Training Qs: intervals, blowing up, fat...

Ryan Cousineau said:

Finally, are my training goals ridiculous? Am I sabotaging the CX season
with my devotion to intervals, when I should just work on hour-power or
something? Is training for both CX and sprinting purely hopeless? I
don't see a lot of peloton-ing happening at the front end of local "B"
CX races, but then I don't see a lot of the front of those races, period.

Doesn't sprint training actually help CX? I mean, you do have to get
back up to speed after each dismount/slow section and each one of
those accelerations is essentially like a small sprint (though you
don't want to go all out any further than what you can manage to
recover from in the time before the next dismount).

Ryan Cousineau said:

I have two goals right now:

-Lose a huge amount of weight
-up the wattage

I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding track.

Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

So, this year's strategy could be summarized as:

-goal-wise, I'm throwing long races and hill climbs under a bus. If they
help my training, fine, but it's going to be a long time before my body
composition makes me look like a climber*.

-I wouldn't mind doing well in crits, but as far as I'm concerned, the
whole purpose of road season this year is to get me back into race
shape. If I come good for some of the August crits, fine. If not, CX
season is soon enough.

Given that like all fatty masters, I have limited time (that beer won't
drink itself, you know), my current plan is to strive for 2-3 serious
training sessions per week, plus as much high-HR work as I can manage on
my commute (which, bizarrely, consists of four 15-minute rides a day: I
go home for lunch).

Here's a typical training, er, plan:

-multi-modal commute halfway across town, 25ish km in multiple sections.
Because of the hills and the timing, I have to ride faster than slow to
get to the crit on time.
-yes, crit: ride Cat 4 crit until I explode spectacularly, and then keep
riding until I get lapped or show signs of endangering the sprint.
-ride home in a very screwed-up state, probably have to stop for a
drink. This ride reverses the commute, but the hills are more favorable.

The goal is to do a fairly long ride that will burn fat, but to throw
enough high-HR riding in that I build power. Is it dumb to combine these
activities? Is it dumber than not doing one or the other at all?

I'm certainly in such a state, physically, right now that any serious
riding is likely to help, but I don't want to be doing some sort of
ridiculous physiological suicide that will be totally counterproductive
(as, for example, I suspect long rides at 25 km/h would be. Junk miles
ho!)

I will also try to pack in a few dedicated sessions of riding hard,
60-90s intervals uphill (3 sets of 3 to start), since that has
historically made me strong fast.

If the biggest result from my training is that I lose 25 pounds and
maintain some semblance of current power, I will be highly competitive
in the local crits, and should shoot up the CX results as if I was
experimenting with The [censored] That Will Kill Them.

Finally, are my training goals ridiculous? Am I sabotaging the CX season
with my devotion to intervals, when I should just work on hour-power or
something? Is training for both CX and sprinting purely hopeless? I
don't see a lot of peloton-ing happening at the front end of local "B"
CX races, but then I don't see a lot of the front of those races, period.

Thanks for any suggestions, even the funny ones.

*will never happen.

I don't see how losing 25lbs should have to have a negative effect on
power. We are talking fat, not muscle.

As for sprint vs CX, my take is that with -25lbs it's not going to
matter. And the general fitness gains from the more rigourous plan
will just make you better all around. I think one has to be SUPER
strong before specialization comes at the cost of sacrificing some
strengths to the favor of others.

In other words, the strong guys who are faster than you can probably
ride away from you in a TT, up a hill, and in a sprint, and CX too
(unless they suck at bike handling). Specialization doesn't really
matter at this level, fitness does. Same goes for peaking, and all
that other rubbish.

The main thing IMO is in general more riding, with more intensity will
make you stronger and thus faster. Losing weight will also make you
faster (duh). There are myriad ways to optimize how you do the work
you are going to do in training, and how to schedule recovery or
whatever you want to call it, but the short version is "ride lots."

Joseph

email hidden said:

Ryan Cousineau said:

I have two goals right now:

Quoted message said:

-Lose a huge amount of weight
-up the wattage

Quoted message said:

I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding track..

Quoted message said:

Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

Quoted message said:

So, this year's strategy could be summarized as:

Quoted message said:

-goal-wise, I'm throwing long races and hill climbs under a bus. If they
help my training, fine, but it's going to be a long time before my body
composition makes me look like a climber*.

Quoted message said:

-I wouldn't mind doing well in crits, but as far as I'm concerned, the
whole purpose of road season this year is to get me back into race
shape. If I come good for some of the August crits, fine. If not, CX
season is soon enough.

