Time Crunched Cyclist

Funny you should ask this question now. I am currently reading that book and I am entering my first 35 mile road race tomorrow. So far the book seems perfectly geared toward that type of goal and I think it has already been a big help to me. I think the further into it I get and the more I utilize the program, the better prepared I will be. If you have a limited amount of training time, I don't see how it could hurt.

Brian

Chris Carmichael is a great coach who knows what he's talking about...but so do other coaches. It's a different ideology that works great but so does others ideas about training. Just because he won TDF races doesn't mean his ways are the best, his famous USPS team rarely won other races! If you find his ways to daunting then read other famous coaching methods and find one you can live with. Your not going to go wrong using Chis or some other coaching method.

I hope that will help you so you're not overwhelmed. Training to race can lead to burn out, it did for me which is one of the reasons I never got above Cat 3, but if you find a method of training that doesn't look so daunting then you can starve off the burnout factor a lot longer. Most of my burnout was due to putting long hours on the bike averaging 12,000 miles a year, sounds like a lot but most of my friends were averaging 18,000! Then combine that with working full time and then some, while most of my friends had wealthy parents and or worked part time. Then combine that with marriage responsibilities and you have a recipe for burnout. Maybe if I had better training more suitable to my style of riding and physical and mental requirements maybe I could have gone further? I'll never know.

I did his program last year (didn't race). A couple of thoughts:

1. The bigger your fitness base, the bigger the gains will be. If I could swing it, for example, it would make more sense to do one of his endurance blocks, -then- do the build period, then go back to the endurance block. I think the fitness gains would stay in longer.
After two weeks, you'll notice improvement. By the end of the plan, you'll feel appreciably stronger. Mentally, it's tough-I remember thinking "not another interval day." (I had almost no base when I started, and really struggled. I think I would do better on it this year.).

2. It fades fast. Ironically, it felt like the weekend endurance rides were the part that really "locked in" the gains from the week's training. YMMV.

His TCP is in essence similar to the peaking period of other plans (6-10 weeks, 6-12 weeks, 6-9-12, etc.), without the base, limited SS work, and on 8 hours a week or less. I've done it a couple times. Works ok for short Cat5 races (Cat 4 if you have good fitness going in), if you plan on doing anything longer than a 30 mile race it would be better to go in already having a good aerobic baseline, or be sure to stretch out his weekend rides out a little longer if you can... like Hrumpole mentions.

The plan is a compromise for serious competition. If one needed to get as fit as possible as fast as possible in only a few weeks intervals are the way to go. If one only has very limited time to train during the week, supplementing w/intervals is a good way to increase overall workload. Even with some prior racing experience and knowing all the tricks how to save glycogen, the plan is good for participation in the entry level categories with a chance at lucky shot. Being truly competitive is a different story.

The examples in his book are mostly guys who have raced strongly and have already been fit at their level of racing before. For a race less than 2 months away on your time it may be the best use of time. By 9 weeks or more in, mentally you'll be toast.

I got this book last year and I found it was good. I have 2 small kids and bad knees so do max of 2hr training a day for my base period before work or early weekends, so thats about 8 to 10 hrs a week. I'd do them fairly intensely too, tempo training. Then I stopped my 'base' training and followed the books plan of intervals and was flying for a 3-4 week period. Raced first cat here in Ireland in races up to 100 miles no problem including a 4 day race. Then my form disappeared very quickly.
I found the 3 min power intervals to be very good training for races as that is the length of time to make it across to a break, not miss a split on a hill. They are much better than doing short 30 sec intervals or even 60 sec (for me anyway).
One other thing, I follow a strict diet to get weight down to min as that won't take away from family time

[FONT= times new roman]I ride with a guy who’s been following the book plan and done a whole bunch of races last year. [/FONT]
[FONT= times new roman]Maybe it’s not working for him or maybe he’s not giving himself the intensity he needs to but his form is never very good. [/FONT]
[FONT= times new roman]He’s fit looking and slim, has an SL4, seems to feed / water himself wisely and yet often gets dropped by older and heavier set guys and me on my Singlespeed (going up hills & I’m far from my fittest). [/FONT]

[FONT= times new roman]Great if the plans work for you but if you’ve got the $ get a coach and ride some more hills![/FONT]

[FONT= times new roman]BBB[/FONT]

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by uptheswa [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Is the Time Crunch Plan according to Chris Carmichael the best way to prepare for 35 to 45 mile road races for those with about 6 or 7 hours per week...or is there a better way ?

A 45 mile race is 2 hours. 90 minutes if someone is in a hurry.

You need to ride at least 5 days a week and put in at least 1 2 hour hard ride a week.

But you do what you can with what you have.

bbb, there can be so many reasons why your friend does not do as well as you would think. Do you know his real life schedule? He also may over-train? Looks are do not tell much in cycling. I seem guys with big guts in crits do pretty well actually.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by jsirabella [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

bbb, there can be so many reasons why your friend does not do as well as you would think. Do you know his real life schedule? He also may over-train? Looks are do not tell much in cycling. I seem guys with big guts in crits do pretty well actually.

Yeah, we can't really see someone's VO2 max numbers. That friend may not be genetically suited to aerobic sports like cycling. If someone is born with a poor or below-average VO2 max capacity, they may respond little or not at all to training. They can train for thousands of hours, but never really improve to be a competitive racer. OTOH, alot of us probably know cyclists who never do any serious training, they just go out and race, and the Cat's and wins come easy for them. I believe that genetics play a major role for all of us.

dhk2, I do agree that genetics plays a role but I would say it really makes the difference when the difference between the riders is so small that everything counts. It is basically the same way I feel about bikes. For most cats and racers they would do just as well in a race with a mid-range bike vs. a high-end bike. The fact that we are here means that our genes are pretty damn good to survive the natural selection process. Until you make cycling your career you will never know your highest potential but I do think for all the different classes of weekend warriors we will improve and do pretty well amongst our peers with a structured training plan. Will some do better than others, yes, but I believe the human body has proven time and time again that it can adapt pretty well when given the proper encouragement.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Bigbananabike [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

[FONT= times new roman]I ride with a guy who’s been following the book plan and done a whole bunch of races last year. [/FONT]
[FONT= times new roman]Maybe it’s not working for him or maybe he’s not giving himself the intensity he needs to but his form is never very good. [/FONT]
[FONT= times new roman]He’s fit looking and slim, has an SL4, seems to feed / water himself wisely and yet often gets dropped by older and heavier set guys and me on my Singlespeed (going up hills & I’m far from my fittest). [/FONT]

[FONT= times new roman]Great if the plans work for you but if you’ve got the $ get a coach and ride some more hills![/FONT]

[FONT= times new roman]BBB[/FONT]

I would say that the techniques of this program (3 min flat out intervals) won't transform a rider. It allows me to get a lot out of 5 hrs a week and so compete in races. The book documented a rider who did just 6hrs a week and was competive in US national cross champs (master cat if i remember correctly), this was the level that rider was capable of with full training, it won't convert everyone to this level.