Question: When does Georgia start her base training? How many hours per week does she train?
Well, let's see - this answer might be the kind that just generates more questions - but I will try to give a good overview on base training.
Between cyclocross season and the beginning of mountain bike season, Georgia has about a 3 month break from racing. The traditional idea of base training (long, slow base miles) really is not something that I advocate and is not a part of Georgia's training in any way.
The last couple of years we have approached cross season as the "off" season. This is the time of year when she is riding the least - hours are low but the quality of those hours is high. We did a lot of running this year and the general goals of cross season were to enjoy racing, stay fresh, and maintain lactate threshold fitness.
In January - we start up with the big miles. These are very high quality miles and not slow by any means. The general goal of January through March is to build a giant aerobic engine and get the ol' LT as high as we can. We do this through "LFD" rides - this means "Long Fast Distance" and is my modification of the running term "LSD" or Long Slow Distance. We spend a lot of time at and around tempo pace and really limit recovery on these rides. The result over time is a really big diesel engine. We also might do 2-3 days back to back, which puts a very big load on the system and will often produce a big adaptation (once you've recovered).
If you neglect recovery, these workouts are a great way to overtrain really fast. The physical stress from these rides often requires more recovery time than you might expect. Most cases of overtraining are caused not because you have trained too hard, but because you haven't given yourself enough rest. So, I prefer the term "under-resting" to "over-training."
All of your fitness is gained on recovery days, so never underestimate their importance - not only for physical rest, but for a mental rest as well. Think of recovery days as your reward for all of your efforts. These days present a great opportunity to stay the heck off your bike. Go for a walk, stay hydrated, stretch, and hit the hay early. This will leave you much fresher for your hard days.
Moving on...the "total hours per week" concept is a very over-rated measure of work in my opinion. It says nothing about what you have done during those hours. You could ride 30 hours at recovery pace and you would be just as fit if you had sat on the couch for 30 hours. So, I always stress quality over quantity. 5 hour rides are the longest rides that Georgia will do, and she'll spend most of that time just below tempo pace - right around a 20 mph average for a lot of the road rides.
Thanks again for the questions! Keep 'em coming!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Altitude
Just wanted to respond to a question on altitude training: I notice that many of the pros are training for the season in high altitude, is there a reason or benefit for that?
Yes, altitude training and living certainly has its benefits. Here is a basic explanation of how things work at altitude:
Barometric pressure is the force that determines the amount of oxygen that is available to breathe. At sea level, barometric pressure is high and the air is dense with oxygen molecules. As we travel uphill, the barometric pressure decreases and the oxygen molecules become more spread out. This does not mean that there is less oxygen at high altitude - the low barometric pressure just means that the same amount of oxygen is spread out over a larger area. This basically amounts to fewer oxygen molecules per square foot.
The human body will adapt to the atmosphere it is placed in (most of the time). There are two factors that determine the amount of oxygen your body can process: 1) number of red blood cells and 2) amount of hemoglobin in each red blood cell. If you are accustomed to sea level atmosphere and arrive at 7000 ft, your body will begin to adapt immediately. Short term adaptations include: breathing really hard. This is the feeble attempt that your body makes to bring more oxygen into your bloodstream. If you are on a bike, this generally results in two things: 1) gasping for breath and 2) riding really slow.
However, your body will soon begin long-term adaptations. Over a relatively short period of time (2-3 weeks) your body will respond to the change in altitude by producing more red blood cells and more hemoglobin. These adaptations will basically provide improved and more efficient delivery of oxygen to your muscles.
So, the reason that athletes live at altitude is so that their bodies make the above adaptations. By adapting to altitude, the body has greater cardiovascular capabilities than that of a sea-level dweller. An athlete can then compete normally at altitude and have a performance edge when they arrive at sea level.
While these sound like fantastic adaptations, living and training at altitude can be a slippery slope. There are also negative aspects to altitude living and training:
1) The quality of your VO2 training will decrease at altitude, even when you have fully adapted. By "quality", I am referring to the amount of power you produce in a given amount of time.