Quoted message said:

Given that like all fatty masters, I have limited time (that beer won't
drink itself, you know), my current plan is to strive for 2-3 serious
training sessions per week, plus as much high-HR work as I can manage on
my commute (which, bizarrely, consists of four 15-minute rides a day: I
go home for lunch).

Quoted message said:

Here's a typical training, er, plan:

Quoted message said:

-multi-modal commute halfway across town, 25ish km in multiple sections.
Because of the hills and the timing, I have to ride faster than slow to
get to the crit on time.
-yes, crit: ride Cat 4 crit until I explode spectacularly, and then keep
riding until I get lapped or show signs of endangering the sprint.
-ride home in a very screwed-up state, probably have to stop for a
drink. This ride reverses the commute, but the hills are more favorable.

Quoted message said:

The goal is to do a fairly long ride that will burn fat, but to throw
enough high-HR riding in that I build power. Is it dumb to combine these
activities? Is it dumber than not doing one or the other at all?

Quoted message said:

I'm certainly in such a state, physically, right now that any serious
riding is likely to help, but I don't want to be doing some sort of
ridiculous physiological suicide that will be totally counterproductive
(as, for example, I suspect long rides at 25 km/h would be. Junk miles
ho!)

Quoted message said:

I will also try to pack in a few dedicated sessions of riding hard,
60-90s intervals uphill (3 sets of 3 to start), since that has
historically made me strong fast.

Quoted message said:

If the biggest result from my training is that I lose 25 pounds and
maintain some semblance of current power, I will be highly competitive
in the local crits, and should shoot up the CX results as if I was
experimenting with The [censored] That Will Kill Them.

Quoted message said:

Finally, are my training goals ridiculous? Am I sabotaging the CX season
with my devotion to intervals, when I should just work on hour-power or
something? Is training for both CX and sprinting purely hopeless? I
don't see a lot of peloton-ing happening at the front end of local "B"
CX races, but then I don't see a lot of the front of those races, period..

Quoted message said:

Thanks for any suggestions, even the funny ones.

Quoted message said:

*will never happen.

I don't see how losing 25lbs should have to have a negative effect on
power. We are talking fat, not muscle.

As for sprint vs CX, my take is that with -25lbs it's not going to
matter. And the general fitness gains from the more rigourous plan
will just make you better all around. I think one has to be SUPER
strong before specialization comes at the cost of sacrificing some
strengths to the favor of others.

In other words, the strong guys who are faster than you can probably
ride away from you in a TT, up a hill, and in a sprint, and CX too
(unless they suck at bike handling). Specialization doesn't really
matter at this level, fitness does. Same goes for peaking, and all
that other rubbish.

The main thing IMO is in general more riding, with more intensity will
make you stronger and thus faster. Losing weight will also make you
faster (duh). There are myriad ways to optimize how you do the work
you are going to do in training, and how to schedule recovery or
whatever you want to call it, but the short version is "ride lots."

Joseph- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Unless you're incredibly careful with the diet, and training you are
going to lose some muscle, unfortunately. The "cutting up" phase for a
bodybuilder heading into a competition is really a mixed bag, since
you really start seeing all the muscles pop out, but you are also
losing some size you killed yourself to add, but since Ryan isn't
looking to go to that extreme it's pretty doable with losing minimal
amounts of muscle, or if he wants to lose slower you can hold, or gain
muscle, but it's tricky to only lose fat. I'd suggest looking for "pre-
contest" diet and training routines which adapt really well to
cycling. I used cycling as the primary, non-impact, tool for keeping
the metabolism up, and fat burning.
Something like a 1-2 hour ride in the AM before breakfast at about
75%, breakfast, snack, circuit type workout w/no rest between sets and
exercises, lighter weights, more reps, keep moving!!, lunch, afternoon
ride, about same as the morning ride, dinner, late mostly protein
snack about an hour before bed, should be well under 20grams protein,
and minimal carbs.
Basically the day in this cycle goes, high carb/low protein in the
AM to the opposite before bed.
the multiple small meals and snacks, along with several aerobic
activity sessions are the key to keeping the metabolism elevated.
Throwing in some sprints, and occasional LT/anaerobic work shouldn't
hurt at all and would probably help since the body is SO good at
adaptation to a routine. You've got to keep changing things up for
consistant gains. Cycle the amount of calories too around the target
weight/projected rate of loss, calculated figure. Give yourself a day
or two a week/10 days that's actually a little higher than the
baseline to help keep the metabolism up too. Anecdote says that L-
Carnitine is the standard supplement suggested, and commonly used to
aid in this. My results weren't conclusive, but it wasn't spendy, and
didn't hurt.
You might want to talk with a nutritionist/trainer who's current too.
If you do make sure they are certified. Usually an eval, and basic
plan isn't too expensive, and the objective set of eyes can really
make a difference. Think of how many times we've all looked at
something, over and over, and yet never saw it/couldn't find it, until
"DOH!" someone else pointed it out.
Bill C

