cyclocross training program prelim posted
The off-season/vacation mindset is tough to shake. I have lots of recapping from the season to do here, I know, but it’s almost time to start the prep for a new season. To that end, I’ve gone ahead and put together the preparation and base periods of my training plan for next year in case you’re interested in following along. Some important things:
1. It’s a two peak year: once in June for some mountain bike races and then more seriously in mid-november for the cross season. Yes I decided to do two peaks again, and though its ostensibly for mountain biking, its really because I am missing being on the bike.
2. Unlike last year, I am going to use heart rate (HR) for guiding training effort. I’ve made the program based around training levels which are set by your HR at lactate threshold. You can determine this number in a few different ways, one of which I list below.
3. In order to do this plan you’ll really need to have some sort of HR measuring device which allows you to keep averages of HR during intervals. If it allows you to capture whole workouts, so much the better. Garmin makes a couple of devices which fit this bill for sub-$200. There is some snazzy freeware software which allows you to keep track of your workouts too. Much more on this whole system later.
For now, the early part of the plan is here. Also there are the dates for the remainder of the season as well as the breakdown of my HR levels. I’ll be filling in the details with race specifics over the next month.
The pre-season starts Monday!
Heart Rate at LT protocol:
1. Get a device which will give you an average HR for a set period of time.
2. Warm up. As much as I don’t like them, this works best on a trainer.
3. Do a 30 min time trial. As hard as you can go evenly over the whole 30. This is hard.
4. After 10 min, start the process of recording your average HR
5. If you paced well your HR at LT will be a bit less the average of the last 20 min.
Wow~ that’s a lot of intervals!
Comment by julie — December 29, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
Lemme know when you are ready to hit the dirt.
Comment by Damon — December 30, 2009 @ 7:18 am
I noticed that you switched from training by power last year to training by HR this year. What prompted the change, especially since you already have the powermeter?
Comment by Chris (Athlete In Training) — December 30, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
I agree with Julie, 3 days a week seems like a lot of stress on the system. Dude just be like me and break a rib during warmup for the first race of the season and throw everything you did all year down the drain. Then quit your team and fun. Oh wait did I say that? Yup, I did. As a free agent I can start accepting offers immediately. Just kidding…sorta.
Comment by Damon — December 30, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
Damon and Julie: Good observation as it highlights a vagueness in my notation. So the levels roughly translate as follows in cycling lingo:
LV1: active recovery
LV2: endurance pace
LV3: tempo
LV3/4: sweet spot training (SST)
LV4: threshold
LV5: VO2max
LV6: max effort
So really the only day which is intervally (in the more traditional use of the word) is Tuesday. The days with interval notation are just indicating periods of tempo or SST in the middle of LV2 rides.
Damon: You quit what?! Dude, we need to talk.
Chris: The answer to that is more complex and I’ll make a post of it soon. Basically, though, I realized that especially given how much time I’m spending riding off-road, running, skiing etc recently, power was less useful for tracking impact and ongoing training volume than heart rate.
Thanks for reading, all!
Comment by Joe — January 1, 2010 @ 11:18 am
Hey– So I’m fairly out of shape and I don’t think that I can follow your plan as you have it set out.
Do you think the plan will still work if I follow the schedule at half the time each day?
thanks for sharing your program!
Comment by crelatia — January 4, 2010 @ 1:02 pm
Hey Joe, What’s your June race?
Comment by Dingbat — February 5, 2010 @ 11:00 am