Now that I have completed my very first TT, in what I feel is a very respectable 24:38 for 16K, I want to work on increasing my speed to become more competitive. What suggestions do you have to help me bring my times down to the 22’s or below?
Much like running, I know interval work will help, but I’m not so sure how best to correlate this to cycling. If I do intervals, how many, for how long, how much rest in between, at what speed, in or out of the saddle? What about weight training specific to the legs?
Any suggestions would be appreciated. For just riding, I feel pretty good about my speed now, but I want to get a little more serious with it and bring my times down.
Some people will say ride more miles. Some will say ride more speedwork. For me, I’m a mileage junkie. I have never been faster at races than the last two weeks and it came from a big increase in volume and no speedwork. You can improve aerobically for years but only for a few (6-8) weeks doing anaerobic stuff.
If you don’t have so much time then read this thread that was posted today. Ashburn has some good info here for the time constrain cyclist:
First set a realistic goal - taking 2 minutes off a 10K TT PR in 2-months equates to an 50-70% performance improvement and not many people are going to be able to effect such results! Also, a TT is simply a series of differential exertions that when combined, results in the desired performance - not even Lance pegs the tach at redline for 105% of the effort. One thing that you might want to think about is refining your ability to train at or near lactate threshold - old school yes, but unless you have a power meter, it is probably one of the easiest performance indicators available to us mere mortals.
Coaches will typically specify a weekly progression that starts something like 4x4, 4x6, 4x8, 4x10, 2x20, 1/2x40 with the goal of maintaining lactate threshold +~4 bpm/-~4bpm. Exertion when coming off the interval should not fall off more than 20% of the interval effort - ie. going from a 25-mph interval to a 16-mph resting pace between exertions proably is not going to help you attain your goal as easily as reducing speed to 21-22mph off interval.
Got a velodrome nearby - another option (often not as tenable) is to incorporate motorpacing to help improve performance and velodromes usually have a motorbike that you can pace behind for hours on end without fear of a traffic accident. Cars with willing SO’s can also be used but unless you have a rural area in which to pace, traffic usually intercedes to minimize the training value. If motorpacing is not an option, a weekly, high intensity group ride (speeds 15-20% above your norm can also go a long way towards increasing speed. Regardless of the manner, consistent, repeatable training technique/methods will go a long way towards meeting your objective of improving your times in an ITT!