Tim,

I notice the emphasis on avoiding detraining for the (ahem) over 40 crowd. What do you think about equivalence of high-intensity to aerobic for that protective training.

Specifically; when I don't have time to get aerobic training I'll try and do a 1 minute vo2max and a two or three of 10 seconds sprints on my bike commute.

A few things here.  I do believe that as we get more "mature" it is harder to regain fitness.  The challenge is not really the detraining it is the retraining "rate" needed.  What this means is that if we lose a lot of fitness we need to push a faster "ramp rate" to get back.  The mature athlete might not adapt as well under the higher ramp rate due to fatigue (hard to explain but will review in webinar).

As an example in terms of CTL / TSS / Ramp Rate; a young Cat 1/2 cyclists can build sustain a good CTL in season, lets say 120 tss/day and then rest hard, allowing for CTL to drop to 50 or 60 if not lower.  When the next years training starts they can plan to build back CTL at a ramp rate (CTL gain per week) lets say 5-7 tss/day for week (including rest cycles) so that means in about 10 -12 weeks they can return to the same CTL.  The younger rider can handle this and is good for them, the benefit of the rest out weighs the cost of the higher ramp rate and return to fitness and there body is young enough to adapt as planned as they recover better.  For the mature rider (say over 40 but more like over 45 as we all are aging better) the same equation can be trouble as the higher weekly ramp rate average can leave the body too fatigued to adapt appropriately to the training and lead to a range of "non-functional overreaching" where, yes they can get through the workouts (barely) but are not really adapting as well as they should be so performance quickly plateaus.

The planning is a matter of reversing the equation.  A "master" should target 3-5 CTL gain per week...Ramp Rate.  If you 2016 CTL was, lets say 90 tss/day, and you take a 4 week block of just a few aerobic rides and rest, you drop to a CTL of 50 tss/day, you should be able to rebuild that in about 10 weeks without pushing ramp rate to quickly to result in poor adaptation.  I typically done want a masters rider to lose more then 40 CTL in a season rest and feel better with 30 due to the above.

REST:  Rest is multi-faceted and often not thought deeply enough about.  We tend to think of rest in just "metabolic" thinking and not things like Central Nervous System Fatigue, Mental Fatigue, "Muscular - Metabolic" Fatigue and more.  The value of resting is pretty high when you look at the whole athlete.  The key to rest is not really having to stop everything, but should focus on avoid intensity for a cycle or two.  The reality is you can rest 25 days a month, do high intensity workouts for 6 days and end up not rested (just an example, no exact science of "how much").  

So in my opinion, a month without intensity is well worth it for he master rider if they do just enough aerobic / easier riding to maintain some aerobic fitness.  Also, to me, intensity is the rest killer so I do not advice.  Try other activities like walking (yes, walking), hiking, easy kayaking or rowing.  Refresh the brain and the body will follow....

My 2 cents...

PS:  This is a general answer using general age, individualization of data review might show different results.  I am lumping in all us older peeps into one group to give insight but not specific answer to an individual. 

Hey Tim, a question about transitioning from road to cyclocross. How do I rest now, but also be ready to race some cyclocross in the coming months? I definitely don't want to deny myself rest from a six-month road season (I do love to rest) but I also don't want to get thrashed at CX races after the first lap. 

My provisional CX schedule is fairly light, just one to three race days per month from roughly October through December. My first CX race likely won't be until the last weekend of September, just to get a feel for it again. My first back-to-back Saturday & Sunday race weekend will be October 15-16. I'd like to do well in those. My only other (so far) back-to-back race weekend will be the third weekend in November.

The rest of the CX races I'm considering are spread out pretty evenly in between. My thinking had been that that could allow me to mix your cross-training and base building for the 2017 road season with some CX training and racing. But now it occurs to me that maybe the more beneficial approach, for both CX and road, would be to plan a condensed cyclocross season, allowing me to dedicate my training and focus exclusively to CX racing for a short span of time, before another period of rest and a return to your off-season road training plan? In other words, what's the best course of training for someone who is not (yet) willing to give up CX for road or vice versa?

I would rest to Monday and then follow CX plan (we can load for you) and then load the transition plan later in month.  You will have both but probably can juggle and decide focus each day.

Thanks Tim. Much appreciated. 

Tim, can you please load the same plan for me as well (CX and transition)?  I'm on the fence on how much I want to participate in cross this season.  I had a great road season and really want to build on it for next year.

Tim,
Thanks for the above. Having trained pretty regularly through my late 30's and early mid 40's I'm definitely seeing the 'cost' of ramp rates I'm used to exceeding my ability to recover. Not sure if it's pure age or three kids other commitments that puts me on the back foot but I can't go out and smash myself into shape the way I used to.

Hey Tim , Rick Sanchez, (Age group racer out of Middletown NY).....as I usually start off late in the season (each tax season has that affect on my schedule), I'm not quite ready to call it a season. Though there aren't many races to look at on the calendar, I still have my competitive saturday morning local group ride (hammerfest). Would you kindly have some training routines loaded up for me anyway? 

Thanks in advance.

Rick

Traveling home, will load everyone that requested in morning...

Thank you sir

Anyone want to do the 30/30/30/30 workout with me after work on Weds? on the cut through in PP

Tim,
i would like to get the cx plan loaded into my account please!

Me too, please. 

Preparing to push stuff up in a bit, stuck in meetings all day!  

I posted plans for those not resting, let me know if I missed you as brain a little fried

Hi Tim.
I'm not included.

Not included in which?  Read up the list to the post about resting in Oct.  A few people wanted CX plans and one person wanted some workout.  The 2017 Cross Training (not CX) starts on Oct 1.

Tim,
i would like to be included in the cyclo cross plan.

Posted

Hiya @TimCusick I have drunk the kool-aid - can you load the cx plan for me?

Junkies

Done

let me know if anyone else!!  

I go it Tim! Thanks a whole bunch.

Thanks again Tim! Much obliged!

Tim on cyclocross training (1 hour presentation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-0rzN2zkBY

Thanks!  I should have posted that.  

it is pretty great!

Tim, I had a CardioPulmonary exercise test this morning, which was a ramp test.  it is general in nature (ie, not cycling specific), and I am wondering if you'd be able to provide insight into it.  I'm comfortable with the results being posted to the group should others be interested in what the numbers mean and how it would relate to cycling and their training. Please let me know and I can send them to you.

Send away!