Performance Management Chart For Whole Season
I've got four more events before the end of my racing season on the 11th Oct. If I've done my calculations are correctly, I need one more good ride out of the remaining three Rudy Project Time Trials to achieve my goal. To that end I've been topping up my training over the last couple of weeks. The red line on the above chart shows my chronic training load (CTL) since last November. During the last month I made a conscious effort to keep CTL closer to 105 TSS/day and this resulted in a reduction of fatigue (green line TSB moved positive). As a result my performances in my last three events were much better. It has also given me a bit more information about the load that I am able to comfortably sustain, but it has resulted in a drop in my FTP. That's OK, FTP alone is not the holy grail, being able to train, recover properly and race well is!
The last couple of weeks I have taken some action to reverse the drop in CTL slightly in order to give my aerobic endurance a bit of a boost. This was done as follows:
2 sweet spot sessions, 90% and around 150 mins each
1 anaerobic hill repeat session plus sprints
4 threshold sessions of 40 mins each, 2 of which were back-to-back
2 road races
1 high tempo session of 120 mins
1 threshold / VO2 criss-cross session of 40 mins
Today I did another 40 min threshold session but on my time trial bike. Tomorrow will be a repeat of the same. Although my FTP is not what it was in July I am not overly concerned, the probability is that other veteran Rudy Project competitors are in a similar position fitness wise. Completing some threshold sessions has once again has been very useful. I'ts not just about power level, I also have to practice pedalling smoothly at around 100rpm, concentrating on effort and riding in an aero position. Today's effort was in pouring rain and a strong wind and I rode over a fairly lumpy course so gear selection was important. I also practiced pacing up the hills and not letting the watts drop too much down the other side.
Performance Management Chart, Specific Training Only From End Of May
Out of interest I have been keeping a second PMC that just logs the business end of my workouts plus races: so no active recovery rides, pottering around socially, warm ups and cool downs included. I'm hoping that over time it will help me use my available training time more effectively. If I get fatigued next year, it's the junk miles that need to be cut out first and both charts together may help me to manage that.
2 comments:
Fascinating stuff Colin, a great read. I take it that you are entering all three of the final events. We should have a chat at the next RP. Jamie B.
Already entered, it's the only reason that I'm still competing during September as I've normally packed up by now. Hopefully see you on Saturday.
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