Anybody got a good idea for a winter workout on the hometrainer to simulate a cat 1 crit? I'm using a Taxc Flow, so I plan to assume I'm about 10% below what I get on my screen.
I was thinking of the following:
0-5 mins: - 400w+ with 10 sprints to 600w 5-10: - 350w with 10 second sprint to 450w every 45 seconds 10-15: - 360w with 10 second sprint to 450w every 60 seconds 15-30: - 330w with 5 second sprint to 450w every 30 seconds 30-45 - 360w with 10 second sprint to 450w every 60 seconds 45-55 - 340w with 5 second sprint to 450w every 30 seconds 55-60 - 400w+ with 5 second sprint to 600w every 30 seconds
I was also considering doing the occasional hour at 280w with a sprint to 600w+ every minute....
I see a very impressive workout. Without sprinting it's already pretty impressive. It's 60 minutes with an average power of 355 watt. But you also want to sprint > 50 times in that hour.
What's your FTP or MLSS (Maximum Lactate Steady State)?
Anybody got a good idea for a winter workout on the hometrainer to simulate a cat 1 crit? I'm using a Taxc Flow, so I plan to assume I'm about 10% below what I get on my screen.
I was thinking of the following:
0-5 mins: - 400w+ with 10 sprints to 600w 5-10: - 350w with 10 second sprint to 450w every 45 seconds 10-15: - 360w with 10 second sprint to 450w every 60 seconds 15-30: - 330w with 5 second sprint to 450w every 30 seconds 30-45 - 360w with 10 second sprint to 450w every 60 seconds 45-55 - 340w with 5 second sprint to 450w every 30 seconds 55-60 - 400w+ with 5 second sprint to 600w every 30 seconds
I was also considering doing the occasional hour at 280w with a sprint to 600w+ every minute....
Preseason I completed 90 minutes with an average of 365w, 30 minutes at 380w.....I've also done 5 mins at average of 440w....so I estimated then my FT to be around 360-365w....of course then everybody here told me how innaccurate the Tacx flow was and that my true values are likely to be 10% below that - 330w or so.
I'm just about to finish my first proper racing season though, and at the beginiing of the season I was getting dropped after 10 minutes in a crit....now I'm finishing in the bunch. So I would imagine that my numbers are a little better, especially the shorter intervals at higher power.
I found there was a real temptation on the trainer to grind away with very low cadence at high resistance to produce the best numbers, and when I started racing I was instinctively riding low cadence in way to big a gear, which meant after every bend I was losing ground as I couldn't accelerate. Having gotten used to the trainer my foolish reaction to this was to drop even lower on the straits and end up losing even more ground....dumb.
... I'm just about to finish my first proper racing season though, and at the beginiing of the season I was getting dropped after 10 minutes in a crit....now I'm finishing in the bunch. So I would imagine that my numbers are a little better, especially the shorter intervals at higher power...
I wouldn't assume this - it could easily be accounted for by improved technique (not using brakes in corners, staying out of the wind more, etc.) I find it hard to learn too much about my fitness from crits b/c there are so many variables.
I think if you can complete your proposed workout, you shoudn't have too many problems. 😉 Give it a shot and report back. fwiw, If your goal is to truly simulate a crit, you might want to drop in short bits at much lower power.
From an adaptation perspective, this is all L4/L5/L7 work. I would think increasing your AC with L6 work would be a top priority. Apart from the impressive absolute values, it still comes down to targeting specific adaptations.
for winter training... which is boring.. throwing something like this in might be fun and chalenging every once in a while... but i'm with RapDaddyo.. probably doing AC-L6 is likely what you need to work into your schedule... 2 sets of 3x (~1min) 4-5 min recovery or something like that... although in the winter might not want it to be a regular part of your schedule... maybe every once in a while.. addaption in this area is fairly quick so can start it in the month or so before the season and should be ok.. though i've also read that not dropping workouts like this totally in the winter is also a good thing... better not to let these systems atrophy during the winter then it comes back faster...
also what peterpen said is true... technique is huge.. taking good lines and holding momentum in corners is something that lots of people overlook and a lot of people don't do properly... and when in the group, even just clicking down one gear before the corner makes the acceleration on the other side so much easier.. i see people just grinding away for no reason at all after the corner... just click down one gear and the light bulb goes on... hey this actually isn't hard, i was just in the wrong gear.. the up a gear when your speed gets up on the straightway... these things count for a lot..
