# Muscle fiber types, recovery and training adaptations **URL:** \ **Category:** Training\ **Created:** [August 2, 2021, 10:05am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/muscle-fiber-types-recovery-and-training-adaptations/61545 "2021-08-02T10:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 12
**Author:** ![AJS914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@AJS914](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/AJS914)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/muscle-fiber-types-recovery-and-training-adaptations/61545/12 "2021-08-03T15:48:37Z")
I started this topic a while back: > [@Training for anaerobic athlete ... science?](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/training-for-anaerobic-athlete-science/49224): > > Does anyone have any resources on how to train an anaerobic athlete versus a more aerobic athlete? Also the training would be for general road riding not sprinting on a track. I’ve seen a lot of anecdotal stuff but I don’ t have a good conclusion on how it affects periodization or specific workouts of the training plan. For example, we have the many topics on how anaerobic athletes can overtest on the ramp. The more interesting aspect to me would be how one would train the anaerobic athlete co… I’d call my self a fast-twitcher. I’m not track, sprint level 1800 watts but back when I raced, I was always a good sprinter and finisher and couldn’t climb worth crap. The hard part of being a fast-twitcher is finding the events that you are training for. At 55 years old, I’m not going to ride crits anymore. I want to do fun group rides, fondos, gravel, etc. and these are not short fast twitch events. ☹ Still, I just hit a performance peak and have been riding with a new group at what feels like above my level. This last fall/winter I just did a ton of Z2 and almost zero intensity. I’d mix in short tempo/SS intervals just for fun. In the spring I started with a SS block and got good gains (like +20 watts after all that Z2). Then I did a VO2max block and after three sessions I was dead. I rested for a couple weeks - back to Z2 and then tried VO2max again. It went a lot better. I played around with hard start, high cadence intervals. I think the high cadence works well for me because it induces a higher heart rate, more sucking wind, less torque, and less muscle fatigue. What I found out is that I don’t need a lot of intervals over threshold or even a lot of SS. Above threshold is already my strength. Despite being a slow, old geezer, I have 3 pages of Strava KOMs all under 8 minutes with most even shorter in the 30 second to 3 minute range. My short power is relatively much better than my 20 minute power. After the second VO2 block, I thought I’d try some sprint (10 second) intervals. The first session of 6x10sec crushed me and left me with DOMs for 3 days… I started doing those 10 second sprints at a lower power and then just sprinkling them in my rides (like 2-4 of them). Like I said, I’m really happy with my performance lately. What would I do differently next year? I think I’d do a longer time in zone tempo/SS progression coming out of base. I seem to respond to 85% which also feels fairly easy. It seems like raising my FTP is my Achilles heel. WKO5 says that my FTP is at 86% of my VO2max. The “raising the roof” part seems to be difficult. --- _[View the full topic](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/muscle-fiber-types-recovery-and-training-adaptations/61545)._