So basically (surprise, surprise) you have to train all the systems with emphasis on a fatigue resistance, that is based on lot of Z2, sst, threshold and vo2 max intervals and sprinkle with some race sharpening efforts and anaerobic capacity. With all the discussions and details in the end it all is the same basic principle.
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There is no magic bullet.
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FWIW, where I fucked up was that I based all futur training coming off a VO2 block and a great race result (322wNP for 2.5 hr) at too high an FTP, which is was my training during all of June.
So when I was doing threshold work at what I thought was 95% was ACTUALLY like 103%. Doing 2x workouts per week of 3x15 or 2x20 @ 103% is a recipe for implosion.
THAT is where I made a mistake and learned a valuable lesson.
I did 3x18 (90 min total ride time) @ 94-95% yesterday and 2 hr @ 200w today (healthy Z2) with 9% decoupling. Weirdly my HR was consistently between 130-140 BPM, which is 5-10 BPM lower than the same type of ride 3 weeks ago. Hmmm.
Pulling the plug on the rest of this week and resting up. Iāve either overcooked the goose or something else is up.
Personally Iāve found it quite hard to do get away and dictate the pace in my limited experience so far, without wasting copious amounts of energy (Iām not convinced FTP is sacred, because I find theseās little opportunity to express it). Just trying to get away from the group I did over 1000w and 715w for 25s - ready to settle into some SST or threshold and I see one or two chasers dragged the whole peloton with them. In fairness, that maybe burnt othersā matches as well as one of my own, so thatās a consideration of course.
Anyway I totally agree on fatigue resistance. Iāve tried to get some conversation going on this before, and am still interested to hear from those who have specifically trained itā¦
- Do you have a power benchmark you aim for (% of fresh PR) after target time (race length)?
- Any specific protocols, or just ride around and do efforts at the end?
- Number of repeats for efforts in fatigued state (one maximal or multiple)?
- Are workouts specific (e.g. 20 min efforts only on any one day, or mix and match say 20 min, 1 min etc)?
Please show me what youāre doing and talk me through anything Iāve missed 
That stuff is going to happen more often than not. The times I get away, Iāve timed it such that no one in their right mind wants to chase because of where we are in the race or the fact that everyoneās tired or weāre going into a headwind or weāre on a kicker. I choose the places where some people are likely to already be hurting or thinking about setting up a sprint. Iām no stronger than you in terms of getting away, but my 5 min power is pretty strong. From about 2 min out to 40 min, my āpower profileā is mid-āCat 2ā on that stupid Coggan chart, so I try to find breaks that suit that, especially the long VO2max-ish efforts.
I train those, obviously. The VO2max block earlier in the year, and then more recently thrown into my race prep block I did a 3x5min max efforts on 1:1 rest in that duration.
I think a lot of the pace dictation or breaking away is just about timing and knowing the field as much as it is about being strong enough. Obviously if youāre not strong enough, itās not going to work. And then more often than not, you know that people are going to bring you back if youāre solo. My successful solo breaks have lasted up to 5 min where I just broke near the end of the race and the field looked at each other long enough for me to get away and hold it.
Iāve had other races where Iāve done really impressive solo breaks off the front that look glorious but fail miserably. Itās all part of the learnings. Anymore, Iām seeking the times when I can break, but shut it down when no one comes with me instead of trying to make a 30-min solo break work. Then I can attack again and maybe someone is more likely to come with me without dragging the field back. That stuff is tough to do in 40-50 min crits anyway.
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WRT pace dictation, some of that is just keeping the field fast enough that I know Iāll be in a good position to sprint. I donāt mind going on the front late in a race to hold the pace high. I know Iām not likely to win the race that way, but I also know Iām likely to place high enough for upgrade points if Iām near the front late. So Iāll go on the front and set a high tempo that strings the field out late in the race to minimize the bunch, then trust that my sprint is just high enough to hold on to a podium or high finish. To me, THATās where a high FTP helps in those situations. I can do that without crushing myself, and I know that if Iām in a little bit of suffering, a lot of other guys (certainly not everyone ) are in a worse spot than me, especially if thereās a crosswind or hill.
Keep in mind, that stuff is all true in Cat 3/4/5, where Iāve generally been among the strongest in the field. Thatās not going to be true in the 2s when/if I get there.
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Thanks Kurt, really good to read your thoughts on it. I think my legs are good enough tbh, and now Iāve started racing Iām trying to fast track a ābankā of wisdom/tactics/experiences to try and draw on from wherever I can!
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It also depends where you are racing. Iām in Colorado where fields are big and riders strong.
Iām a reformed BMXāer, and compact (71-72kg). My aerobic base is a WIP but I have a good sprint. I took a podium in a Cat5 field last weekend. Averaged about 185w, NP 211w, but took a 1168w sprint and still holding 980w to 11s to take the last step on the podium in the group sprint at the end. My attack on lap 2 was 280w avg and 27mph lap, but still got reeled in afterā¦ it also accidentally launched the winner. Oops. For me, I can throw some attacks, but to be in podium contention, I have to sit in to get to the end. That race was a 25-26mph average.
