"I think the slow and long first and then fast and shorter later discussion is a bit of a red herring for athletes with multiple years of base."
if you never take any time off, then you don't really lose fitness. of course, it's hard to get faster without periods of relative inactivity occasionally throughout the year. i think greg welch is a case in point. for years in the late 80s and early 90s he'd race the aussie season, the north american season, aussie, north american, and he'd do well -- up to a point. 3rd was his high water mark in kona. then he got injured, twice, in early 93. and he was forced to take his first rest in many years. he had to come back from a pretty deep hole. and then he won in 93.
so, if you never take any time off, then, no, the need for building a base is less urgent. but if you do take time off, then you atrophy. i don't care how much base you have, you'll lose a day of fitness for every day you take off (more or less). so, if you take pretty much 6 weeks off, it's going to take 6 weeks to get back. if you do take 6 weeks off from cycling, how do you think your ass is going to feel after 2 days of riding 3hr a day? if that happens to your ass, why do you think it doesn't happen to your connective tissue? if you want to start out balls to the walls, fine, but you're asking for trouble.
and there's no need to take that sort of risk. everything you lose is going to come back, but stronger, if you give it time to build. somehow 50 years of collective wisdom in the world of running, cycling, and more recently triathlon, has been forgotten with you guys. what happened?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
if you never take any time off, then you don't really lose fitness. of course, it's hard to get faster without periods of relative inactivity occasionally throughout the year. i think greg welch is a case in point. for years in the late 80s and early 90s he'd race the aussie season, the north american season, aussie, north american, and he'd do well -- up to a point. 3rd was his high water mark in kona. then he got injured, twice, in early 93. and he was forced to take his first rest in many years. he had to come back from a pretty deep hole. and then he won in 93.
so, if you never take any time off, then, no, the need for building a base is less urgent. but if you do take time off, then you atrophy. i don't care how much base you have, you'll lose a day of fitness for every day you take off (more or less). so, if you take pretty much 6 weeks off, it's going to take 6 weeks to get back. if you do take 6 weeks off from cycling, how do you think your ass is going to feel after 2 days of riding 3hr a day? if that happens to your ass, why do you think it doesn't happen to your connective tissue? if you want to start out balls to the walls, fine, but you're asking for trouble.
and there's no need to take that sort of risk. everything you lose is going to come back, but stronger, if you give it time to build. somehow 50 years of collective wisdom in the world of running, cycling, and more recently triathlon, has been forgotten with you guys. what happened?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman