Training for Time Trials

[RoadRaven]

Well... on the first page of this thread... I posted a list of specific training rides I tried to do and weave into a fortnightly cycle...

Well, I have long since flagged that and have begun a new schedule about a month ago (post nationals where I was inspired on the TT day and wishing desparately I could join in)

I have decided to focus only on TT training and trust it will benefit my road racing too. TTs are what I love - so why on earth was I trying to train for everything!?

My week day rides are timebound as I work full time and travel (by car most days as I have to take children into town to school) is half an hour each way...

So my week is typically...

Sunday - 30-60km medium intensity ride

Monday - 30-60 minute low intensity ride after work (recovery after the weekend)

Tuesday - 60 minute min interval workout (10-20 mins to warm up, 10 mins to cool down)

Wednesday - rest or same as Monday

Thursday - hill reps on my aero bars about 45-60 minutes (10-20 mins to warm up, 10 mins to cool down)
Being on the aero bars as I climb is key - it requires a much greater power output, and power, after all, is what TTs are about.

Friday - no ride or a gentle 10-15km with my youngest son on the flat

Saturday - race... about 45 min warm up, then 25-40km race, then 15-30min cool down

I had a TT last weekend, and I believe the specific focus is helping. Big improvements (I got second in my grade - about to post a race report...)

I am anticipating having longer rides after the 17th December as that is when I go on leave for !!!!SIX WHOLE WEEKS!!!! so I will be able to really get race fit before some of the events I want to complete in late summer/autumn.

[RoadRaven]

Pssst... I got an early (REALLY early) birthday pressie from my life partner - he really spoils me

Louis Garneau aero helmet... went for a 34km "test drive" today... sweeeeet...

Can't wait to use it in a TT. It fits tight on my head and has a little ratchet at the back to tighten/loosen it.
We shifted my speedo forward on the aeros so it sits between my wrists and I can glance down without moving my head.
The tail snugs in between my shoulder blades so I can just feel it which will help ensure I keep my head in the right place and don't do the "dipping" thing which negates the use of an aero helmet at all.

Very excited, but my next TT isn't til the 14th...

I did a 10km burst over rolling hills which I did in 24:45mins in January. Today, under similar weather conditions I did it in 23:50mins. Not sure how much was the aero helmet, and how much was the psycholgy of feeling fast in a fast hat, but 55seconds over 10kms is quite a difference

[Starfish]

Not sure how much was the aero helmet, and how much was the psycholgy of feeling fast in a fast hat, but 55seconds over 10kms is quite a difference

whatever works...

[SheFly]

An aero helmet is one of the key pieces of equipment to help make you faster in a TT. I now have all the fancy-schmancy gear, but the helmet and the aero bars are the things I can point to that really made a difference (besides training ).

Nice bday gift for sure, and the LGs are nice - that's what I have too!

SheFly

[RoadRaven]

Thanks for the smiley faces Starfish I hope it works... maybe its just a $300 way of making me think I'm fast as well as psyching out those near me in ability... but I do still really like my fancy new hat!

SheFly, I have read so much about aero helmets, and of course the key thing is holding your head still in the best position for aerodynamics - and it seems so many people move their head about it negates any benefits. I have been working hard on keeping my head still and low into my shoulders whenever I train for, or complete, a time trial, so I hope I can "do the right thing".

My partner and some of his training partners as well as some of the LBS guys reckon a TT suit makes you faster than an aero helmet... I dunno... I think I would feel so uncomfortable in a TT suit I would slow myself down because I wouldn't be focused.

I do wear a pocketless snug jersey, and I don't wear gloves, so hopefully that gives me the second or three a TT suit might afford over 18-20kms...

7 days til I get to test my LG in a club TT... am looking forward to it!

What colour is your LG, She Fly? Mine is the silver one - it matches my TT bike beautifully

[Eden]

My partner and some of his training partners as well as some of the LBS guys reckon a TT suit makes you faster than an aero helmet... I dunno... I think I would feel so uncomfortable in a TT suit I would slow myself down because I wouldn't be focused.

At a bike race everyone is so focused on themselves no one has the time to worry about how everyone else looks in their skin suits (unless you show up in a full body hot pink one ) that said, I think the aero helmet will make a bigger difference than a skin suit...
In a couple weeks I'll finally get to try mine out! Hopefully this year I'll have stronger legs to match too (I have my long awaited Giro - yeah!)

[RoadRaven]

I know that everyone is focused on themselves... but the problem would be I would be so focused on myself that I would worry about distracting others from their focus. I am sooooo considerate!
hahahaha...

So, seriously, what date for your next TT Eden, if its only a few weeks away?

And have you had much of a chance to train on your disc? I have decided I don't like disc wheels... they are heavy if the course has any slight hills (and you know me by now... I am not so fast on hills (still working on it...)

I have still not dropped enough in weight to use my last year's birthday pressie - Grammo Vipers (which have a 90kg weight restriction on them) - deep dish wheels and so sweet to look at. But I use my partners tri-spokes and he uses my front Viper with his Zip on the back... so we are both happy.

Looking forward to hearing about it - don't forget to post a race report please... there aren't many of us here that TT and although I can read TT reports on other boards they are usually by males and their speeds are so far from what I can achieve and the way they report is somehow, intangiably, different to the way our reports are written here...

