Hillingdon E123 31st Jan

[Sylv]

[quote="Paul H"]Its a shame there is no LBP-20 races.

[Michelle]

Toks said

[quote]Michelle and Adam of course you'd expect to see an improvement in power output at lowish heart rates with enough dedicated training. No problem there

[Paul H]

220 hours of any type of training is likely to have a positive effect - it doesnt mean its the best way to train though. I have made a 12% improvement in only 2 months and 55 hours of training.

It also depends what level you are at i.e. relatively new to endurance training or somebody who has many years of training in their legs. I would agrue that you would get a better return for your time if you trained at a higher intensity. Unfortunately neither theory can be proved unless we can produce some clones and train them in the 2 different ways for 5 years.

That's an impressive amount of training - I wish I had that dedication and I am sure you will achieve your targets for this year.

Unfortunately I have lost motivation and am losing fitness at the moment. The swimming is getting better though.

[Toks]

Hi Michelle,

Sylv reports anecdotally that he has notice a "significant improvement" in power output due to LBP training.

Given that he has also done some racing (which as we know makes you fit) I asked can this all be down to LBP training. Unfortunately there is no before and after test with Sylv doing (a) LBP training alone or (B) LBP training with Racing. So, for me at least, scientifically speaking I can't attribute his "significant improvement" in power output down to LBP training alone.

You're own speed/power output has also improved following a massive amount of LBP training. Thats great and given the hours you dilligently put in hardly a shock So I'm not really sure what the problem is.

Please let me know if I ever said LBP would not lead to an increase in power output

There's never been a problem with LBP training per se. All I ever suggested was its not the most effective way to train for time constrained riders like myself. Even Adam aknowledged that if he didn't have much time to train he'd do things differently:D

[Toks]

[quote="Paul H"]220 hours of any type of training is likely to have a positive effect - it doesnt mean its the best way to train though..

[Paul H]

Also, how much difference did the weight training make?

[Sylv]

Well it is true you will not be able to accurately attribute progress to any specific type of training, there are too many variables

In my case, this is the first year I am actually doing proper "training" ie targeted sessions at varying intensities (including turbo and rollers), instead of riding full on all the time. But it's also the first time I can measure performance and fitness, with HRM and power meter.

I've done just 6 races in the last 4 months. Have also been doing more running than before including speed work. Also I did a lot of breathing exercices (restrictive breathing) although not so much recently as it's harder to keep it up in the cold.

I have increased my weekly hours by maybe 50%, but most of that increase is LBP stuff, so I am not feeling any more tired, if anything possibly less. All the commuting hours which were "wasted" before are used for the LBP and instead of riding just 35km per day now most days I do 45-60 (excluding proper "training").

What I was saying is that, by wearing the HRM on the same commute every day, I have noticed that my speed has increased for the same HR. There are a couple hills on the way that I could never climb at below 143 before, even going as slow as possible, and now I can easily do them at 135 even at a decent pace. There could be another factor in there which is part of Toks' 14 points list but I won't go there now.

The top end wattage for a same HR seems to have increased too although much less so far, but have not been working on that too much yet, and hopefully it will follow suite.

I've been very bad with the weight training though (ie not done any at all ) so cannot comment on that part ...

[Mike I]

I see him from time to time on my way home and can confirm that Sylv's commuting speed has indeed increased .

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Sylv"]I've been very bad with the weight training though (ie not done any at all ) so cannot comment on that part ...

[quote="Toks"][quote="Keith"]Regarding the heart rate stuff, I similarly experienced a high average HR, but a low max HR (169 & 179, max is 184ish) the previous week in the E123s. However, that was due to me cooking myself in the break-away and then having nothing left for that last sprint.

[quote="Robh"][quote="Toks"][quote="Keith"]Regarding the heart rate stuff, I similarly experienced a high average HR, but a low max HR (169 & 179, max is 184ish) the previous week in the E123s. However, that was due to me cooking myself in the break-away and then having nothing left for that last sprint.