Gravel Races/ Pro and Ex-Pro/ Power

Training
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Hi guys, my first topic in trainerroad fórum, brazilian amateur of cycling just three years a go, but with using power meter two years. I will divide this post into 3 parts (experience / power * future races * pro and ex pro cyclists)

  • Experience / power : I have a friend / coach of peaks coaching group, helps me almost a year with training sheets and a lot talk, this is not limited to just training, but I also like to read about types of training / powers
    Today my ftp revolves around 330 to 345 (1,82cm / 73kg) depending on the time of year this power is okay, if you look for a guy who only has 2 hours of training per day from Monday to Friday in a smart trainer, and Saturday and Sunday I can yes go to the road and do outdoor training.

Here’s the big problem maybe physical and not power, all the circuit races I fight a lot to defend myself, exactly I’m always on my limit, turn and just limit power and turn / biggest power, anyway this torra my legs, haha basically all races in circuit I see death looking for me, however on the other hand in road races (no circuits) where they spend 4/5 hours of racing is my place where I can get out extremely well, I believe I have an excellent resistance to fatigue, but without having high powers, I can walk a long time on the threshold, but my vo2 is extremely low.

*future races: in Brazil, do not exist or exist until few long races, yeah this country is horrible in reference to the cycling, in front of that I have planned for 2019 to race two gravel races in the united states, SBT gravel race / dirty kanza / gravel worlds, obviously as I know that I have no aptitude for circuits, I go straight to the long races.

*pro and ex-pro cyclists: Okay, I know my ftp is far from a ftp of 400 of a pro, or ex pro, but dude, how are you going to race this kind of evidence against guys like ted king, colin strickland, geoff kabush, matt sthepens, neil shirley between others, an example of this ted king training, intervals of 1:30 output with average of 500 watts.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1970481673/analysis/908/998

Ok, I know there’s a traineroad planned for dirty kanza and similar races, but honestly someone who has even used plan? man, we can actually ride the rear wheel of those guys for 5/6 hours, and when the attacks start with 7/8/9 hours racing with the guys really kicking their ass out of the group, is it really that someone amateur with a good power could survive, I do not know.

my question is, ok you have a window of 8/9 months to train for this race, you think that really a normal guy who can train daily can reach that level, sometimes I think there is no way to fight against talent.

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In a nutshell - stay current on your FTP results, adjust your expectations as necessary, hit the woodshed, repeat, etc.

A good place to start may be - Log In to TrainerRoad

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Here’s a tip: don’t compare yourself to guys that have raced in grand tours.

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i dont really have an answer for you but i feel we are in the same boat.

i feel like i keep hearing these plans are good for the riders looking to complete these ultra endurance events(gravel worlds, DK), but i would like to race and compete.

last season i peaked at 4.35w/kg with respectable 5m - 1hr CP, everything else is crap. no endurance beyond 3 hours.

here in chicago, the weather is getting difficult to get 3-4 hour rides in. Im in sweet spot base now with one workout a week focusing on 15X 1 minute AC/2m recovery. When weather allows, ill be out for those Z2 rides slowly stacking up the tempo. im not really looking to build FTP, just extend time in zones.

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well, maybe I didn’t express myself very well there are thousands of workout plans that work for some and not for others, pro´s and ex pros, has biggest powers, I don’t want to compare myself to a PRO but some way to survive these guys until the end of the race, today we have several methods available, SST / FTP / POLARIZED thousands of methods.

@Super_Ape I just see people building workouts to complete the race, I do not see strangers or amateurs building workouts to go finish race in the first group, I also like to be competitive, I would hardly get into such a race just to complete.

was one of the reasons I created the topic, can we achieve the powers of a pro or ex pro, or at least get close, or all this is really something genetic.

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This year at DK, a guy on our local cycling team finished 4th overall at 47 years old:

https://www.cxmagazine.com/ian-tubbs-masters-2018-dirty-kanza-200-gravel-race-4th-place

Not unreasonable at all to try and compete with the big dogs in those kinds of races if you are a strong, experienced cyclist who has a big engine.

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Yeah, Ian tubbs was bravely strong on this event, but what I’m looking for is some good plan for me to have legs in the final race

Today I heard Faster, Episode 14 with @Nate_Pearson where he tells the evolution of it to Leadville, after all I would like to know what plan he used, if I’m not mistaken it was 4 months right.

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You can look through his TR workout history, it’s public. @Nate_Pearson can correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like most of his rides leading up to Leadville were either A) MTB rides/races, B) Baxter, C) long SS intervals.

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Here is a summary of the weeks prior to LT100:

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thanks chad, did he do this for 6 weeks or did repeat 4x those 6 weeks?

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There was a big gap in there before the pics I shared.
You can look further back in history to see what was before that.

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That’s pretty much what it was. I did a little more intensity as I got closer to Leadville.

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In terms of training plans, you might want to think about Sustained Power Build leading into Climbing Road Race. (Someone looking to complete might do SPB > Century).

These plans are similar, but CRR puts more emphasis on over-threshold training, to enable you to hang on when someone makes an attack, as well as just long efforts slightly below threshold.

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