How much training can you handle?

With the advent of power meters, one of the age old questions asked by many can finally be answered.  How much training should I do before I rest?  When should I take my rest week? As coaches and athletes, we have never really been able to determine the best time for an athlete’s rest week other than going by the standard 3:1 work/rest ratio(which is very good btw)  or listening to your body (also a good thing).  However, these can be somewhat arbitrary and subjective.   Some riders can go longer than 3 weeks before needing a break, and others need a rest after only a week of focused training, while others might be able to go for 6 weeks before needing a true rest week.   Discovering your ideal work/rest formula is just as exciting as discovering your threshold improvement formula. This is one of the many changes that have occurred in training for cycling since the introduction of power meters and cutting edge software.  Now, that we can quantify training load and the corresponding response to that training load, finding your ideal work/rest formula is only a matter of time and data analysis.

What is your work/rest formula?

Let’s examine an athlete that I have coached for five years in order to better illustrate the principles behind this concept.   The rider is Gilbert Ducournau, a young rider, 22 years old and a Category 1 that was striving to turn professional at the end of 2015.   He has been racing seriously since he was 17 years old, and each year has progressed up the ladder in both categories and FTP. As he has progressed and matured as an athlete, his ability to recover has also improved and over the years we have had to update his work/rest formula.   In year 1(figure 1) of his training, he was barely able to train hard for two weeks before he needed a rest week.  Gilbert was new to endurance sports and really struggled with the initial training and frequently needed breaks in order to recover in the first four months of training.  After the fourth month, he was able to handle nearly 6 weeks without a rest week.  However at the end of the 6th week, he did get sick and had to rest for two weeks.  Therefore in retrospect, he still wasn’t ready for that long of a block of training. 

Know your goals

As we jump forward to year 4 of his training, where Gilbert achieved a Category 2 ranking, and he was able to sustain a very hard two weeks of training, followed by 3-4 days of rest and then train hard again in the early season.  As Spring approaches, he was able to consistently increase his training load for 8 weeks with short micro rests, so that his TSB(Training Stress Balance) never dipped too low, hovering around -24 and -12.  In the middle of this phase, he went to a training camp which significantly upped his training load and now his TSB dropped to -50 and this created the needed rest week.   During the summer, he was able to consistently train hard for two weeks with one week of rest.    This was an interesting year and one that will be important for you to understand and look for the pattern in your own workouts. 

The pattern here was:

1) He was able to train very hard for two weeks, but then needed a rest week.  

-or-

2) He could train relatively hard, and then only take 2 to 3 days easy and continue on this schedule for 8 weeks. 

This brings about the questions, which was better for him? Which is better for you?   Will a 2 week very intense block of training be better than 8 weeks of steady hard work?  The answer to this question depends on the goals of the athlete.  If you are in the beginning of the season and need to improve your FTP quickly with some hard focused weeks of training then that will be a good choice.  Another scenario to use the 2:1 formula, is if you are in the middle of racing season and/or need to get a quick bump of fitness, then do the 2 week intense block.  If you are building to a peak of fitness and your “A” goal, then stick with the longer, and steadier progression.  The take home here with Gilbert is that I was now seeing a nice pattern of improvement based on two different work/rest formulas.  This could now be used in future seasons.

In Year 5, we finally saw his true sustainable training ability come to fruition.  His season was up and down, as he had a great spring, but unfortunately crashed and fractured his hand in 3 places which required surgery, and then a month later, a second surgery.  These two events dramatically slowed down the middle of his season, however, if we looked at his season as two separate parts, we saw a very different rider in this 5th year of hard training.   The first half of the season, he was incrementally building his CTL up to the middle of February and then pushed very hard for 4 weeks driving his CTL to a career high of 96.  This was a new pattern, but made sense in that his previous year he was able to train hard for 2 weeks and not quite as hard for 8 weeks, so was now splitting the difference with a hard 4 weeks of training.  At the end of that 4th week, he didn’t need a big rest period(more than a week) like previous years, but a solid 7 days of easy riding brought his TSB positive and then he now maintained between 90-98 CTL for the entire month of April and kept his TSB just barely positive for good results on the weekends.   While, I had predicted that he could hold a solid 4 weeks of training, it wasn’t obvious that he could do this from his data, so I had to rely on his previous year 4 data to see that the expected outcome would be 4 weeks splitting between 2 and 8 weeks.

The “holy grail” of training

The middle of the year was a bust with recovery from his broken hand. But, the fall and winter have been very good for Gilbert as he has been training for the Vuelta a Tachira in middle of January .  Looking at Figure 4 below, he has been able to maintain an incredibly steady and incremental ramp rate of 5-8 TSS/week as an increase in CTL that peaks at 137CTL at the end of 2014.   This has been his longest, continuous block of training and his highest CTL ever.  This long ramp of training load increase has been sustainable because of two things: 1) Ability to handle this type of training.  2)  Short rests within the build period that allow for some recovery.  These short rests are critical to keep fatigue at a level which still allows for hard training and focused efforts.  

