Time Crunched Training Carmichael Clarification

iFreedom

Hi All,

I'm hoping you can help as I have a few questions.

1) I have the latest rev of TCTP and am doing the New Competitor program. But one work out calls for 60-90' EM with 2 x SEPI, while the other one calls for 60-90' EM + 2 x SEPI. For those that have done this program, is there any difference between "with" and "+"? It seems to me they would be the same, but thought I'd check.

2) The latest book says to do OU at 90+rpm while online Carmichael says 100+rpm. Any real difference or confirmation on the better cadence?

3) With OU's, I don't have a power meter, but I've been doing the SS intervals so I figure I know the Under gearing I should be in (assuming it's under 100rpm). So for the Over part, would I just sprint up say by 10 rpm or maybe hold rpm and add a gear or something like that? I understand the Over part is not a SEPI effort so I imagine I just need to go a little harder to get over that "threshold". The HR difference between SS and CR efforts are 1 bpm but the wattage is 15 watts so I'm just not sure how much harder to go unless I can rely on HR.

Apologies for the silly questions, but sometimes I get hung up on stuff like this. Any help / experience would be great. I did search and google but thought I'd ask directly as well.

Cheers!

bobmcstuff

1) no idea, typo?

2) I don't think the cadence matters much. It's useful to be comfortable at a range of cadences but beyond that I don't think it's worth getting hung up on. What matters is the effort.

3) My SS and CR HRs are not quite as close together as yours, guessing I must have a higher MHR. How long are the SEPI intervals supposed to be? Presumably you know your HR for SS so just going a bit harder will be fine. The idea is you move from just under to just over lactate threshold, which is fine in principle but the HR test isn't a massively accurate way of determining what point that is (in terms of exact HR%) so the HR levels are quite likely to be wrong anyway... Perceived effort will be just as good.

Strava's got a breakdown of the perceived efforts https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/art ... erminology , I assume it is in the TCTP book as well but I can't remember.

I found the CR-heavy workouts quite hard so good luck with that

iFreedom

Ok thanks. Sounds about right. I can see the benefit of power as I'm now in wk 3 and will have to judge my SEPI effort as best as possible as, again, I don't think HR will be the right way to judge it.

bobmcstuff

I'm not too sure an arbitrary % of max power is necessarily going to be much more accurate in determining lactate threshold, as it's different for different people (and alters with training) - but couldn't say exactly, I'm sure someone else can.

Main thing is the CR reps should be hard!! 7/10 on SS should be hard but sustainable (presumably you're used to that by now), but 8/10 should be uncomfortable (think TT pace or slightly over).

Sufferfest's breakdown is a bit more informative https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/the-suf ... d-hr-zones

supermurph09

Not sure it'll help exactly but if you click on the link on my signature you'll see I did a blog when I did the same plan.

I had a quite a bit of feedback saying it helped simplify the process rather than having to wade through every page of the book.

iFreedom

Supermurph09 wrote:

Not sure it'll help exactly but if you click on the link on my signature you'll see I did a blog when I did the same plan.

I had a quite a bit of feedback saying it helped simplify the process rather than having to wade through every page of the book.

Thanks for this. I actually saw this before and was a great read, at least the parts I read. I don't have a power meter tho so am unable to simple follow TCTP targets. But yeah I think I get he gist of it. I've done a sepi workout since my first post and CR maxes at the start of sepi. So knowing that and knowing SS effort I think I can get a good gauge for OU effort. Btw, as u've noted in ur blog, sepi's are friggen nasty, just nasty! I'm certain OU (first one tomorrow) will suck too as it's almost as long as the SS intervals before but with the added over part. Good times. No question fitness is improving tho. Novice gains I'm thinking. Next year gains will likely be harder to come by.

iFreedom

Ok, I did my first OU and stayed in the same gear, but added about 6 rpm, so from 92rpm to 98rpm which I think worked great. The first 9' set felt good then the 2nd and 3rd started getting nasty on the second and third Over intervals. I can see how this is going to pay off later.