I have no advice, but those that can give it, may be able to help with the above formatting change. This happens to me when I try to post a question from my ipad so no worries.

twomarks

Do you use Training Peaks? There are a lot of threads on this forum about the Performance Management Chart (PMC) on Training Peaks - and it is a great way to monitor your training/build into your A race.

The two things that people tend to get wrong are either too much training or too much rest. The PMC on Training Peaks can really help monitor this.

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I do use training peaks. I'll look into that. The thing that is confusing to me is what types of workouts are good/bad idea at certain phases of training. For example, if I were doing a trainer workout twice a week that consisted of: warm up, 4 sets of 5 min max effort w/ 2 min rest between. Is that a BAD idea to be doing that during the early part of a training plan, like right after offseason? Should all of your workouts in the early phase of your training be easy? I have read articles that seem to say both ways.

Also, when you reach your "peak" and you keep on training hard past that point, how much of a performance decline do you see? For example, if you don't plan your training perfectly and lets say you reach peak fitness 2 weeks before your A race, what kind of difference in performance are we talking about for lets say a sprint race? 23 mph bike vs 23.2? or is it more drastic like if you had race 2 weeks earlier you would have biked 2 mph faster? Is it a miniscule difference or is it dramatic?

The concept of a peak may not apply to athletes that are not training with large volumes, because you can get in good shape and keep it there. Many amateurs do this, maybe they take a break in the winter but they basically remain more or less at peak for most of the year.

Whereas a professional will get in peak shape after a build that involved some 30 hour weeks and there is just no way to sustain that without physical or mental breakdown.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Ok. That makes sense. So someone as myself who if not training for an IM, trains about 7-10 hrs/week, peaking is not as much of a factor?

Right. Though you might think about seeing if you can get a stretch of 3 or 4 weeks of 15-20 hours a week in before A races, and go faster!

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Here's a gross over-simplification:

Periodization goes from general to specific (not slow to fast).

Your general period is to prepare you for your specific period.

Your specific period is to prepare you for your race.

At the end of your specific period, you will taper which will allow you to peak for your race.

As mentioned, you "peak" for a race and it takes approximately 6-ish weeks to "adapt" to a training stress.

So, every 6 weeks you need to change the training stress (ie: manipulate volume and intensity across 3 sports) because your body will have adapted ("peaked") to this training stress.

These 6 week blocks will get progressively more specific as you get closer to your race. As your race approaches you will taper (reduce physiological/psychological fatigue) which will allow you to peak for your race.

I feel like I could write an article about the topic of periodization and peaking using the same general terminology that people use to explain this. "You build a base of general fitness, then you work on building strength, speed, and power, then closer to race you start doing race specific workouts. " But if someone asked me how to accomplish these things I wouldn't know what to tell them. What does "general fitness" mean? Does it mean your in decent shape(aka slightly fast). Do you build your general fitness only by doing long, slow training? I do interval training all the time. Am I hurting myself by doing this? What does race specific mean? To me it means if you're doing a sprint triathlon, then a race specific workout would be doing a hard 20 mile bike followed by a hard 5 k. Are you not supposed to give any kind of Max efforts in your workouts until the very end of your training plan?

"General fitness" means our fitness is non-specific to our actual race. It could be so non-specific that we are doing a swim only block (ie: we appear to only be training for a swim event and not a triathlon). At the end of this block, for the swim, you would be in better than "decent shape/slightly fast". During this block there would be significant amounts of intensity and you would not be doing just lsd.

Generally speaking, for the swim and bike, "interval training" should be done all the time but with the run we need to be more careful/selective.

"Race specific" means our fitness is now becoming more specific to the fitness demands of our actual race. Here is a good quote on specificity from Paul Sousa: "As a general comment, I will remind you that specificity, as with the other training principles, is a pretty complex concept. It does not mean that training should emulate racing, it means training should reflect the needs and skills required by racing." http://thetriathlonbook.blogspot.ca/...unning-off-bike.html

You are supposed to give "Max efforts" when it's appropriate and not just at the very end of your training plan. As mentioned, you will have swim and bike intensity pretty much year-round.

As I mentioned, periodization is from general to specific and not slow to fast and it's about doing the right combinations of volume and intensity at the right time of the year.

Like. Very well-written response and great explanation.

Thanks for the responses but I'm looking for something more specific. Let's take the bike for example. Let's say you're training for a sprint race. What would be an example of a "race specific workout" that you would do at that phase of your training that would not do during your "general fitness" training? The goal is to bike approx. 20 miles as fast as you can. How would your workouts differ in November as opposed to March if your race is in May?

In my opinion you would use the November time period to work on your limiters whatever they may be. Let's say you have a good aerobic engine on the bike this would mean doing big gear work to build strength in your legs. If you suck at swimming this might mean loads of technique work in the pool. You keep some intensity so that your body remembers what it is but you focus key sessions on your weaknesses.

As you get towards the race, you don't focus as much on the limiters but do more workouts that are race like. E.g. a hard 45 min bike then a hard run.

So if I was extremely determined to get faster on the bike from November till spring, and wanted to work extremely hard to accomplish this, is there any type of workouts that you would say "NO that is a REALLY bad idea this early in your training plan!" Because I'm willing to put in the pain and time to get better but I don't want to do something that could be counterintuitive. The reason Im so confused about all this is because I spent an offseason working hard a couple years ago and thought I was making big gains and then when race time rolled around I was no better. And at the same time I'm seeing beginners go from riding 18 mph to several months later averaging 23 mph for a sprint. Discouraging

What's your A race for next year? I would do workouts with that in mind. Let's assume you're racing Ironman distance August/Sept next year, I wouldn't say there is any session you shouldn't do right now at all, but there are workouts that might help more than others.

