Mark, if Kissena group rides are endurance paced for you, then we'll have to work on improving your racing strategy to get you to the front of the Cat 5 packs. Because clearly strength and fitness are not a problem.

I'm fairly neutral on incorporating weights during the winter months. As long as you are careful about your lifting form, your choice of weights and repetitions to avoid injury. I do like the idea, however of basic core exercise and stretching.

I do like the idea of using the computrainer sessions as your threshold workout. If you can avoid the siren call of half-wheeling your teammates, you can actually get in an exceptionally precise LT/AT workout without distraction.

But the problem is going to be that if you've done sprints the day before, then a threshold session, then you're going to do hill repeats, then you are going to be way tired on Friday. If the threshold and/or Computrainer slug-fest session happens at night, what kind of recovery are you going to get before you hit the hills? Are you an early morning, before work kind of rider? That's not enough recovery time for most people. Which is okay for a given training block within the larger macro-cycle of your training plan, but doing that week after week after week, all season sounds tough. Plus that's not enough variety in order to keep those muscle fibers guessing, stressing, and adapting.

Broadly speaking, getting stronger is about stress, recovery and adaptation. If you are not building in enough recovery time, your muscles cannot recover from the stressors of your previous workout and they will never adapt to the increased stress loads. And you will eventually get slower/weaker.

But, at the same time, I kind of like Jeff White's thought "Or just go for it...completely flaming out in May can be fun." If you are pumped and motivated to hammer, hammer, hammer right now, then as long as you have realistic expectations about what kind of racing you might be doing this season, then there's no real harm in your approach.

Marc B, 

JP. I'm not confused about anything.

then you know people don't need base miles.

@ jeff … Whilst I do really like omelets, I think I should avoid sleeping in one, at least until later in the season.  A dial back may be required.

@ marc … I have never actually raced before, so I have no idea where I could expect to finish.  I could lead a successful 20-minute solo breakaway like some kind of super-extended Cavendish victory sprint (unlikely), or I could flame out on my first lap; or perhaps, somewhere in between.  Who knows?  I am still trying to figure out my strengths / weaknesses (to Mike’s point) and I guess that’s what makes this exercise a little tough to pin point.

@ mike … in answer to your questions: 1) due to school commitments, I didn’t seriously get on my bike until August last year; from there I was riding (not including commuting) about five times a week, probably 8-10 hours – mostly endurance but with some sporadic hill repeats / sprints.  2) I have not really been following a formal training plan at all.  Well, I guess I did for last few weeks of 2012, following JP’s talk; but before that I was kind of making it up as I went along.  3) In terms of strengths, I really don’t know.  I guess I have found that I can put out decent enough power (relatively speaking) for shorter periods, but struggle to maintain that.  And that matters I think because I am on the larger side (175lbs, 6.2) and so need to keep power high.  In terms of weaknesses, I do think I need to improve my cardio / V02 performance.  The only sports I have taken seriously before this have been Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & kick-boxing, and they tend to be more about short, sharp blurts of output; consequently I don’t think my extended cardio performance is great (and I can see this on climbs sometimes; I can get up there fast enough but I am desperately out of breath by the end, even though my legs sometimes feel as though they have more to give). 4) I am 32.

@ JP … The sprints have so far been low gear, high cadence affairs, but I am gradually adding in gears as I go along.  And maybe it’s my shitty climbing style, but I tend to climb in a bigger gear, lower cadence.  I am trying to spin more, but I find that A) I struggle to maintain the same power that way and my breathing goes out of whack (probably related to my earlier point about poor cardio). 

@ All … In terms of timings, each session would likely be in the evening, so there’d be about 24 hours’ rest between.  Even so, to build in more rest I could re-think M-F, to the effect that Monday evening could be sprints, Wednesday evening CompuTrainer and then morning Friday hills.  Tuesday and Thursday could be rest days, with Saturday / Sunday for group ride(s) and easy recovery.  Or, I could just drop one of the higher-intensity sessions entirely and/or replace it with weights / recovery / something else. 

