What is “enough” for that AMPK pathway? Is just over anaerobic threshold enough or do you need to be doing all out sprints?
First, bear in mind that pathways are on a continuum – there is no magic line where all of a sudden you have switched from one to another. There is some calcium-calmodulin benefit to a :30 sprint, and an AMPK benefit to a 5-hour ride (just to clutter things up, the highest AMPK activity levels are in high-volume athletes – loads of volume can trigger those adaptations, but that doesn’t mean you can train for a 4000m pursuit event by nothing but 4 hr endurance rides).
With that said – efforts that are over the aerobic threshold are engaging more of the AMPK pathway, and efforts under the aerobic threshold are engaging more of the calcium pathway.
The key is to train for the demands of your event, and (I’d say) stay on the safe side with no more than two high-intensity days a week (high intensity = zone 4 or higher). If overall volume is sufficient, you’ll get adaptations in both pathways.
Or, you follow sensible periodization – get in a lot of HR zone 1 and 2/power zone 2-3 in Base, with a couple of 90% FTP days thrown in, then shift to either going screaming hard on the hard days, or going easy power zone 1-2 on the easy days.
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That’s almost what the German 4000m pursuit team did to set a new WR at the 2000 Olympics:
Based on blood lactate (7 month training period):
94% < IaT
4% = IaT
2% > laT (done very close to time of the race)
This shows the importance of the aerobic system across all power levels and durations.
But just as important, as you said, train for the demands of your event, e.g. doesn’t mean you can train for 24-hour endurance event by doing nothing but 30s Tabata-style intervals.
That’s why I italicized almost - the Germans did a crap ton of endurance then some stage racing then the final weeks of intervals.
If there’s a big base, it doesn’t take much intensity to kick in the turbo.
No Strava links or clever graphs, just a pre-Worlds observation.
Peter Sagan’s September races:
13/9: GP Quebec. Gets in late break, sprints and holds on for 2nd.
15/9: GP Montreal. In lead group, pulls monster turn to chase down Alaphillipe with 3k to go, sits up and doesn’t compete sprint.
21/9: Primus Classic. Pulls another monster turn to try to bring back Theuns’ solo break in final kms, then sits up as Ackermann sprints for 2nd.
22/9: Gooikse Pijl. Couple of attacks on the uphill bits with GVA brought back by peloton, then leads out Ackermann for victory.
Just wondering how deliberate this all is. Plenty of big, one-off leg-sapping efforts, but precious little race tactics. He’s been happy to let riders sit on his wheel in a way he surely won’t be come Sunday. And by the time he lines up at the Worlds he won’t have seriously contested a sprint for a fortnight.
On the playlist for tomorrow 's looooong ride
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Raining outside, no need to push myself at this time of the year. Guess my loooong ride will only be sort of long. Time to provide some info an GB.
First of all, 1.8m & 58kg … 
He does not upload everything on Strava, however, the period between ToC and TdF seems quite complete.
His Strava zones seem to match up what he says in the texts of some rides and what could be expected given his weight.
Indeed, like said in the description of the podcast, he seems to be doing far less intensity like his team mates. This is really striking. Lots of endurance (in the mountains) and tempo riding. Rarely into threshold or SST. Only one ride into the red zone (May 26). Of course, it is not clear if all rides were uploaded. However, as said before, it aligns with what is said in the podcast description. And quite different to what Sepp Kuss is doing.
This was an entertaining and informative listen. Wouldn’t have thought I enjoy another Fasttalk podcast. Perhaps because they did not talk all the time about what a geek Trevor is and how everyone just trains wrong. And has to be protected from himself.
Interesting, base is endurance+tempo riding for him. I’ve often wondered how intense base rides are actually. Ever since reading Greg LeMonds book in 1990 where he complained about the “small-chainring-doctrine”.
I found this so … inspiring/motivating … my long ride turned into a 5 hour tempo session. Pure no man’s land, lots of climbing, nice trails down. Short: dream day … but I can already smell snow 
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https://www.wattieink.com/blogs/blog/cody-beals-keeps-setting-records
In general, I rarely schedule training sessions and limit other hard commitments. I prefer to evaluate how I’m feeling every morning and plan the day accordingly to maximize my productivity—whether it’s training, desk work, housework, social plans or downtime. My most productive and enjoyable days flow spontaneously while still fitting within the framework of a broader plan.
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Feel fairly vindicated by events. He missed the winning move and made the mistake of relying on tired Belgian German and Australian domestiques to bring it back. But he was the strongest rider in that race.
I enjoyed this pod too. Heading off to Gran Canaria this week and looking forward to incorporating some long tempo intervals into 4+ hour endurance rides. (Except the Valley of the Tears, which if you can ride tempo, you’re Egan Bernal.)
He even said he let it go because he thought it will be brought back. Without a team there is only so many chances you have.
But I also thought he had a secret master plan for winning the fourth title. After his illness in the spring which basically ruined his classics season I believe he already focused on the WC. He wasn’t in top form during Tour but knew it will be enough for the green jersey. I think this was the reason he was upset when he narrowly missed in the first etape because he knew there won’t be many chances for him this Tour. One victory, green jersey and nice base is what he managed. In preparation for worlds I think he didn’t want to show all his cards and hoped that everyone will mark MVDP instead. But with experience sometimes comes second-guessing.
I hope he will ride at his best again next spring and we will see some epic battles!
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And on the question how hard pros ride during base. Could have gone into the “base thread” as well.
To keep it diverse, a Worlds squadra azzura member.
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List item
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Nov is basically just riding around. Just riding, at lower intensity
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Dec he picks it up, tempo/SST
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Jan it gets harder, threshold or SST with bursts. Not that much above threshold.
wanted to upload Jan - Mar as well but the image size is to big. So only Nov/Dec
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I also think it is related that the big engine is something that is trained over a long time whereas the high end stuff can be ramped up quickly but the bodies response also plateaus quickly and sadly fades quickly.
Amazing training and race numbers from Quinn Simmons
Aha! The missing key to my training. 
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and more on base training. It’s this time of the year again, many podcasts giving advise on how to do it in the off season.
Two more pros, Nov/Dec. More “free style” in Nov, picking it up in Dec. What I find surprising, the almost complete lack of LSD rides. There is almost always some structure with >AeT in there. The only real slow distance rides are active recovery rides. And these are not long
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Maybe the pros are more about mainting the engine they’ve already built more than amateurs who are still piecing theirs together.