For long distance racing I wouldn't really bother with anything harder than 3min hard efforts (e.g. 5-6 times 3 minute hard effort with great form, and an easy spin between). I'd throw in some 2x20 sub threshold sessions. I'd throw in some group rides where occasionally you're going hard to hang on or go up hills. You can't do it all high intensity every session though so you'd have to structure it (e.g. 3min efforts on Tues, 2x20 on Thurs, hard group ride for a couple hours at the weekend). You'd have to be willing to sit out sessions if your body starts to complain. It looks like you might be a sprint athlete and having never done a sprint I couldn't say what would work well.

With regards to thinking you were making big gains, how did you measure it? I'm guessing you don't have a power meter. If you have a trainer with speed on it, you can do non-invasive testing regularly to track progress. E.g. after you've warmed up but before doing the main set of a session you can get your heart rate to a specific level (140bpm, 150bpm, whatever) and see what speed you're doing on the trainer. If you chart that over a month you'll see whether you're getting stronger. If you see no trend then there is something wrong. The heart rate I'd pick would be similar to the kind of heart rate level you'd have during the distance you're racing. This is a blunt tool but it's better than training blind all winter. If you don't have that, you can time yourself riding up a hill at max effort, or at a specific heart rate target. Find something that works for you and use it as a yardstick.

You need to find a measurement that measures your performance. If you judge yourself relative to peers you'll always question your methodology. A beginner may make huge gains over the winter because they worked harder, trained smarter, etc. But do you really care about them? If you're saying you were no better at race time, it could be anything, you were overtrained, you were ill, you had an off day mentally, you swam too hard, the course was windier, etc. If you have an agnostic measurement that will give you more confidence that your training is suited to your goals.

Sorry, just reread that your goal is to bike 20 miles as fast as you can. My advice would be better for long course atheletes. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than I can help you figure out what's optimal to be doing now. So, just to be explicit, right now you're thinking more about your Annual Training Plan and its periodization (i.e. what's your season looks like, and what are you working on now) versus Peaking (i.e. priming your body before an A race)

http://www.active.com/triathlon/articles/hit-your-stride-olympic-distance-peaking?page=1


This is an article by Matt Fitzgerald on peaking that you might find useful

I haven't actually decided what kind of races I will do next year. I am actually leaning toward my second IM in October. My statement about the 20 miles was just to see if I could get a specific answer as far as "race specific" training. Everyone talks about race specific but no one says what types of workouts are race specific. So if you were training for a sprint race and it was getting close to your race and time for "race specific" training, what kind of rides will you be doing? People say "training for specific fitness demands of the race." Well to me biking as hard as I can for 20 miles is as specific as you can get for a race that is 20 mi. as far as fitness demands of the race. As far as measuring progress, I do not have a power meter. So my method of measuring progress was keeping my trainer tension the same, keeping my tire pressure consistent, and then doing 4 x 5 min( 2.5 min rest) Max effort intervals and tracking speed. I would do that about once a week in addition to other bike workouts during the week. I would take the average of the four intervals and keep a log of that. Each week I would try to beat my previous average. At the beginning of the winter my avg was around 22.5-23 mph. After a couple of months my avg bumped up to 24.5-25. I realize those speeds have nothing to do with actual outdoor speed but I thought it would be a fairly accurate measure of progress. By the time my first race came around in April, I was no better than the previous year. Very disappointing.

Don't overthink it. Less specific means your doing training that less like your race to build more general fitness. More specific means training more similar to your race. You can lave the later until 10-12 weeks before your A race in build periods. Base periods will be more broad. At the same time you need to consider your overall fitness and your training load will slowly increase at the same time at whatever rate you can tolerate.

One strategy is to do 2 or 3 harder zone 5+ intervals workouts a week and the rest zone 2 with very little zone 3 & 4 during early base periods, then transition towards doing more zone 4 work, but still some z5 intervals, then in your build (for long course) your \\'ll do more and more zone 3 and try and maximize your overall weekly training load and include some very long race pace rides. There are some other version of this as well. A pro might ride down in zone 1 to get in even more aerobic volume. that's fine if you have 30-40 hours per week to train.

You can do Sufferfest Videos, trainer road, or do some web searches, or even just make it up yourself. It doesn't have to be too complicated. IF it seems too easy, increase the number of reps or duration or intensity. You cna also adjust the duration of the rest interval. It is nice to do 1 or 2 workouts each month or training bloc that repeat so you can measure improvements.

Honestly, I find sprint repeats in a lot of ways easier than 2x20, long tempo or other threshold efforts, especially indoors.

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I would still be trying to raise my FTP but at this point, I would be doing it primarily via intensity.

I would do rides that were of *similar* duration/intensity to that of my race.

I would do some swim/bike "brick" rides for race pace planning (also a good opportunity to work on transitions).

I would do some bike/run "brick" rides for race pace planning (also a good opportunity to work on transitions).

I would do some very short duration bike/run/bike/run/bike/run/bike/run rides. These would be to develop the neuromuscular skill of running off the bike (also a good opportunity to work on transitions).

I would ride my triathlon bike in my race position/set up.

I would ride the race course if at all practical.

Having said all of the above, I would also have to factor in my swim and run training. During the specific period sprint distance triathletes will also have a significant amount of swim and run intensity so you need to find a balance. Lastly, while long individual workouts (ie: long bike and long run) are not that important, total volume is still important.