Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sub-Threshold Power

I have been working on getting ready for the outdoor riding season. I will be consistently posting my workouts to share various strategies to improve power, pedaling technique and cardiovascular fitness. I am adding a unit of measure to the workouts that is measured to my ability, there will be many that can surpass my strength, if you can or can't maintain the wattage is not the concern. The idea of this workout is to build your strength. The watts are set to my ability, but take the high numbers to mean sustainable hard efforts. If you are interested in watts training send your comments and I will explain the qualitative benefits.


Planned duration: 1:30

1.5hours— Working on your with emphasis on low cadence, developing more muscular strength.
15 minute warm-up with cadence over 100 rpm, but easy watts. <200.
MS: 3 x15 minutes at cadence of 60-70, with watts about 310-315 or so.
Rest in an easy gear for 5 minutes between each.
Then also throw in (2) 3 minutes on, 3 minutes off at max effort, cadence 87-93.
HAMMER TIME !!!!!! Finish up with 20 minutes at 310-305 watts.
CD: 10minutes easy spinning to cool-down.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

JP

are you sugessting a steady state effort at 315W? 3X15min

who do you distract yourself that period of time? watch TV? Old Lance footage ????

JP said...

I worked on the trainer this morning and I usually watch Sunday morning Italian Serie A or English Premier soccer games.
I have to admit that during the 300-315 watts I don't need a distraction because I am internalizing the strength necessary to complete the set. If I am not focusing I can't finish the set or maintain the wattage.
More than a couple of times I broke down and watch the TV instead of pedaling hard through the set.
Sub-threshold training is difficult and requires focus and a determined will. It so close to time trialing that I don't think of it as pleasure.