Race Winning Plans, Recovery Weeks, Endurance vs. Race Bikes and More – Ask a Cycling Coach 366

Hannah Otto joins us to cover all that she’s learned from her racing so far this season, as well as a discussion on how to maximize the effect of recovery weeks, whether endurance bikes are actually slower than race bikes, and much more.

Tune in Thursday at 8:00am Pacific!

Youtube Live Video:

Topics Covered in This Episode

  • What Hannah has learned from her Spring 2022 race season
  • Unbound Gravel
  • How to get the most from recovery weeks
  • Practical tips on adjusting your training when “life happens”
  • Are endurance bikes slower than race bikes?
  • How to upgrade race categories
  • Amber and Hannah’s tips for racing to win
  • How to regain passion for cycling

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Unbound Gravel Weather

TrainerRoad Podcast Network

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6 Likes

@Jonathan just after the first minute you mentioned Keegan’s (paraphrasing) “weirdly high short power numbers because he hasn’t been training short power” and since switching back to prioritizing endurance as a first principle (60-80% endurance riding), my short power numbers have increased with almost no short power training. Others on the forum have experienced the same, the most recent story I remember reading was from @Dr_Alex_Harrison. It has also been written about by other coaches, and one frequently referenced on the forum is this: You're Training Too Hard for Criteriums—Here's Why | TrainingPeaks

3 Likes

Nice article.

Can confirm… if you’re a talented sprinter, z2 goes a LONG way.

My wife is a 11-1200W sprinter at 63kg. She reaps big z4 and z5 power improvements with nothing but z1 & z2 training.

I do the same.

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I’m 99% untalented and staring at retirement LOL, yet z2 goes a long way to increasing my short power! Monday gave me hope that (sometimes) age is just a number - 1253W for 5-sec but it falls off too much at 30 and 60 sec :frowning_face: We won’t talk about my W/kg, lol, that’s why I live in flatland!

2 Likes

I tried to push out a sprint after a long ride.

Only really managed a 5-7 second “sprint”.

Is that considered short power? Or just a blast of effort but not measurable in a beneficial way?

My reference to short power was more about 30-seconds to 5 minutes

If I understand what I’ve read about physiology, and listening to coaches, a SINGLE 5-sec effort is mostly powered by the PCr energy system. FWIW I have one other 1250+ effort and it was 80 miles and 3000kJ into a century, but no sunburn or Preparation H :wink: With respect to a SINGLE 5-10 second effort, volume may help indirectly (less fatigue, better economy after 2-5 hours riding/racing? I dunno).

1 Like

Keegan to race the HighBall with 2.1" tyres. You heard it here first. Change the rules, clear the mud. @Jonathan told us so.

So Unbound is over, Keegan Swenson got second and almost won so @Jonathan prediction was almost right.

But I didn’t hear any controversy about his strategy or equipment. @Jonathan had mentioned there would be talk about he’s ruining the spirit of gravel or something? What was he talking about?

Hey @Jonathan - I was listening to this one on Apple - and this weird thing was happening where it was clear that Hanna’s audio was 5 seconds delayed from everyone else’s. She would take a while to respond to questions, and then would get “interrupted” because with her audio being 5 seconds later, the conversation would happen over top of her.

Seems to be some sort of an issue in post?

Just thought you should know!

Hey @macdian ! Thanks for letting us know! This was my fault. In the editing process last week, I miss-aligned Hannah’s audio, causing the delay. I went back in and caught it. The audio should be updated across platforms. Do you still hear the delay?

2 Likes