So, I’ve been racing and using TR since JAN '17. LOVE IT! However, as I continue to grow in fitness and racing tactics, I think TR should offer some workouts that prep for the realities of racing - having effort at the END of long sessions.
Too many of TR’s workout have the hard staff on the first half or 2/3rds…and then cruising to the end or a cool down. I think this is backwards. IF WE ARE TO TRAIN LIKE WE RACE, then why not build workouts that SHOOT US OUT OF THE GATE…settle in…and then require BIG EFFORTS (sustained or needles) for the last 10-15%? This is more like real life, in my experience and research.
Just throwing this out there…
You train to race. If you’re tired before you go hard you won’t be fresh enough to put in hard enough efforts to get stronger.
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There are plenty of race sims in the TR catalog:
- Barren
- Blue
- Blood
- Tour De Nez
- Nevada City Classic
- Cleghorn
- Diamond Valley
- Sharktooth
Generally speaking though, racing and race sim workouts make you more tired, but don’t make you faster or stronger.
They’ve kind of addressed this indirectly in the podcast.
One reason to avoid “extra credit” (cranking up the intensity at the end) is to preserve yourself for your next workout.
Continuing the discussion from Race Sim - Put the really hard stuff at the end?:
Yes, if you do the training programs & sessions “as is,” you very well may burn out. But if the sessions were developed & part of a plan…
The only benefit you’ll gain is in regards to the mental aspect of it… Sure there’s something to being able to punch out a 500 watt flyer at the end of a 4 hour race, but in training you’re building the energy system to do so, not the muscle memory from doing so in the past.