whoawhoa said:Just to clarify, since they may be important, I am a kid (15), and have been training "hard" (intervals and hard group rides weekly) for just over a year.
To what extent do the training zones cross over? If I do a high volume of z5 work versus a high volume of z4 work, will the differences be pretty small?
And, I guess my biggest question is this: Can you make significant gains in both vo2max and threshold power in the same training block?
Hi,
To me, at age 15, you are probably no longer a kid. But that depends on your development rate, and your past athletic background. I'm not an age group coach myself, but I have witness, over 8 years, a lot of age group training, specially in swimming. And many young swimmers, 14yo and more, where trained very hard. So I would consider you more like a junior athlete, than a kid.
But again, that depends on your development.
That being said, juniors are should not be trained like adults. At your age, weight lifting as part of your cycling program should be avoid. In fact, anything that puts great deal of stress on your bones should be avoid. Sprints, as a mean of developping pure speed can be performed, can and should be performed.
Now to answer your question, it is fairly easy to reach our VO2Max genetic limitation. So for an athlete your age (considering that you still have a many years to come in cycling), I would not be in a hurry to develop it to its full extend. In my opinion, no more than 1 workout a week should be devoted to this. Group rides, windy condition, hills, races will also develop it. Even once every two weeks can be good also.
Here is an expample of a workout that can improve both aspects :
3X5k intervals performed at 85% or your working heart rate
Active recovery = 1 min, 1 min and 10 minutes
then, after the 10min recovery, you do one more 5k, all out effort.
This is an example where a little bit of VO2max is done at the end of a LT workout.
Note : I'm not familiar yet with power based work. Probably Frenchyge can translate this example, givin it power based % instead of HR %
VO2Max stuff can be mixed with LT, and sprint workouts as well. That way, you don't have to dedicate a complete workout to VO2Max as often.
But if possible, you should consider gettin in touch with a coach. Because it is a bit difficult for us to transmit information 100% relevant to you, without actually knowing you.
Bottom line, if a young man your age is satisfied with his improvement curve, and results in races, without having to overload aerobic too much, I am not going to stress that aspect. Sooner or later, there will be a time where more serious work will be required. Until then, do well in school, sleep well, eat well, and most important, have fun.
