TrainerRoad AI FTP Prediction FAQs

[Rizzi]

I’m not going to argue Coggan . Here is your answer:

Open the thread and filter by his posts…there are many highlights!

It’s all aerobic training in a continuum.

@The_Cog

@Derailleur

the question still is how to best schedule #3 training . Just do as much tempo as I can and recover from. Or also include periods of Treshold and VO2max blocks. And are 40-20’s good or are 5x5’s better… Or am I unnecessary complicating it again?

All of the above, as well as everything else.

@The_Cog

Within “group 3” workouts, though, I think that the specificity is often overrated, at least/especially when it comes to duration. Rather, it’s more about the overall training load/level of aerobic fitness.

@Slowwithouttwitch

And with your 3 categories, is there still any good reason to train with a power meter? Other than maybe measuring progressive overload a tick more precise than by time, distance, vertical climbing speed etc?

Reading between the lines, IMO it has never been about carefully regulating the intensity of individual workouts.

Let me repeat that for emphasis

IMO it has never been about carefully regulating the intensity of individual workouts. That’s why, for example, our book was titled Training and Racing With a Power Meter, and not Training and Racing By Power, (Note: this is where TR gets it woefully wrong.). Rather, with respect to “type 3” training, the benefits of using a power meter reside in 1) quantifying the overall training load (ad you mentioned), and 2) determining what is working and what isn’t (i.e., is my power over X duration going up, or not?).

@The_Cog

1. Yes, you can almost certainly bias things toward improving cardiovascular vs. muscular metabolic fitness to some degree by manipulating your training. The thing is, there is considerable overlap, and you need both, so at the end of the day, it’s all good.
2. Far and away the most important factor is mitochondrial respiratory capacity.

Adaptations of skeletal muscle to endurance exercise and their metabolic consequences - PubMed

ETA: Re. point #1: once upon a time, I reasoned that since I could maintain ~90% of VO2max for >1 h, I should focus on raising my “ceiling”. 18 wk of 3 d/wk Hickson intervals later, I hit my highest VO2max ever (5.45 L/min at 67.5-68 kg). I then raced the Texas state TT, and got my butt kicked.

Moral of the story? Train for performance, and let your physiology sort itself out. In particular, don’t underestimate the importance of specificity (specificity, specificity, specificity, specificity…is there an echo in here?).