My training has continued to go well. I had a hiccup because I was stuck in Europe for an extra week during the volcano ash. I was able to do some mountain biking during this time period but basically I had two weeks were my training was less than ideal. I planned for one week, but not two. This is how training goes sometime; there are things outside of your control
I use a dashboard to track my progression through my training blocks. I like to track my max power at four key points because these are key markers for criterium racing.
| Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
| 2/22-3/6 | 3/13-3/28 | 4/2-4/11 | 4/18-5/14 | |
| Max | 1322 | 1464 | 1579 | 1537 |
| 30 sec | 703 | 799 | 874 | 920 |
| 1 min | 501 | 650 | 654 | 702 |
| 3 min | 386 | 424 | 426 | 420 |
I have been spending a lot of time during the last 4 training blocks focused on sprints and anaerobic power. My workouts for these 4 blocks have been similar, basically a variation of 6x3min, 3x1min, 3x30sec, and 3 to 6 short sprints. I would mix up the order of the intervals to keep it interesting. The workouts have been typically been 1.5 to 2.5 hours in length. I would do 3 days of these workouts in a row and then not ride for 2 days. After 3-4 cycles the I would take 4-5 days off.
My updated training dashboard with my power points. You can see the flat line where I manually entered my mountain bike rides. (click on the chart for a full view)
For the next two training blocks, I will be focusing on moving my 3 minute max up. I really want to be hitting numbers into the 500s for my 3 min intervals. To do this, I need to spend more time doing intervals that are in the 10 min range. This type of interval will help me improve my power at my LT. I will also be increasing my workout length to be about 3 hours (there is more daylight in the morning now). I will cut my sprints, 1 min and 30 secs intervals down to one or two so that I can hold the gains that I have made. The 3 min intervals will be replaced with 6×10 with 5 min rest between intervals.
Below is my performance management chart. My training continues to show steady upward movement on the training stress. I have just finished a 4 cycle training block and been resting for two days. I rode easy today and I will ride easy tomorrow. I will be racing on Sunday, so I will hopefully get a good video of the race and have a good race. (click on the chart for a full view)
Ride Hard,
Steve
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