Zone 3 training

robrauy

Because I don't have a huge amount of time to train, I try to do 2 or 3 90 minute midweek training sessions in mid zone 4 upwards, and then do a long ride at the weekend.

I've been feeling pretty fatigued recently as I commute as well and have been failing to get my heart rate as high as I would like, so was thinking of replacing one of the midweek sessions with an hour or so at zone 3.

Is there any point in doing this or should I just skip it altogether and rest more ? I'm wary of going backwards, but have to face the fact that a busy work/domestic life does make you tired!

SBezza

If you are fatigued, perhaps along with the commute you are doing too much. How fast do you ride your commutes?

Also it is good to vary your training, if you do the same stuff every week, you will just plateau.

robrauy

I tend to ride my commutes quite easy. The return journey is mostly up hill, but only around 8 miles, though i do commute on a fixie.

I found doing evening crits over the summer really hard after a day at work. I'm struggling to find a balance that keeps my fitness improving while leaving me fresh for club chain gangs and racing.

SBezza

What is a typical training week for you?

Why fresh for the club chaingang, surely this is just a training session, and you will not always be fresh for a race, some you will, others will be just another training session.

robrauy

Typical training week would be easy 8 mile commute mon - fri, hard 60-90 mins turbo on Wednesday night, 90 min chain gang on Thursday night, 60 mins steady on Friday morning before work, saturday off and fairly fast 100km club run on Sunday.

Very interested to hear your thoughts - thanks for taking the time!

I know what you mean about not being fresh for every race, but when I notice that I am struggling to get my heart rate up I guess that I am not getting as much from the session as I should

joeyhalloran

perhaps trying moving the turbo session to tuesday to give yourself the time to recover from it, double sessions like that are very hard for the body to keep doing (I know, the tour is 3 weeks, but they are pros.)

SBezza

Lots of training at the back end of the week, and nothing at all from Sunday to Wednesday.

If you are struggling to get the HR up, take that session easy, and just have an extra recovery day, or train through it, with the knowledge that when you are tired you will have a depressed HR, but be sure to get plenty of rest before the next session.

I would perhaps cut the 60-90 mins turbo session, to a specific session of 1 hour max, perhaps 2x20 mins etc, and as above perhaps do this on a Tuesday, and rest Wednesday before the chaingang.

How hard is the 60 mins steady, what sort of level are we talking about here.

robrauy

Thanks for the advice..

It would be good to spread my sessions out more but I am constrained by work and family life, so have to fit training in where I can.

The 60 mins steady really depends how I'm feeling - I tend to start off steady but then get a bit carried away and up the level. I'm normally trying to stay around mid zone 3, but often end up low 4.

The Sunday ride normally averages around 20mph over 100km so is pretty energy sapping. I'm guessing this is not ideal training for 1hr crits...

Following your advice I'm going to skip a session this week, and try to come up with a 2 week repeating (rather than weekly) plan in order to keep things more varied..

SBezza

If you are planning a training schedule, try and do a 4 week plan, with each week trying to build on the previous week, with perhaps the 4th week, easing back on the volume, but keeping the intensity.

If you are mainly training for crits, then I would include some crit specific workouts, like 30 secs as hard as possible, with 30 secs recovery, and then do this about 10 times, or as many reps as you can manage. As soon as the form starts going, stop. I am sure those that road race can give some good pointers on road race intervals.

robrauy

Not sure that I am organised enough to build a 4 week plan, but this has given me the idea of missing the hard Sunday club run once every 3 or 4 weeks and then spend the following week doing the more race specific workouts with fresher legs.

Lots to think about - great advice. Thanks!