You might want to read Joe Friel's blog (click side bar or here) about early season training. With some of us looking at Masters Nationals it will be a long season and you might consider a strategy that does not burn you out before the 2nd half of the year... below is what he would expect an athletes power (or HR) distribution to look like at this time of year..
also in case you are interested you might find his training plan worksheet (click here) a useful tool (.xlsx) in laying out a training schedule . You can refer to his training bible or look it up on the web for explaining the columns..
5 comments:
thanks for sharing Bird! I'm thinking ahead for next year as well, and right now I am doing 90% Z1, Z2 work and building a solid base. High cadence spinning is a must. It makes for a very long season if you start pushing too early. Thanks for sharing the distribution block, it provides a good visual.
The UWBL does achieve what Joe is talking about......way to hard for most of us. FUN but too hard.
IT is design well for a CAT 1 or CAT 2 wanting to win the Spring Series.
I find it interesting that every coaching philosophy preaches the same base mile intensity, yet almost every time I attend a group ride (with fellow racers who are also following a training plan of some sort) it is a hammer fest. I did the B ride yesterday, and still stayed in zone 3 or 4 for a majority of the ride.
Debbie, completely agree. UWBL is awesome training, but in the past, even though I think my fitness is good, I end up spending too much time in the higher zones. I think we get so caught up in hammering it out. Or, maybe me personally, I need to learn to conserve better and hide in the pack and really keep my HR down, instead hanging off the back or in the wind where I am doing more work.
Ladies, you bring up an important point about training. Training has to be personalized to be effective. It is very common for athletes on our level to let ego get them out of their ideal zones on a workout. Group rides (like the UWBL) tend to be complete ego-fests with lots of unstructured and unnecessary efforts and intervals. it's not possible to do a group ride with everyone at the same exact level of effort, but with a little smart planning and some honest discussions, we can do some great team rides this winter that will help everyone achieve their personal training goals. Hopefully, we'll have some fun at the same time. I will help lead these rides this winter. I don't have much desire (or need) for the UWBL rides, so I don't do most of them. In the meantime, try to hook up with teammates that might be at a similar level for your base 2 riding. If someone's pushing you too hard, say so and slow down. You are smart to stay on your "plan".
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