone is right - coaching does make you quicker than anything else you can throw money at. You still have to do the efforts yourself on days like this (when you'd rather not) though.

Yep. The mere fact you're paying someone to tell you what to do means you're more likely to do it than if you were self-coaching. There's that feeling of someone to answer to as well.