Training specificity question

Training
1

So where I live is flat as a pancake. There is only one very short climb nearby. It has a double tap gradient separated by a flat & slight decent. Road conditions not great so booming the relief section is not practical, you need to ride that heads up and with margin. Rough timings: 1min-1min-1min. So right in the regime for a interesting power training experiment. When I started TR I hit my PB on this in the first year never contemplated such things before. Felt that such times had long passed. I have my average & peak power on the climb for that run. Haven’t come close since. Thought of using this PB as a training goal for an Autumn block.

Question.:How to do this? Now the one minute power profiles in the PB were all below my demonstrated capacity so it appears to be a question of pacing and practice. I was going to give over one of my weekly sessions to a preparation for this. So do I go for an interval that replicates this profile so:

1min VO2max- 1min sub-threshold- 1min VO2max repeat a couple of times with due attention to a proper rest interval. Starting out below current capacity then ease up the level of the VO2max interval until I exceed the peak/average requirement.

Or do I start at the required average power to break the PB. Just at a shorter time, say 30 seconds, then gradually extend the time out to beyond the PB to increase the dose at the required load?

Or am I being hopelessly naive?

2

Since you said the climb was nearby, I would go out every week or 2 and hammer some repeats on it. Doesn’t get much more specific than that! Will help with pacing and picking the best line, and you’ll also likely find that wind, temperature, humidity, etc also have a big part to play.

In terms of indoor training I’m not sure I would do anything more specific than a Short Power Build plan, followed maybe by a Crit Speciality plan if you have time and assuming you already have suitable base.

You don’t mention weight so I’m assuming it’s roughly the same now as it was when you set your PB, obviously decreasing weight would also help if that’s an option.

3

You do raise a couple of interesting points. I do use the climb for hill repeats. So does every blessed cyclist in the country. It’s a procession at the weekend. The problem is that when I say ‘nearby’ it is all relative. It is a 2.5 to 3 hour round trip to go there and do the repeats. Practical at the week-end. Less so during the week.

Weight is a good point. I was a few kilos lighter, however I felt I was too light back then. I’ll see what I can do there too. Would be nice to shift the fat and not the additional kilo and a half of muscle that I managed to put on.