On Tue, 13 May 2008 03:03:37 -0700 (PDT),

Quoted post said:

I don't see how losing 25lbs should have to have a negative effect on
power. We are talking fat, not muscle.

Gaining even a little weight can cause a significant speed drop.
Losing weight may not cause noticeable improvement in speed in the
casual rider who is not genetically gifted or using enhancing
substances.

Variety of factors apply. Some direct, some indirect, others seem
opposite of expectations, some factors confound attempts to track
improvements. (many variables, variable influence of those factors,
individual variation).

Best suggestion? Try to eliminate variables when testing, be sure and
track things (spreadsheets?). Don't lose motivation, keep trying.
Beware regaining weight - maintenance is more challenging than losing.

2 cents.

Bill C said:

I used cycling as the primary, non-impact, tool for keeping
the metabolism up, and fat burning.

How much did you lose, over what period of time?

What was your speed pre and post loss?

Just curious.

Figures I've seen suggest only 85% of loss is pure fat, unless
genetically superior, or on PEDs.

Nobody said:

On Tue, 13 May 2008 06:00:55 -0700 (PDT), Bill C

Quoted message said:

I used cycling as the primary, non-impact, tool for keeping
the metabolism up, and fat burning.

How much did you lose, over what period of time?

What was your speed pre and post loss?

Just curious.

Figures I've seen suggest only 85% of loss is pure fat, unless
genetically superior, or on PEDs.

I wasn't racing bicycles then much, I was doing some duathlons, but
mostly power lifting/BB stuff. My weight bounced from 215/225
depending on how much I was focused on power during that large cycle.
heavier when going into a lifting competition of something like that,
down to 185 at around 5% bodyfat for BB which was about my best, and I
stayed in those ranges for about 10 years since I am not genetically
gifted. Coming down from 225 was probably 4 months, 215 about 3 when
trying to retain muscle. There was definitley a strength loss when
coming down, but power to weight wasn't a factor there. Neither was
extended aerobic power. I'd have to dig through my old training logs
for times on a, roughly, 45 minute TT I used to do regularly about
once every other week, which would be the only ride that day, just to
shake up the training and try and correlate it with the weight and
bodyfat levels which I have somewhere. Memory says I was slightly
faster going down to about 10lbs from the goal, then in that last
10lbs, which I always had a miserable time with, getting slower, and
losing more in the gym too.
Unfortunately the last of this is close to 10 years ago now when the
injuries started catching up with me so the details aren't real sharp
without digging logs out.
I have managed to put on muscle while maintaining the bodyfat level
but it's a lot slower than taking some fat with the muscle gain.
keeping the muscle while losing the fat is, easily, the hardest thing
to do in BB. That's why there are so many drugs used out there,
especially, once your close, diuretics that help get rid of the excess
water "puffiness" from the steroids for razor sharp "cuts". At the
"pro" level, around show times, peoples electrolyte levels and body
chemistry is frequently, totally screwed up resulting in massive
cramping onstage, or in back, one top five type had to literally be
carried off stage and taken to the hospital, and trips to the
hospital, or EMT and then hospital from this [censored].
I think most competitive cyclists, that have been racing for a few
years, are close enough, and knowledgeable enough that big gains are
going to be really hard to come by. As others have said a few percent
that is sustainable is a big gain.
From talking to good cycling trainers I don't think the small bf/
weight changes are going to be a big thing if Ryan is looking for more
power/sprinting. More a different structure to the training.
Bill C

Ryan Cousineau said:

I have two goals right now:

-Lose a huge amount of weight
-up the wattage

dumbass,

liposuction and blood transfusion.

Ryan Cousineau said:

I have two goals right now:

-Lose a huge amount of weight
-up the wattage

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Thanks for any suggestions, even the funny ones.

Don't focus on pedaling at a higher cadence.

--
Bill Asher

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:rcousine-BCAB86.20071312052008@[74.223.185.199.nw.nuvox.net]...

