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For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter?
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Last winter I did FTP type work starting in November straight into the season. I raced from March until September, but burned out badly in September.

I hear a lot about riding in zone 2 for as many miles as you can instead of FTP stuff.

What have you had success with during the winter?
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Former Cat 2, sub-54 min 40 k....my best years came from riding all winter long. I know I'm not telling you specifically what to do but just don't stop riding. It's sub 15F where I live right now, & I do everything in my power to ride outside whenever I can. I ride rollers, trainers, & go to spin class. I've done structured winters & I have done unstructured winters where I still ride 4-5 days a week.
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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The last couple weeks I've made a big focus to ALWAYS be in at least zone 2, (around 75% of FTP to be precise) occasionally venturing higher but basically only zone 2 or 3 for structured stuff. Riding every day.

It has been huge, I've set new power records at durations at ~30 seconds, ~1 minute and ~30 minutes in the last few days and did a hard 5 hour ride today without feeling shattered.

Very surprised at how the short term power records have popped up, especially since I'm coming off a short duathlon focus when I was doing only bike racing before.

Anyway it is a quite different feeling to do 1, to 4 hour efforts ALWAYS staying up in the middle to upper ranges of zone 2. Basically the idea is waste no time, when on the bike.

Starting to get used to it, I think.



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
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [jackmott] [ In reply to ]
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jack are these structured intervals you're doing, or steady efforts at the 75%?

i like how that sounds. i can imagine this would be a great place to be. not redline, just used to keeping the hr up and the pressure on.
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Pretty much Just steady efforts.

Basically during the week, I either go out for 1 or 2 hours, and keep it at 75% of ftp (zone 2) if its a 2 hour day or I feel trashed, or ~83% of ftp (Zone 3) if its a 1 hour day or I feel great.

Weekends/holidays try to go longers, like 3+ hours

Then for example today I did a ~3 hour group ride, just went with the flow there, but I also rode 1 hour to the ride, and 1 hour back home after it. For those bits I kept it in zone 2. total of ~5 hours




%FTP wrote:
jack are these structured intervals you're doing, or steady efforts at the 75%?

i like how that sounds. i can imagine this would be a great place to be. not redline, just used to keeping the hr up and the pressure on.



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
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [jackmott] [ In reply to ]
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This is what I struggle with. I finally decided to do a proper base and bought the book Base Building for Cyclists which talks about Zone 2 riding. Then I discovered TrainerRoad, and I'm doing the Intermediate Base 1 plan. Some of the efforts certainly feel beyond Zone 2.

I like the Trainer Road workouts, but am I not really doing base?

Cervelo R3 and Cannondale Synapse, Argon18 Electron Track Bike
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [cervelo-van] [ In reply to ]
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I don't know what trainer road workouts you are doing, so I can't comment. Base means many things to many people but...

If you are riding a lot at zones 2 and higher, that is good.

It is all good, above zone 1!

This nice thing about zones 2 and 3 is you can just keep doing hours and hours day after day after day



cervelo-van wrote:
This is what I struggle with. I finally decided to do a proper base and bought the book Base Building for Cyclists which talks about Zone 2 riding. Then I discovered TrainerRoad, and I'm doing the Intermediate Base 1 plan. Some of the efforts certainly feel beyond Zone 2.

I like the Trainer Road workouts, but am I not really doing base?



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
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Have been crunched for time for the last few months with graduate school winding up and other shenanigans getting in the way. My offseason has looked like this:

When crunched for time --> ~1 hour on trainer with 2 x 20' efforts. First 20 minutes "sweet spot", second 20 minutes start at SS and work higher into zone 4 if feeling good.

When have time but forced indoors --> ~2 hours on trainer in high zone 2 land. Usually finish it off with either 3-5 minute ramp to finishing "sprint" or tabata intervals ( 7 x 20"on/10"off, full gas).

When have time and can get outside --> Riding up to ~3 hours steady in high zone 2. Sprint for town lines/other signs with friends and on occasion will push a climb.

No scheduled days off. I seem to end up having a day where I'm forced off due to other obligations every 10 days or so. Otherwise I do an easy 30 minutes or take off whenever I am feeling off OR am not putting out usual power at perceived effort level. Generally recovery ride/off once every 8-10 days.


Full-time roadie right now, so obviously this would be a lot for a multi-guy. Common theme though with JackMott and others is no zone 1. I find zone 2/3 riding generally reproducible on a day to day basis without too much accumulated fatigue, so I can't see a reason for zone 1 riding (except on days where I'd otherwise take off completely).

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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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This past winter I was riding 6 days a week. 2-3x a week was 15-20m 73-82% and then anywhere from 2X20 to 2X28 to 3X15 to 3X18 at 90-95%. Then at least 1-2 a week I included "Stomps" which were from a complete stop in the 53X11 all out for 30secs X4-8 times in my other rides. And on the longer rides there would be 12-15mins at that 73-82% every hour.

