Time Trial Training

What sorts of courses (topography) and conditions (wind) are you training for?

RapDaddyo said:

What sorts of courses (topography) and conditions (wind) are you training for?

flat, rolling hills can be somewhat windy

About how much time do you have available to train per week?

RapDaddyo said:

About how much time do you have available to train per week?

appox 10 hrs

Your main focus is going to be lactate threshold and VO2MAX (L4 & L5 per Andy Coggan's schema). 10 hrs/wk is plenty of time to get in a lot of quality minutes at both levels. You'll probably want to do significantly more L4 than L5 work, but that really depends on where you're starting from. But, probably at least 70/30 L4/L5. This is a pretty good thread on L4 intervals cyclingforums.comt310526.htmlOpen ↗. And here's a thread that is primarily about L4 training cyclingforums.comt314849.htmlOpen ↗. Personally, I'd start with L4 work and leave the L5 work for a few months from now. I don't think you need to be in fantastic shape to begin L4 intervals because if you develop a good feel for your 1 hr power, they aren't really all that stressful if you do them at the low end of the power range (91%FT). When you get ready for L5 intervals, this is a good thread cyclingforums.comt325844.htmlOpen ↗.

One might wonder why not just do LT intervals for TTs? It's for two reasons. First, increasing your VO2MAX contributes to a higher FT. Two, the fastest way to ride a rolling TT course is variable power, riding the slow sections (uphill and upwind) at higher power than the fast sections (downhill and downwind). Thus, you draw on your anaerobic work capacity, which is increased (most) with L5 work. You'll find some good threads if you search this forum on "lactate threshold" and "VO2MAX" search terms.