Quoted message said:

I have two goals right now:

-Lose a huge amount of weight
-up the wattage

I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I
ever
won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding
track.

Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

So, this year's strategy could be summarized as:

-goal-wise, I'm throwing long races and hill climbs under a bus. If
they
help my training, fine, but it's going to be a long time before my
body
composition makes me look like a climber*.

-I wouldn't mind doing well in crits, but as far as I'm concerned, the
whole purpose of road season this year is to get me back into race
shape. If I come good for some of the August crits, fine. If not, CX
season is soon enough.

Given that like all fatty masters, I have limited time (that beer
won't
drink itself, you know), my current plan is to strive for 2-3 serious
training sessions per week, plus as much high-HR work as I can manage
on
my commute (which, bizarrely, consists of four 15-minute rides a day:
I
go home for lunch).

Here's a typical training, er, plan:

-multi-modal commute halfway across town, 25ish km in multiple
sections.
Because of the hills and the timing, I have to ride faster than slow
to
get to the crit on time.
-yes, crit: ride Cat 4 crit until I explode spectacularly, and then
keep
riding until I get lapped or show signs of endangering the sprint.
-ride home in a very screwed-up state, probably have to stop for a
drink. This ride reverses the commute, but the hills are more
favorable.

The goal is to do a fairly long ride that will burn fat, but to throw
enough high-HR riding in that I build power. Is it dumb to combine
these
activities? Is it dumber than not doing one or the other at all?

I'm certainly in such a state, physically, right now that any serious
riding is likely to help, but I don't want to be doing some sort of
ridiculous physiological suicide that will be totally
counterproductive
(as, for example, I suspect long rides at 25 km/h would be. Junk miles
ho!)

I will also try to pack in a few dedicated sessions of riding hard,
60-90s intervals uphill (3 sets of 3 to start), since that has
historically made me strong fast.

If the biggest result from my training is that I lose 25 pounds and
maintain some semblance of current power, I will be highly competitive
in the local crits, and should shoot up the CX results as if I was
experimenting with The [censored] That Will Kill Them.

Finally, are my training goals ridiculous? Am I sabotaging the CX
season
with my devotion to intervals, when I should just work on hour-power
or
something? Is training for both CX and sprinting purely hopeless? I
don't see a lot of peloton-ing happening at the front end of local "B"
CX races, but then I don't see a lot of the front of those races,
period.

Thanks for any suggestions, even the funny ones.

*will never happen.

Losing weight is, for most people, 90% about diet. It sounds like
you're getting plenty of exercise already. Most people find some sort
of resistance training (read: lifting weights) helps. The conventional
wisdom about dieting is, IMHO, severely lacking these days. Google
"Warrior Diet" and "Intermittent Fasting" to see what I have found works
for me, my wife, and lots of other folks, too. I have always been
basically thin and I eat this way because I prefer it, not because I
have to for reasons of body composition.

In short, eat less, and find heavy objects and move them - in addition
to continuing to ride your bike.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

Steve Freides said:

In short, eat less, and find heavy objects and move them - in addition to
continuing to ride your bike.

And drink less beer.

Bill C said:

Memory says I was slightly faster going down to about
10lbs from the goal,

Motivation is typically very high at this point. It can overwhelm
other factors. (Pedaling in anger/joy?)

Quoted message said:

that last 10lbs, which I always had a miserable time with, getting slower,

Percent muscle loss increases as you get closer to goal. Less
available fat to lose (some fat=stubborn).

Guessing heavier than about 180lbs too many factors work against
cycling speed and climbing in average person. Some gifted guys are
built to ride fast and weigh more, but are rare, istm.

Thanks for the info!

William Asher said:

Ryan Cousineau said:

I have two goals right now:

Quoted message said:

-Lose a huge amount of weight
-up the wattage

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Thanks for any suggestions, even the funny ones.

Don't focus on pedaling at a higher cadence.

--
Bill Asher

Chung will post a chart demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the red
herring diet.

Bret

Nobody said:

On Tue, 13 May 2008 03:03:37 -0700 (PDT),

Quoted post said:

I don't see how losing 25lbs should have to have a negative effect on
power. We are talking fat, not muscle.

Gaining even a little weight can cause a significant speed drop.
Losing weight may not cause noticeable improvement in speed in the
casual rider who is not genetically gifted or using enhancing
substances.

