The summer time trials are fast approaching and I’m in the
mood… for killing myself on the Turbo Trainer! The interval sessions started
last month and I’ve signed up to various TT’s during April:
BSCC 25m TT U17 – 5th April
DRC 10m TT U7b – 11th April
BSCC Mega Hilly U14/b3 – 26th April
On top this off, the DRC evening 10’s start on the 2nd
April with the U7b short course.
I have signed up to the Strava CTS training plan with the
general goal of improving my 30 min threshold. The general weekly plan consists
of:
Monday – Rest Day
Tuesday – Endurance Miles
Wednesday – Interval Session
Thursday – Interval Session
Friday – Rest Day
Saturday – Interval Session and Endurance Miles
Sunday – Endurance Miles
I will be doing 4 week blocks of training followed by a rest
week to recover. This was something that we used to do in athletics and seemed
to work really well. The club 10’s during the summer are going to be used for
training more than anything else and will replace the Thursday ‘Interval
Session’. If the weather is in my favour, I will probably have a rest day
before and have the odd stab at a PB.
My training sessions are basically going to consist of slow
gentle commutes and hard intervals on the turbo trainer using the Trainerroad
software for power. Sundays will be long steady rides to enjoy the summer
weather and if time permits, (working around DIY and house duties) I will tag
along to the DRC club rides whenever possible. If I am short for time, I will
probably be out the door early and back just before LouLou wakes up.
As soon as this 4 week block of training is over with
CTS/Strava, I will probably switch to the training sessions set-up on
Trainerroad. Mainly out of convenience more than anything. CTS/Strava is great,
but I have to manually create each workout on Trainerroad. By using their own,
they are all set-up and ready to go.
Each 4 week block is going to be accompanied by a FTP test
to both monitor progress and to establish intensities of the interval sessions.
One of my biggest weaknesses at the moment is leg strength.
I have been toying with the idea of adding a gym session each week (which I have
not yet ruled out) but there is a mixed opinion on the internet over the use
and benefit of this type of training. So I have decided for the time being to
carry out each of the interval sessions at a lower cadence. Normally my
natural/comfortable cadence for big efforts is about 100rpm. This has allowed
me to reach optimum performance with the minimal strength I currently have. If I
was able to improve my leg strength by pushing a bigger gear at a lower cadence
(85rpm) in training and still achieving the required power output for each
interval, when I come to race at 100rpm, I should be able to do this in a
bigger gear = go faster.
I currently don’t have any target times or goals for this
summer. My main objective is to stick to plan and get the quality training
under my belt. Once I have completed a few 10’s on the TT bike and carried out
a few FTP tests I should have a pretty good idea of where I currently am, and
what I am likely to achieve by the end of the summer. Towards the middle/end of
the summer, this training is going to have to be modified to start preparing
for the Hilly TT’s at the end of August & September. Not entirely sure how
this will change… hill repeats are probably on the cards… might use Strava
leaderboards to set goals and have a bit of fun at the same time.
Wish me luck!
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