[Eden]

First race of the year, coming right up on Feb 24th.
It's a shortie - 9 mile (14.5 km) flat TT - so really it might be too short to really see much of a quantitative difference from the helmet... I did do the same course last year (hopefully I have the results somewhere so I can compare this year to last)

I don't really train on the disc - its a tubular, so its a real PITA to change the tires... I'd hate to be training on it and get a flat, so if I train on the TT bike I do it with regular wheels. The disc is a bit heavy, but I think on a flatish course its well worth it. Rolling is OK, but for very hilly I'd leave it off. I use my road bike for hillclimb TT's - its just lighter all around and you don't get going fast enough to take advantage of aerogear anyway on a hillclimb.

I'm going to talk you into a skinsuit someday I don't know how much of a difference it really makes, but d*mn it feels good (fast) to wear one...

[RoadRaven]

Hey there Eden - I didn't mean training all the time on the disc, rather just trying is out in different winds to see how it feels.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear in what I was asking.
You def wanna make tubbies last asap - and never want to get a flattie in a race!

I have regular wheels to train on too - now I am used to them, the tri-spokes only go for actual TTs.

*ignores comment about skin suits*
lahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlahlah.....

[Starfish]

Please forgive me if this has been asked. I tried searching, but it didn't get me what I was after...

What kind of HRs do you women tend to average when you are either training for or racing in a time trial of, say, 10 miles?

I know it will vary...that each person's lactate threshold and fitness are different, etc, and everyone's a different age, etc. I'm just curious.

I just spent about 2 hours on a ride with an average HR of 154 (about 85% of max) and lots of longish stretches at about 164 (about 91% of max). I got in some intervals close to max on hills.

I found myself wondering what kind of HR I would be shooting for holding onto for, say 10 miles, if I attempted a beginner's time trial?

[Eden]

I shoot for right around or just above my LT.

[RoadRaven]

Yup... I'm like Eden... try and lurk at or above my LT.

Typical HR pattern in a TT as follows...

In a TT I usually leave with such a rush of adrenilin that my HR seems to spike up to about 168-175 which is approaching my max, but after about 500 metres it settles and I then I wind myself up til it is sitting on 156-158bpm
158bpm is my lactate threshold as measured in a sports lab in 2007.

At the turn-around, or the half-way point in distance, I wind myself up more. I know I can sustain a good power output several beats above my LT for about 10km or 18mins and if my body is responding well I try to keep my HR at 162-165 for the last half of the course.

In the last 2kms I try to lift the speed/power output more and my HR often sits at about 168bpm for the last 1km of the ride - thats 10beats above my LT.

My distances for TT are between 18km and 25km long. 18-20km TTs are ideal for me, but I am still having trouble pacing myself over 25km... that extra 5km makes a significant difference.

[Starfish]

So, RR, you had your LT tested in a lab...how about the rest of you?

I feel very sketchy about setting my zones. I tend to use a combination of percentages I have read about it training books, the number I see on the monitor during really hard efforts when I'm gasping for breath (which I assume to be near my max), and sort of a perception of where I am regarding HR when I do rides that leave me pretty sore after.

Have any of you in Seattle been tested, and if so, where?

Is LT the same regardless of type of exertion...such as flat TT vs. climbing?

I feel like I am always guessing about to set my HRs. This has been bugging me for awhile.

[Eden]

So, RR, you had your LT tested in a lab...how about the rest of you?

I feel very sketchy about setting my zones. I tend to use a combination of percentages I have read about it training books, the number I see on the monitor during really hard efforts when I'm gasping for breath (which I assume to be near my max), and sort of a perception of where I am regarding HR when I do rides that leave me pretty sore after.

Have any of you in Seattle been tested, and if so, where?

Is LT the same regardless of type of exertion...such as flat TT vs. climbing?

I feel like I am always guessing about to set my HRs. This has been bugging me for awhile.

I have been tested. (at Real Rehab http://www.realrehab.com/pages/servi....php#metabolic) I was though, not particularly suprised at what my LT is, as I had been racing for a year before I did the testing and I knew what type of output I could sustain for longer periods without burning myself out completely (which basically is your LT) What I had been naturally TT'ing at was my LT.

I think you may be underestimating your max. VT (ventilatory theshold - when you start gasping) can have nothing to do with LT or Max HR. I reach my VT (breathing hard enough that I cannot talk in full sentences) somewhere in my hr zone 4 - probably around 85% of my max and have definitly hit it at 90% of max. I don't think you nessessarily need to have a whole fancy VO2 test just to get your max hr though - there are self tests you can do on a trainer. I don't have the time to look it up right now, but I have a book with a good test in it (I got an accurate measurment from this). When I get back this afternoon I'll look it up for you. When you really hit your max, you'll probably know - you'll want to fall over or throw up.... The test I have is a bit more gentle - it's a submaximal test, but it still works.

I personaly do find that I can hold a higher hr on a hillclimb TT than on a flat one - typically 5-7 hr beats higher.

[mudmucker]

Starfish, I also have a couple of self-tests. PM me if you want me to send them to you. The ones I have are from Chris Carmichaels's Food for Fitness book. With his method, he has the person do some specific high intensity cycling (or running) sequences and uses average heart rate to determine heart rate intensities that correspond to training different energy systems. He uses AHR because they're indicative of a true response to the entire duration of the effort.

If Eden has seen this one, she may be able make more of a comment on as a comparison of other self-tests.