Variety of factors apply. Some direct, some indirect, others seem
opposite of expectations, some factors confound attempts to track
improvements. (many variables, variable influence of those factors,
individual variation).

Best suggestion? Try to eliminate variables when testing, be sure and
track things (spreadsheets?). Don't lose motivation, keep trying.
Beware regaining weight - maintenance is more challenging than losing.

2 cents.

25lbs of flab gone makes a HUGE difference.

Someone (like a bodybuilder) who has excess muscle mass may find it
hard to maintain that mass while losing small amounts of fat, but a
fatso with a 25lbs spare tire isn't going to have a hard time of it.
I'm a fan of (relatively) high protein diets.

I lost 50-60lbs riding, and I am WAY stronger than I was then. Not to
mention way faster.

Joseph

"Donald Munro" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Steve Freides said:

In short, eat less, and find heavy objects and move them - in
addition to
continuing to ride your bike.

And drink less beer.

Absolutely, especially immediately post-training.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

Ryan Cousineau said:

I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding track.

This sounds like you want to train your strength. I suggest that
instead of sprint training, you train the areas that limit your
chances to contest the sprint. A variety of intervals that train
aerobic capacity, sustained hard efforts above AT, and recovery would
help more.

As someone with a good sprint, I never felt a need to train it. I'm in
poor shape right now, but the sprint is mostly still there.

Quoted message said:

Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

The training above is compatible with CX. Lots of criterium
specialists do very well at CX.

For the diet, eliminate junk food and any other food that leads to
bingeing behavior. It helps to have a very standard diet day to day
that is easy to stick to. When I'm in training it goes something like
this:

7:00am - coffee with one piece of toast
10:30am - yogurt and muselli to fuel my noon ride
12:00pm - noon ride
2:00pm - moderate lunch
8:00pm - moderate dinner

The key points are fueling properly for the noon ride, refueling
moderately after the ride, and then having a period between lunch and
dinner where I'm willing to endure some hunger.

I used to quit drinking on New Years day every year and wouldn't touch
a drop until I decided that the serious part of my racing season was
over. There is no serious part any more.

Bret

Bret said:

Ryan Cousineau said:

I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding track..

This sounds like you want to train your strength. I suggest that
instead of sprint training, you train the areas that limit your
chances to contest the sprint. A variety of intervals that train
aerobic capacity, sustained hard efforts above AT, and recovery would
help more.

As someone with a good sprint, I never felt a need to train it. I'm in
poor shape right now, but the sprint is mostly still there.

Quoted message said:

Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

The training above  is compatible with CX. Lots of criterium
specialists do very well at CX.

For the diet, eliminate junk food and any other food that leads to
bingeing behavior. It helps to have a very standard diet day to day
that is easy to stick to. When I'm in training it goes something like
this:

7:00am - coffee with one piece of toast
10:30am - yogurt and muselli to fuel my noon ride
12:00pm - noon ride
2:00pm - moderate lunch
8:00pm - moderate dinner

The key points are fueling properly for the noon ride, refueling
moderately after the ride, and then having a period between lunch and
dinner where I'm willing to endure some hunger.

I used to quit drinking on New Years day every year and wouldn't touch
a drop until I decided that the serious part of my racing season was
over. There is no serious part any more.

Bret

You didn't mention the bottle of wine you share with your lovely wife
with nearly every 'moderate dinner', or was that just a story you told
me that day to make me feel better about having had a few beers the
night before a cx race?

Scott said:

Bret said:

On May 12, 9:07 pm, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding track.

Quoted message said:

This sounds like you want to train your strength. I suggest that
instead of sprint training, you train the areas that limit your
chances to contest the sprint. A variety of intervals that train
aerobic capacity, sustained hard efforts above AT, and recovery would
help more.

Quoted message said:

As someone with a good sprint, I never felt a need to train it. I'm in
poor shape right now, but the sprint is mostly still there.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

Quoted message said:

The training above  is compatible with CX. Lots of criterium
specialists do very well at CX.

Quoted message said:

For the diet, eliminate junk food and any other food that leads to
bingeing behavior. It helps to have a very standard diet day to day
that is easy to stick to. When I'm in training it goes something like
this:

Quoted message said:

7:00am - coffee with one piece of toast
10:30am - yogurt and muselli to fuel my noon ride
12:00pm - noon ride
2:00pm - moderate lunch
8:00pm - moderate dinner

Quoted message said:

The key points are fueling properly for the noon ride, refueling
moderately after the ride, and then having a period between lunch and
dinner where I'm willing to endure some hunger.

