Take care:
It is important that you take care of both your body and your equipment with the same care as you would in the summer months. Proper nutrition and stretching is vital to staying healthy and on the upward path. Care for your bike and trainer is also a must. Just because your not out in the rain and dirt doesn’t mean you can just get off your bike and be done with it. Salt will build up on your bike and trainer and will destroy both if you don’t clean them. They will surely fail you when you need them most.

Getting to you, training your limiters:
Now that you know what your weak areas are (from fall training article #2) we can get right to it! Trying to improve any weakness is not going to come easily or quickly so now is the time to start correcting them.

The key to training your limiters is two fold.

1. Break down the task at hand.

• a. There is more to having great endurance than just pounding out the miles on the trainer or the swimming pool. Are you training at the optimal intensity? Make the workout Quality before Quantity.
• b.Endurance (for example) has 2 parts being able to resist fatigue (pounding out the quality miles) and efficiency. How much of each pedal stroke is pushing the bike forward and how much is just moving your leg? If you are .001% more efficient per pedal stroke, x 90 RPM’s x 60 minutes in 1 hr. for a 5 hour bike leg or race. That’s 27 % more efficiency!

OK, there is some fussy math in there but you get the point. If endurance is some thing you’re working on you don’t necessarily have to ride the trainer until 11pm and swim until your whole body prunes. Incorporate drills into your training. Lots of drills.
To address this issue FP drills are key.

Workout #1: 3×5’ F.P. Pedal as fast as you can while still being in control. 110-120 is a great range .take 3’ rest. Build up to doing these at the end of your ride.

Notes: This will work your Neurological durability as well as your general “endurance” as most people think of it. Also when on the trainer realize you have no 0 time. In a bike race you may only avg. 70ish rpms per minute. And have 1/3 of your time at 0 watts or in a recovery zone! That allot! On the trainer doing the workout above you could avg. 100+ rpms and have 100% of your time in zone 2 and 3.

Recently I compared a team training ride with a ride a friend did the day before. “I only had 90’ to ride” he said in disappointment. After comparing his data with mine I noted that if you tock out the nearly 2 hours of 0 and recovery wattage time in my ride he had done the virtually same training as me! 90’ in zone 2 and 3. You could say mine was better because of the fatigue from the longer duration, or… one could say his was more effective because his effort was a continuous effort while mine had several “rest periods”… a topic for another time. This is a great example of maximizing your time.

Workout #2. Zone training. Do 45’ or more in zone 3 after a good warm up/at end of your ride. Build up to 90 minutes of zone 3 time.

Notes: Bump up the intensity! Do your “endurance” work in zone 3. Riding sub threshold has the same physiological adaptations as riding in zones 1-2 but they happen faster. The cost is greater fatigue and decreased reputability. But if you can’t do 3+ hours every day then do it up! The key to this is doing your Z3 work as one steady interval and staying in your zone(no coasting)! Having detailed and accurate training zones is vital for this. A power meter is king here. This will rack up your kilojoules (total work) must faster than riding in a group or doing zone 1-2 and will give you maximum return on your training time. By riding in your zone you could twice as much “work” in the time given than on along group ride. Two tips for ,making this work.
1. Don’t go out to hard
2. Don’t spike your power on hills, when you stand, etc…

2. Stay true to the grand plan.
Lower intensity “endurance” training will most likely take up much of your training time in winter. So when training your limiter keep the intensity down! If you are working on your hill climbing go easy. Find a hill with a low grade so you can work on your climbing pedal stroke.

If you are working your sprinting power or anaerobic endurance, work the cadence aspect of it. Short, high cadence, spin ups are great for this. Make recoveries short but not to short. Let your HR drop to Z3 or Z2 and keep the gear easy. With will allow you to work the neurological and technical aspect of these skills with out the cost of excess muscle damage and lactate build up.

Eric has coached over 200 athletes of all levels in triathlon, cycling, mountain, biking, Cyclocross.
Find out more at, http://ekendurancecoaching.com

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