Re: Training Qs: intervals, blowing up, fat...

On May 13, 5:07=A0am, Ryan Cousineau <rcous...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I have two goals right now:
>
> -Lose a huge amount of weight
> -up the wattage
>
> I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
> won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding
track.
>
> Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
> 30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
> TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
> realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).
>
> So, this year's strategy could be summarized as:
>
> -goal-wise, I'm throwing long races and hill climbs under a bus. If they
> help my training, fine, but it's going to be a long time before my body
> composition makes me look like a climber*.
>
> -I wouldn't mind doing well in crits, but as far as I'm concerned, the
> whole purpose of road season this year is to get me back into race
> shape. If I come good for some of the August crits, fine. If not, CX
> season is soon enough.
>
> Given that like all fatty masters, I have limited time (that beer won't
> drink itself, you know), my current plan is to strive for 2-3 serious
> training sessions per week, plus as much high-HR work as I can manage on
> my commute (which, bizarrely, consists of four 15-minute rides a day: I
> go home for lunch).
>
> Here's a typical training, er, plan:
>
> -multi-modal commute halfway across town, 25ish km in multiple sections.
> Because of the hills and the timing, I have to ride faster than slow to
> get to the crit on time.
> -yes, crit: ride Cat 4 crit until I explode spectacularly, and then keep
> riding until I get lapped or show signs of endangering the sprint.
> -ride home in a very screwed-up state, probably have to stop for a
> drink. This ride reverses the commute, but the hills are more favorable.
>
> The goal is to do a fairly long ride that will burn fat, but to throw
> enough high-HR riding in that I build power. Is it dumb to combine these
> activities? Is it dumber than not doing one or the other at all?
>
> I'm certainly in such a state, physically, right now that any serious
> riding is likely to help, but I don't want to be doing some sort of
> ridiculous physiological suicide that will be totally counterproductive
> (as, for example, I suspect long rides at 25 km/h would be. Junk miles
> ho!)
>
> I will also try to pack in a few dedicated sessions of riding hard,
> 60-90s intervals uphill (3 sets of 3 to start), since that has
> historically made me strong fast.
>
> If the biggest result from my training is that I lose 25 pounds and
> maintain some semblance of current power, I will be highly competitive
> in the local crits, and should shoot up the CX results as if I was
> experimenting with The **** That Will Kill Them.
>
> Finally, are my training goals ridiculous? Am I sabotaging the CX season
> with my devotion to intervals, when I should just work on hour-power or
> something? Is training for both CX and sprinting purely hopeless? I
> don't see a lot of peloton-ing happening at the front end of local "B"
> CX races, but then I don't see a lot of the front of those races,
period.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions, even the funny ones.
>
> *will never happen.
>

I don't see how losing 25lbs should have to have a negative effect on
power. We are talking fat, not muscle.

As for sprint vs CX, my take is that with -25lbs it's not going to
matter. And the general fitness gains from the more rigourous plan
will just make you better all around. I think one has to be SUPER
strong before specialization comes at the cost of sacrificing some
strengths to the favor of others.

In other words, the strong guys who are faster than you can probably
ride away from you in a TT, up a hill, and in a sprint, and CX too
(unless they suck at bike handling). Specialization doesn't really
matter at this level, fitness does. Same goes for peaking, and all
that other rubbish.

The main thing IMO is in general more riding, with more intensity will
make you stronger and thus faster. Losing weight will also make you
faster (duh). There are myriad ways to optimize how you do the work
you are going to do in training, and how to schedule recovery or
whatever you want to call it, but the short version is "ride lots."

Joseph