Focused Base Numbers 6/1 to 7/9

After doing a lot of easy riding this spring and some doubts/decisions to whether or not to do any focused training this summer, I decided after a nice visit to Nebraska to try it and see what happened. I had already arranged to work with John Verheul at JBV Coaching earlier in the spring so I had a specific training plan .

The focused base developed nicely and compared to last year, I did not have to go through a muscle learning curve with the power meter. Last year it took about 6 weeks for my body to transition from using HR to power.

In terms of numbers, I did about 850 miles and 53 hours of riding in base (Figure 1). There was little "fat" in the base period, meaning I stuck specifically to what was supposed to be done that day. The only exception was during group rides where I did not worry about numbers. So, most of the time every ride had a specific goal or purpose and I found that to be very motivating. This is reflected in the base period mean maximal power curve (mmpc) (Figure 4). The numbers don't look that impressive, but in context of specific workouts I met most major goals. The mmpc shows your "bests" in power for each time duration. Overall in your training year(s), it is a record of your best power, sort of like your portfolio of performance. But in a training period where you are not really trying for "bests" but merely doing the power required for each workout.

Figure 1: Time/Distance

This was the most disciplined base period I have ever done, focused on the numbers I had to do. The training zone distribution (Figure 2) shows exactly what I did during the entire period but not daily durations in each zone. Most time was spent in tempo and I did a lot of threshold work as well in various blocks of 15-20 minutes twice a week.

Figure 2: Percent of Time in Each Training Zone

I did not take a traditional rest week after the 4th week due to a vacation so the base period lasted 5 weeks and 2 days. However, I feel good and am motivated for the next step which will focus on VO2 max efforts and more tempo before transitioning into cyclocross specific workouts in September.

Figure 3: Power Distribution in Base

Figure 4: Mean Maximal Power Curve 6/1 to 7/9

Figure 5: Training Stress/Intensity Factor per 7 days During Base

In terms of high end power, I started doing sprints in base both in 39x17 and 53x19. All sprints in the 39 were done from 10mph and in the 53, from 14 mph. My sprint power has never been great and my max sprint 1-second power has never been above 1350 watts. More importantly, I am lucky if I can hold 1000 watts for 12 seconds. In the figure below my sprint power is variable but as my CTL increases, TSB (freshness) decreases and this has an effect on my sprint power. Today for example my legs were pretty tired and I could only muster 905 watts for 12 seconds and I was very un-fresh at -16.6 tss/d. In contrast, I had a nice result on 3/5/07 at 1038 watts and my TSB was positive. I have not tapered for anything because my CTL is never high enough but if I take a day off or do sprints after a recovery day my results are better. In comparison, on 5/15/2006 I was at 15.6 TSB and managed to hold 1053 watts for 12 seconds. This was right before my daughter was born so I was not riding as much and therefore fresher. The bottom line is if I was expecting a good sprint result in a race this week, it would behoove me to take a day or two off in order for TSB to rise and fatigue to dissipate.