Quoted message said:

I used to quit drinking on New Years day every year and wouldn't touch
a drop until I decided that the serious part of my racing season was
over. There is no serious part any more.

Quoted message said:

Bret

You didn't mention the bottle of wine you share with your lovely wife
with nearly every 'moderate dinner', or was that just a story you told
me that day to make me feel better about having had a few beers the
night before a cx race?

We still do that. Scratch the word "nearly". I wasn't going to give
Ryan any drinking advice. That would be like giving Tom Boonen
sprinting advice.

Bret

Bret said:

Scott said:

On May 13, 3:16 pm, Bret <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On May 12, 9:07 pm, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
> won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start riding track.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This sounds like you want to train your strength. I suggest that
instead of sprint training, you train the areas that limit your
chances to contest the sprint. A variety of intervals that train
aerobic capacity, sustained hard efforts above AT, and recovery would
help more.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As someone with a good sprint, I never felt a need to train it. I'm in
poor shape right now, but the sprint is mostly still there.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
> 30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
> TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
> realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

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The training above  is compatible with CX. Lots of criterium
specialists do very well at CX.

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For the diet, eliminate junk food and any other food that leads to
bingeing behavior. It helps to have a very standard diet day to day
that is easy to stick to. When I'm in training it goes something like
this:

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7:00am - coffee with one piece of toast
10:30am - yogurt and muselli to fuel my noon ride
12:00pm - noon ride
2:00pm - moderate lunch
8:00pm - moderate dinner

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The key points are fueling properly for the noon ride, refueling
moderately after the ride, and then having a period between lunch and
dinner where I'm willing to endure some hunger.

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I used to quit drinking on New Years day every year and wouldn't touch
a drop until I decided that the serious part of my racing season was
over. There is no serious part any more.

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Bret

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You didn't mention the bottle of wine you share with your lovely wife
with nearly every 'moderate dinner', or was that just a story you told
me that day to make me feel better about having had a few beers the
night before a cx race?

We still do that. Scratch the word "nearly". I wasn't going to give
Ryan any drinking advice. That would be like giving Tom Boonen
sprinting advice.

Bret- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

or, Tom Kunich!

Scott said:

Bret said:

On May 13, 3:34 pm, Scott <[email hidden]> wrote:

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On May 13, 3:16 pm, Bret <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> On May 12, 9:07 pm, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> > I'm mostly interested in sprint bursts of power, since every race I ever
> > won, I won from a sprint, and this Fall I'll probably start ridingtrack.

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> This sounds like you want to train your strength. I suggest that
> instead of sprint training, you train the areas that limit your
> chances to contest the sprint. A variety of intervals that train
> aerobic capacity, sustained hard efforts above AT, and recovery would
> help more.

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> As someone with a good sprint, I never felt a need to train it. I'm in
> poor shape right now, but the sprint is mostly still there.

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> > Conversely, I really, really like CX, so I wouldn't want to throw my
> > 30-minute power under a bus, and while I don't care either way about
> > TTs, I always seem to enjoy them while I'm actually doing them (I
> > realize that may mean I'm doing it wrong).

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> The training above  is compatible with CX. Lots of criterium
> specialists do very well at CX.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> For the diet, eliminate junk food and any other food that leads to
> bingeing behavior. It helps to have a very standard diet day to day
> that is easy to stick to. When I'm in training it goes something like
> this:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> 7:00am - coffee with one piece of toast
> 10:30am - yogurt and muselli to fuel my noon ride
> 12:00pm - noon ride
> 2:00pm - moderate lunch
> 8:00pm - moderate dinner

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> The key points are fueling properly for the noon ride, refueling
> moderately after the ride, and then having a period between lunch and
> dinner where I'm willing to endure some hunger.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> I used to quit drinking on New Years day every year and wouldn't touch
> a drop until I decided that the serious part of my racing season was
> over. There is no serious part any more.

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> Bret

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Quoted message said:

You didn't mention the bottle of wine you share with your lovely wife
with nearly every 'moderate dinner', or was that just a story you told
me that day to make me feel better about having had a few beers the
night before a cx race?

Quoted message said:

We still do that. Scratch the word "nearly". I wasn't going to give
Ryan any drinking advice. That would be like giving Tom Boonen
sprinting advice.

Quoted message said:

Bret- Hide quoted text -

Quoted message said:

- Show quoted text -

or, Tom Kunich!

It would be like giving Kunich drama queen advice.