And thanks, guys, for all your help.  I really appreciate it.

Marc Bertucco said:

JP. I'm not confused about anything.

mugwump said:

then you know people don't need base miles.

Clash of the pony tails! It's on! 

I hate to say it, but both pony tails are correct. There is no such thing as base anymore, but you need base in order to build fitness and get ready to race. Base is simply better quality than it used to be. Long Steady or Slow Distance has been replaced with tempo, sweet spot and threshold.

Both right. Don't bet.

Marc Bertucco said:

JP. I'm not confused about anything.

mugwump said:

then you know people don't need base miles.

Clash of the pony tails! It's on! 

eric, you are a terrific rider and a very knowledgable coach, but your lack of pony-tail is really impacting your credibility.

Let me find the picture...

I hate to say it, but both pony tails are correct. There is no such thing as base anymore, but you need base in order to build fitness and get ready to race. Base is simply better quality than it used to be. Long Steady or Slow Distance has been replaced with tempo, sweet spot and threshold.

Both right. Don't bet.

Marc Bertucco said:

JP. I'm not confused about anything.

mugwump said:

then you know people don't need base miles.

Clash of the pony tails! It's on! 

I really miss the old days when Eric and I could disagree.

Hey, I've done those 5-hour rides. in sub 20-degree weather.  Stupid?  No.  Challenging.  Yes.

All, you'll find that there are multiple ways to get fast, multiple ways to get slow and possibly even more ways to be...[cue shoulder shrug] "meh?"

There are some basic physiological truths, lots of science, theories and philosophies being tested in the lab using the scientific method and also on the road using the, "I'm fast and studly, and this is what I do, so this is what you should do" method, and a whole lot of tarmac to navigate in between those two extremes.

It's up to you, and possibly, you and your coach, to take the wealth of information out there, assess its validity within the context of your own life, and incorporate it as appropriate.

Here is how I think about it:

For what its worth, I've been on the "tons of tempo" or "as much intensity as possible, as often as possible" plan since the fall and the data I'm getting would seem to show that its working. My power is better than it was at this time last year despite being 6-7 lbs lighter. 

The other thing worth mentioning; not everyone will get stronger with MORE. I might be able to grow at 14 hours a week but frankly everything starts to creak around 10, 12.

Good stuff, Adam.  But - 5 hours of riding in 27-degree weather is actually pretty enjoyable.  Especially if it's sunny - by the time you are warmed up, you forget it's cold out.  I'm usually unzipping layers 30 minutes in.

Getting sick will completely screw up your preparation for the season. Avoid the subways and use your bicycle to get to work. Flu season is here with a vengeance. People with young kids are basically screwed.

http://www.google.org/flutrends/us/#US

dstokes said:

Getting sick will completely screw up your preparation for the season. Avoid the subways and use your bicycle to get to work. Flu season is here with a vengeance. People with young kids are basically screwed.

http://www.google.org/flutrends/us/#US

We got it.  It was bad.

"Sweet spot training" seems to be what Ryan is employing.  you can find some info on it here

@Jules - You looked pretty ok this morning, out with your Canadian bud. Beautiful morning for a ride!

@ Stokes we had it over the holiday.  Finally back to normal.  Good ride today; field testing never feels good.

for all you yahoos out there wanting to lose weight, here is a way to use peer pressure to force you to...weigh yourself publicly

http://friendshipweight.com/

This is a post I've been meaning to do for a while.  There are so many different lingos around training and "zones" and "levels" and "sweet spot" it can be frustrating when talking to one another about what the heck we're all doing.  I've tried to put on paper next to one another all the different "zones" and what they mean in terms of "% of FTP" with the usual caveats about how FTP is determined (there is a good active thread on that elsewhere)

I might join these meetings for real support: http://aba12steps.org/