Hard training does not always require absolute freshness and the mark of a successful cyclist is one that can train hard while tired and still gain a tremendous training response from it.   If you have made it this far in the article, note that you have now gotten to the magic of using a power meter.  Pay attention closely!    By using a power meter, and watching your Performance Manager Chart to modulate the exact amount of fatigue(negative Training Stress Balance) and freshness (positive Training Stress Balance), you can continue training while fatigued for a very long period of time.   Let’s examine Gilbert’s PMC with a higher level of detail (Figure 4), so you can easily understand this concept and how to use it in your own training.   The most important detail in this Figure 4 is that the blue CTL line continues its steady march upward with short bumps of hard training followed by short rests.  This allows Gilbert to continue to train hard and rest just enough in order to train hard again.  He continues to increase his CTL to the peak of 137, without a single day of positive TSB in the entire 12 weeks of training!  Practically speaking, what does this mean from day to day, week to week training?  I planned his training so that he would do 3-4 days of hard training, followed by 2-3 days of easy riding.

 This can also be viewed as “block” training, where the athlete trains in a “block” of days, and then rests until he is ready to resume training.   In this case, I did not allow him to have full recovery and forced him to return to training with some fatigue in his legs.  The combination of work/rest changed radically from the two weeks on and one week off, or just steady hard training.   Now, he has been able to achieve the holy grail of training, the ability to train very hard to near exhaustion in 3-4 days and then recover quickly in 2-3 days, ready for another block.  These micro-rests are critical in the equation as it’s that small recovery that allow the TSB to move toward a positive number (not become a positive number though!).  It is critical in your own training that you watch your Performance Manager Chart closely so that you don’t become too fresh.  I would recommend allowing your TSB to get to -10, but not any closer to 0, in order to maintain the constant ramp rate.

Work/Rest Strategies

Training has always contained a bit of “Art” along with the science of exercise physiology, however there are 3 strategies that you can use in your own training.   First, try the strategy of two weeks hard and one week easy (also try the 3:1 ratio as well), especially if you are relatively new to the sport.   Secondly, try to extend the length of your harder weeks, so that you can do up to 4 weeks without a full rest week.  This period will contain the micro-rests, and the first time you embark on this journey, I recommend you reduce your overall intensity just a little and by that I mean reducing the number of intense days, not reducing the percentages in your training zones.  This will be the toughest transition for you, but if you can do it and keep your CTL ramp rate between 5-8 TSS/week, then you will be on the right track.  At the end of the four week block, take a mandatory rest week no matter if you feel tired or not.  This will guarantee that you don’t over-reach too much.  The third strategy is to employ the full blown “block” training method for a period of 8-12 weeks.  After you have been successful in strategy number 2, and you have enough time leading up to your priority “A” event, then employ this strategy. 

Remember, on your hard training days, you have to ride hard or long, it can’t be a medium intensity workout, and you have to do this for a minimum of 3 days in a row, followed by days off and easy days.  Your rest days are a minimum of 2 days where you ride easy or completely rest.  Do not take more than 4 rest days though, as that will raise your TSB too much.  Constantly watch your Performance Manager Chart to see your TSB numbers making sure that you continue to stay in negative territory (from -10 to -70).    What you have successfully accomplished now is determining exactly when you need to rest!  This is obviously a more advanced concept, but anyone with a power meter and TrainingPeaks WKO software can easily understand the data behind all the training. 

Hunter Allen is a USA Cycling Level 1 coach and former Professional Cyclist. He is the co-author of “Training and Racing with a Power Meter, co-developer of TrainingPeaks Software, and is the CEO and Founder of the Peaks Coaching Group. This has been the 24th year that he has conducted training camps in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Where did the time go?   We don’t know, but it’s time for you to come to a camp! www.PeaksCoachingGroup.com/camps

So you’re ready for your first FTP test?!?

So you’re ready for your first FTP test? Like every other field of expertise, power cycling has collected a string of acronyms—TSS, CTL, ATL, SST, IF, and of course FTP. Improving your FTP (functional threshold power) is one of the most important things you can do for your training–whether you’re Zwifting, gravel grinding, road racing, shredding MTB trails or touring the countryside.

So what exactly is FTP? 

Do you want the short answer or the long answer? 

In simplest terms, your functional threshold power, or FTP, is the maximum power you can maintain through an hour’s effort without fatiguing.

But it’s actually much more complicated. 

The word “threshold” has become synonymous with the word “confusion” for many athletes. To make it worse, there are several other terms for the same thing: anaerobic threshold (AT), lactate threshold (LT), maximal lactate steady state (MLSS), and onset of blood lactate (OBLA). I’ll use the term lactate threshold (LT) for my explanation. 

