I know too many folks with 5 w/kg and <10h training. This alone does not say much. And it is different when you come from 4-4.5 w/kg off the couch or from a long break. 5 w/kg does not say much about physiology. Some folks are really good at suffering and others are simply good at these efforts. I’ve seen this too often in real world and experienced it myself.
It may be a different story when it comes to doing several 5 w/kg efforts in a session. Or at the end - in the case of XCM at the start - of a race. But this is hard to test.
I know LT1 is so hot right know. H.wever, what’s it good for when it does not increase race performance.
Did a few races this year, no stellar performances. I’m probably done now, I’m 48 and my time is over. Been racing for so long, I’ve seen it. And above all, many of the races close by disappeared in the last few years. It takes more and more effort and money to race. For what. May do a 12h race next year.
My training, lots of mountain running. Lots of 2-a-days. I have an innate desire to exercise.
Maybe it does, when you’re 20 and build fast twitch muscle as a side effect of whatever else you’re doing. Then working on LT1 will improve endurance and race performance. When you’re 45+ the snap disappears, muscles get slower naturally, and working on endurance isn’t helping power anymore.
I’m the same age as you and on a similar trajectory in cycling. However I’ve only discovered running in the past two years so have a whole, wonderful world to learn about.
Definitely trending towards big days in the hills which is where i used to find the most joy on the bike as well.
Yes, I actually thought about running ultras next year. Just here in our district we have a 100k/~6000m trail ultra but they charge you almost 200€ for it. For running in my own mountains, I don’t know. And now they’ve just moved the start time to 10pm, used to be 6 or 7am. No way.
Huh, none of these apply here. I’m in my forties, plus I’m a gal:) - women’s pro contracts are not much to aspire to (even though the situation is much improved on the top level, smaller teams still don’t pay).
That particular season I just had some time on my hands - though apparently not enough - and just wanted to try it and see how it goes.
But yes, you did touch a good point here regarding the young. I believe this approach of high volume is especially useful for the young/ or the young in the sport.
Maybe it didn’t have much effect for me as I had been training with purpose and structure for 5+ yrs at the time, riding lots for about 15 and having a running background as a child/junior. So I guess I already had a pretty solid aerobic base and react better to higher intensity training.
Obviously, I’m not saying “if you have a lot of training years behind, you can just lay off and do the intensity”, as volume definitely counts, but for an amateur like me, who’s just racing herself, I believe 12 hrs/week are just fine.
I’m a year younger than you, also been plateaued for a few years now, but my innate desire to exercise is accompanied by an innate desire to pin a number on! Still enjoying doing that in bike races (I’m lucky, I’ve got plenty of them within an hours drive so still relatively cheap and convenient). Don’t think I’ll enjoy racing 21 year olds for much longer, but there’s a good masters scene which will keep me going for a few years yet. Figure as and when I’ve had enough of road racing I’ll gravitate to gravel and/or longer races. Been a while since I ran with a number on but you never know!
Man needs goals, there is no way around this. Currently I’m content with the prospect of building up running to ultra distances (does not have competitively). And if not all the bike races around here had died I would probably keep on racing. We don’t really have age groups here. And quite frankly, I’m more satisfied with a good overall ranking than with a very good AG ranking.