Our combined cat4/5 fields averaged around 27-28mph in the front. When youāre coming into a headwind at 22mph in a group, that youāre doing 250w @ 14mph solo, you realize how strong some people are.
So you donāt need a monster FTP to do well. You have to ride to your strengths. Iām coming at from the other side in that I can probably outsprint most Cat5āers (1400w sprint on fresh legs), but my FTP isnāt earth shattering. A lot of the Cat 5āers here that race the combined fields are very good at learning and reading stronger riders, so solo breaks are a little harder to pull of as theyāll just jump on your wheel. Most of those guys just end up pulling the field along and are wasted at the end.
In the higher categories, everyone is strong, so FTP is sort of meaningless because it takes more than that to win, because everyone is a baller.
Strong riders can get upgraded fast to Cat4 (where things bottleneck out here due to field sizes), but they often donāt learn much at Cat5, which hurts them.
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As far as I know from various sources:
- Long sst and threshold is good fatigue resistance by itself (especially with your FTP and amount of kJ)
- Short power is better trained when fresh. Efforts when fatigued (vo2 max and short power) can be tested after certain amount of kJ or done for your mental game but they are better trained fresh when you push more power and stress the system.
- You can do short power efforts for capacity like 3x20 min of 15/15
- Z2 with longer efforts during the ride.
- Typical breakpoints are 1500 kJ, 2500kJ and 3000kJ
- In WKO there is great feature of PdC after certain kJ and insights how you place with your power loss.
Some basic lecture:
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Thank you 
Well timed threshold workout for me today then - first in quite a while. Classic 3x20@97% and comfortably 25Ā°C 
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I had done exactly this on tuesday, it was 24Ā°C and it was AMAZING in comparison to 32 recently 
(and 28Ā°C in the room) - so amazing that my HR barely touch the threshold HR during last interval and I felt like a "young and beautiful on the bike 
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Yes thats true. Fresh i can do 1129w for 1s and 1032w for 5s. After burning 1200kJ in a race i can do 1031w for 1s and 929w for 5s. But as you said, positioning matters so the last 5min is vo2max to get into position. When you are more fresh you can better push yourself into little gaps (fighting for position).
I ask the coach why he let me do so much Anaerobic stuff and he say that you need that for a race. He even let me do vo2max stuff and i think thats right, but not in the season with races every week.
A couple of weeks ago i was in the breakaway with 7 other riders and most of the time the break happends when it is going hard and some attacks after attacks. You have to attack when your legs burn. When you are fresh/easy you know others riders also fresh and easy. So attack after attack and go.
After 30min into the race 7 riders attacked and i saw that was the right group to go away. I dont wait to long and make the jump from the peloton into the break. I did 1min effort of 400w (with 4 corners) to close the gap.
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Good post, i dont see criteriums in my categorie with burning more than 1500kJ. I ride races from 60-90min and 1200-1500kJ. Sometimes i ride criteriums with elites (cat 1) and thats 120min.
Yeah, I was going to comment on that too. I think the āwork after 2000kJā (or similar numbers) really is meant for (male) people with pro-level power, and also longer races. At my meager FTP (just over 200W), it takes me 6 hours or so to burn 2000kJ. Granted thatās at lower speed, but I just donāt really have races where that is relevant.
As you said, itās better to look at what youād burn in a typical race, and use that number instead of a generic one.
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Power post kJ is rather targeted to longer road races. Amateur races in my country are usually on two distances (these are rolling races, we do not have American style crits) - around 50 km and 80 km. The shorter ones are usually 1.5h long for winners (shorter distance). This would be also something similar to 1500-1700kJ for me with a race pace. So similar effort in terms of energy expendure. For longer distances winners are around 2h - this would be around 2000-2500kJ.
But yes, all depends where your FTP is. I am just saying about general brake points that are used in article or tests.
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Back at it with another block after a solid couple of months of little to no concerted SS or LT training, and a subsequent decline in FTP. So far in this block, Iāve bagged workouts of 3x18, 2x25, and 1x60 in the last couple of weeks. Which progressed a little faster than I had planned out.
My TTE is ~47min. So from here, weāll try to push the progression to 75-80 min via 3x25 > 2x40 > 1x75 which is around 150% of TTE.
The 1x60 from today, felt pretty solid. Looking to push this and re-build some threshold to help carry me through cyclocross season.
Look at that Wā 
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Hmm ,if Wā goes down like that, doesnāt that mean youāre riding above FTP? Confused. Also your Wā is 36kJ ?! 
Yes, which is odd because the ride had an average power lower than my FTP and my
theoretical modeled FTP. So thatās strange.
This Wā/AC number is from Intervals.icu, Iām not sure how accurate it is, but I can do a good bit of work over FTP. Iām going to take the plunge on WKO5 so itāll be interesting to compare between the two applications.
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Alright, so thereās a huge discrepancy beteween Intervals.icu and WKO5 with regards to Wā (33 vs 22.6) (and mFTP to a certain extent).
WKO5
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Why you have difference between BikeFTP and MFTP?