Lactate Threshold

Exercise physiologists have known for more than thirty years now that your LT (the level of exercise intensity at which lactate begins to accumulate in your blood) is a powerful predictor of your endurance performance ability. This is because, although your maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) sets the upper limit to your aerobic energy production rate, it’s your LT that determines the amount of this VO2max that you can utilize for any length of time.

There are complex body factors that determine LT, but essentially your LT tells you how well your muscles are able to match their energy supply to your energy demand, which in turn determines the fuel “mix” (i.e., carbohydrates versus fat) your muscles use and how they fatigue. Consequently, functional LT (especially when expressed as power output) is the single most important physiological determinant of performance in events ranging from a 3km pursuit to a three-week stage race. 

Your LT (or FTP) provides a solid basis for any power meter-based training program, because your level of effort when exercising at a given intensity depends upon your power output relative to your power at FTP. When your power output exceeds your FTP, you’ll fatigue quickly. When your power output is just below FTP, you’ll be able to maintain it much longer.

Determining FTP

Hunter Allen’s pioneering 20-minute FTP test developed in the early 2000s

So how do you figure out your FTP? One way is to get laboratory testing done with blood samples. FTP determined this way, however, is often significantly below what athletes and coaches think of as a threshold. 

A much more convenient, simple, and possibly more accurate method of determining your FTP is to use data collected by your own power meter as you ride. There are a number of different ways to do this, all of which provide very similar estimates of FTP. I think the best way to do it is to jump on your bike and go for a ride specifically designed to find your threshold, and I’ve got a good one for you below. This is without a doubt the first big step in the adventure of training with power. 

The Hunter Allen 20-minute FTP Test

Hunter Allen 20-minute FTP Test

Your goal in this test is to average the highest watts possible for a lengthy period of time. (Hint: When you get to the main effort, make sure to pace yourself so that you don’t tire too quickly.) 

1. Start out with a 20-minute warm-up, which means just riding along at a moderate pace, at about 65% of your max heart rate (HR), which is what we call your endurance pace. (Be sure to do the same warm-up at the same intensity each time you do the test.) 

2. Next do three fast-pedaling efforts at 100 rpm for one minute each, with one minute of easy recovery pedaling between each set, to further prepare your muscles for the effort ahead. After these three sets of fast pedaling, ride easy for five minutes at endurance pace (65% of max HR). 

Now the real test begins. 

3. Ride 5 minutes all out. Punch it and hold it! Start at a high pace, but not so high that you die at the end. You should have a little energy held in reserve to kick it toward the finish line in the last minute. 

The goal of this first part of the effort is twofold: first, to open up the legs for the rest of the test, and second, to measure your ability to produce watts in the VO2max power zone. This initial 5-minute effort also helps to dispense the “freshness” that always exists at the beginning of a ride; your next effort will produce power that is more likely to be truly representative of your FTP. 

4. Ride 10 minutes easy at endurance pace. 

5. 20-minute time trial. Try to do this on a road that’s fairly flat and allows you to put out a strong, steady effort for the entire 20 minutes. Don’t start out too hard! Get up to speed and then try to hold that speed as steadily you can. If you’ve never done one of these efforts before, I suggest trying it on a steady climb or into a slight headwind, which forces you to put out a maximum effort for the entire 20 minutes. 

6. Ride 10-15 minutes at endurance pace, pedaling easy. 

7. Finish the ride with 10-15 minutes easy pedaling.

Your goal in the main portion of the test (the 20-minute segment) is to produce the highest average watts possible over the entire time. The test doesn’t work if you start out too hard and suddenly run out of energy, because you won’t be able to produce your true maximal, steady-state power. It’s always better to start out in the first two minutes a little under what you believe to be your FTP, build up along the way, and then ride at your maximum level in the last three minutes.

Now that you’ve done the test and downloaded your data, find your average power from the entire 20-minute effort. Take this number and subtract 5% percent from it. The result is your functional threshold wattage value. For example, if you averaged 300 watts during the 20-minute time trial, 5% of 300 (300 x 0.05) is 15, and 300 minus 15 is 285. Your FTP is 285 watts. 

The reason for subtracting 5% from your average watts during the 20-minute test is that your true FTP is the highest average power you can maintain for sixty minutes. Most athletes have a hard time putting out maximal effort for sixty minutes, however, and those who can learn very quickly that a sixty-minute time trial is not much fun. I’ve found that twenty minutes is a more realistic time frame. It’s obviously a shorter time period, however, and it incorporates more of the athlete’s anaerobic capacity, which skews the wattage data by about 5% over a sixty-minute effort. By subtracting that 5%, you end up with a wattage number that should be very close to your true FTP. 

Ready? Go! What’s your FTP?

Hunter Allen is a USA Cycling Level 1 coach and former professional cyclist. He is the coauthor of Training and Racing with a Power Meter, co-developer of TrainingPeaks’ WKO software, and CEO and founder of Peaks Coaching Group. He and his coaches create custom training plans for all levels of athletes.

You can’t win every race, but you can nail your peak.

–Hunter Allen