Not sure what you consider "working", but I progressed as a cyclist and saw a 10% increase in power over IM and a little more at the sprint/OLY/HIM.

-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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this time of year i am upper zone 3 lower zone 4. shorter the ride, ussually the higher the effort. for instance, today was 1.5 hours skiing with 9 yo daughter (her second day, fantastic enthusiasm, huge motor) then another hour skiing by myself. after dinner i did an hour on the trainer at IF 0.92.

Yesterday, I did not ski, but did ride 90 min at IF 0.85

come january I will alternate days, 0.85,0.95 for efforts through Feb when I might start to get back outside on rare occasion until intervals start in April
I consider the above to be base building. plus I added 10-15w to ftp via this method last year(been cycling since '91)

Zone 1 is a rare occasion, and more likely will be a day off either due to long day at work, vacation with kids, or sick.
Zone 2 still rare, if I am feeling a bit under weather, or want a really long boring trainer ride, ie 2 hours.

In case you cant tell, i want the trainer stuff to be as short as possible.

The bonus side of doing the above alternating, come MArch, is you can jump right outside and feel great.
Last edited by: jeffp: Dec 26, 12 21:54
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [aidanlynch] [ In reply to ]
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aidanlynch wrote:
No scheduled days off. I seem to end up having a day where I'm forced off due to other obligations every 10 days or so. Otherwise I do an easy 30 minutes or take off whenever I am feeling off OR am not putting out usual power at perceived effort level. Generally recovery ride/off once every 8-10 days.

THISI!!! I like the rest of your plan, but ESPECIALLY the part I've quoted above.

If you are tired, take an easy day, not a couch day. Life happens and that will take you off the bike occasionally. I see no point in taking a day off in general and scheduling one seems nuts.

Kevin

http://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.com
My Strava
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Sufferfest videos on the CompuTrainer 2x/weekdays and 2x/weekends (longer). HIIT straight through winter...stronger at 59 than I was at 45.
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [nslckevin] [ In reply to ]
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nslckevin wrote:
aidanlynch wrote:

No scheduled days off. I seem to end up having a day where I'm forced off due to other obligations every 10 days or so. Otherwise I do an easy 30 minutes or take off whenever I am feeling off OR am not putting out usual power at perceived effort level. Generally recovery ride/off once every 8-10 days.


THISI!!! I like the rest of your plan, but ESPECIALLY the part I've quoted above.

If you are tired, take an easy day, not a couch day. Life happens and that will take you off the bike occasionally. I see no point in taking a day off in general and scheduling one seems nuts.

You can take a few minutes to access your inner wisdom. "Shall I ride today? Shall I do 50 miles?" You can trust your inner wisdom, It wants to look after you.
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [jackmott] [ In reply to ]
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jackmott wrote:

This nice thing about zones 2 and 3 is you can just keep doing hours and hours day after day after day

firstable I wouldn't call myself a bike guru :) but that zone 2 and 3 has worked for me as well.

The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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What works the best for me is getting lean, about 2.1lb per in. Lean. More then any workout or hours on the bike that what helps me.

I can spend hours and hours on the bike everyday but nothing get me fast like being light.
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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I think the FTP work in the fall isn't really a great idea and a recipe for burnout. It's not the physicality of it per se but the mental fatigue of doing it on the trainer that can drag folks down.

I'd say looking at riding 4-5x week per what you've seen here, e.g. sweet spot is a better bet. One thing that helped me in my last season of Tri was doing low-key TT events in early winter & spring; I had no tri racing planned so could nearly train through these and saw my FTP come up to (then) historical highs.

Last year was nearly pure cycling and this season will be straight cycling also so trying to ride pretty much everyday.
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [Beachboy] [ In reply to ]
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Beachboy wrote:
What works the best for me is getting lean, about 2.1lb per in. Lean. More then any workout or hours on the bike that what helps me.

I can spend hours and hours on the bike everyday but nothing get me fast like being light.


No guru, no coach, so listen to the smarter people. I think it depends on what your targeting. I did intervals 1 hr / day x 4 days and 2 base rides zone 2ish x 2 a week. That made me a faster sprinter and better climber.It wasnt till I got lighter did it payoff x10000. Maybe your already light. If mentally you burned out then enjoy some base training. We all tske ourselves to serious. Base blocks are great for body and mind.

Please forgive typo's and poor grammer. Most posting performed on my not so smart phone.
Last edited by: 3X-VO2-LT-FTP: Dec 27, 12 19:38
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Re: For you cyclists and "bike focus" gurus --- what works for you in the winter? [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Don't know if you've read this thread but it's a good one: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...rch_string=;#4196172
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