10m TT training

CoutinhoRed

Although the summer is soon ending, I am looking to set a time in a 10m TT before the end of the season. I don't have any specific training plans as of yet, so am looking to experienced time trialists for some guidance.

My training is very general, being that I cycle about 150-200 miles per week all at steady tempos. My longer ride about (100km) is rode solo at a slower easier pace. My shorter ride (50km) is rode at about 4km per hour faster (30 km per hour average speed)

Basically my training has no structure and I need advice on what sessions I should be doing.

Wrath Rob

That's some good advice there. It looks like you're getting some decent hours in on the bike so its just a matter of tailoring your time to be more TT specific, as Luke suggests.

sloppyschleckonds

Warm up 15mins including 5x30secs sprints and 2mins flat out Workout: 2x(6x30secs) flat-out with 30secs recovery/ 5mins spin between efforts/ sets, 5x1min flat-out holding pace with 1min recovery between efforts Warm down 10mins

bigpikle

I think many would say the staple session for 10's would be shorter than a 2x20, given you wont actually be racing for much longer than that anyway, as suggested above. 2x20's would possibly be useful because they would teach you some pacing skills given the unstructured training you do right now, although you might want to try some 25 min 'practise TTs' just to start to learn how to pace them and how hard you can push yourself. Ideally go to a local course and ride it and find out your typical pace/effort levels and go from there. If you havent done any max efforts around 20-25 mins before then it takes some practise to know how hard to go to ensure you dont blow up after 5 mins or finish feeling like you could have gone harder.

Some 6-8 x 3mins, 3-4 x 6mins and 4-5 x 5 mins might also be key sessions as well I'd suggest, depending on how close you are to your target event and everything else you are doing in your training. Again, work on steady pacing and make sure you can (just) finish all the efforts and do these when well rested so you can get the most from them. Start at the lower end of the reps and add 1 extra rep each week. These also have the benefit (?) of teaching you about suffering as the final rep or maybe 2 should feel like you really cant quite finish them, even though you just manage it. Riding 10's is about being able to push yourself to the absolute max and for many who havent experienced it that can take some practise to achieve!

Good luck - best of all just go and ride one ASAP and see how you get on. Then go back again and ride it faster!

ric/rstsport

madasahattersley wrote:

If you're focussing only on 10m time trials (God forbid) then you shouldn't ever really be out on the bike for longer than an hour, including warm up and cool down. Forget the average speed as a training guide as it is 100% irrelevant.

why would you say this? Would you suggest that the best training duration for an individual pursuit would only be ~4-mins?

What we do know, is that even if your event is short such as a 10, or an IP then some of the best training can be substantially longer than the goal event -- in the case of the IP, some of the best training can be riding a Grand Tour. Likewise, some of the best training for a 10 could be a couple hours long (or longer).

At the other end of the scale with very long events such as a 12 hour TT there would be no need to train this long in a single session

Ric

sloppyschleckonds

Have a look at this readily prepared bike radar article:

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ial-31017/

ric/rstsport

The second fastest IP of all time was done off the back of the TdF, and while it isn't a GT, the fastest time ever was done off the back of TDU.

who said i make my riders do 28 hours a week? i'm just saying that the best training for a 10 could well be longer than 1 hour

LegendLust

My goal when I first sat down with a coach a couple of years ago was to do a sub 21min 10m TT. He prescribed a staple diet during the winter and early season of one and a half hour tempo rides (up to 3 times a week). I achieved my goal in June that year, and have now chipped away at the 10 time, where next year I'm looking to beat 20mins. I've also reduced my 25m PB by just under 4 mins.

So as Ric says - doing well in 10m TTs does mean doing rides of more than an hour as part of a training programme.

simon_e

Cor blimey! Some people love to make things complicated :roll:

If you are already riding plenty you may want to do some specific intervals - bursts of hard riding in a ride to get your heart rate and breathing up around the level you need for a '10'.

As you're running out of time thus season you need to get yourself out to the weekly club 10 straight away. The more of them you do the better you'll get at it.

stevewj

madasahattersley wrote:

The staple session for 10s would be 2 x 20 minute efforts at just under time trial effort (doesn't sound like you use power).
you shouldn't ever really be out on the bike for longer than an hour, including warm up and cool down.

2 x 20 - 15 min standard minimum warm up, 20 mins effort, 5 min standard recovery, 20 min effort , 15 mins minimum warm down = 75 mins

xscreamsuk

I've been training for 10's and 25's all year under a coach's direction, last did a 2*20 on 17 April. Have a pretty varied programme depending on when races are etc. Currently transitioning toward the hill climb season in October.

Depends when your last 10 is likely to be as to what you could do. I'm often surprised as to what coach has me doing but it's producing the results.

BenderRodriguez

Ric/RSTSport wrote:

madasahattersley wrote:

If you're focussing only on 10m time trials (God forbid) then you shouldn't ever really be out on the bike for longer than an hour, including warm up and cool down.

why would you say this? Would you suggest that the best training duration for an individual pursuit would only be ~4-mins?

What we do know, is that even if your event is short such as a 10, or an IP then some of the best training can be substantially longer than the goal event -- in the case of the IP, some of the best training can be riding a Grand Tour.

Does this mean that the old 'SAID' (Specific adaptation to imposed demands) principle is wrong?

Alex_Simmons/RST

BenderRodriguez wrote:

Ric/RSTSport wrote:

madasahattersley wrote:

If you're focussing only on 10m time trials (God forbid) then you shouldn't ever really be out on the bike for longer than an hour, including warm up and cool down.

why would you say this? Would you suggest that the best training duration for an individual pursuit would only be ~4-mins?

What we do know, is that even if your event is short such as a 10, or an IP then some of the best training can be substantially longer than the goal event -- in the case of the IP, some of the best training can be riding a Grand Tour.

Does this mean that the old 'SAID' (Specific adaptation to imposed demands) principle is wrong?

Not at all, but people are confusing what mix of training is best at providing the appropriate stimulus for the desired physiological adaptations. It's training that specifically develops the required adaptations that this principle refers to, and that training will more than likely cover quite a range of intensities and durations, and the mix will also be different for different individuals.

If all you did in training was 10-mile TTs, that would be super specific and I'm sure you'd improve 10-mile TT performance for a little while, but I'll bet that after a couple of months (and probably much earlier) performance will stagnate then decline. Longer term and sustainable performance improvement requires a better approach than a simplistic application of the specificity principle.