2) It takes longer for your body to recover from hard workouts at altitude, which translates into fewer hard training sessions (or maybe just more cases of overtraining.)
So, finding the optimal balance between quality training and quality recovery can be more difficult at altitude than at sea level. If you overtrain or detrain during the adaptation period, all of the potential benefits are lost.
Live High, Train Low -
This is a great and wildly impractical idea. The accepted "optimal altitude" is between 6800-9000 ft. This is sort of the happy medium altitude - most people will make the altitude gains and are still capable of quality aerobic training. The lower you can train, the higher the quality will be. So, just live at the top of a mountain at 8000 ft, and then drive down the mountain to 3000 ft to train. Perfect, right?
If you can afford to buy an altitude tent and spend at least 9 hours per day in it - then you may have a solution. Or, you could live at altitude and train low by using supplemental oxygen. They do this at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Live High, Train High -
- This is more practical - the quality of your VO2 training won't be great, but your Lactate Threshold will certainly benefit, as long as you pay close attention to recovery.
Live Low, Train High -
This combines all of the negative aspects of each - you greatly decrease the quality of your training and at the same time, your body will make none of the adaptations to altitude. Your perceived effort will be very high, even though actual quality is very low.
My personal opinion on altitude is that it can be useful when used intelligently. It is not magic though. The most important thing will always be sound preparation and a training plan that allows you to make your hard days REALLY hard and your easy days REALLY easy.
One other note to anyone who is considering altitude training or already lives at altitude - if you have low iron levels you will not adapt to altitude. Low iron will greatly limit the body's capacity to produce new red blood cells and without new red blood cells, the body cannot adapt. Women in particular - whether at sea level or altitude - it is a good idea to have your iron levels checked every 4-6 months.
Here are a couple of good resources on altitude that go into further detail:
- Altitude.org
- A. Baker and W. G. Hopkins
Thanks for the question!
Yes, altitude training and living certainly has its benefits. Here is a basic explanation of how things work at altitude:
Barometric pressure is the force that determines the amount of oxygen that is available to breathe. At sea level, barometric pressure is high and the air is dense with oxygen molecules. As we travel uphill, the barometric pressure decreases and the oxygen molecules become more spread out. This does not mean that there is less oxygen at high altitude - the low barometric pressure just means that the same amount of oxygen is spread out over a larger area. This basically amounts to fewer oxygen molecules per square foot.
The human body will adapt to the atmosphere it is placed in (most of the time). There are two factors that determine the amount of oxygen your body can process: 1) number of red blood cells and 2) amount of hemoglobin in each red blood cell. If you are accustomed to sea level atmosphere and arrive at 7000 ft, your body will begin to adapt immediately. Short term adaptations include: breathing really hard. This is the feeble attempt that your body makes to bring more oxygen into your bloodstream. If you are on a bike, this generally results in two things: 1) gasping for breath and 2) riding really slow.
However, your body will soon begin long-term adaptations. Over a relatively short period of time (2-3 weeks) your body will respond to the change in altitude by producing more red blood cells and more hemoglobin. These adaptations will basically provide improved and more efficient delivery of oxygen to your muscles.
So, the reason that athletes live at altitude is so that their bodies make the above adaptations. By adapting to altitude, the body has greater cardiovascular capabilities than that of a sea-level dweller. An athlete can then compete normally at altitude and have a performance edge when they arrive at sea level.
While these sound like fantastic adaptations, living and training at altitude can be a slippery slope. There are also negative aspects to altitude living and training:
1) The quality of your VO2 training will decrease at altitude, even when you have fully adapted. By "quality", I am referring to the amount of power you produce in a given amount of time.
2) It takes longer for your body to recover from hard workouts at altitude, which translates into fewer hard training sessions (or maybe just more cases of overtraining.)
So, finding the optimal balance between quality training and quality recovery can be more difficult at altitude than at sea level. If you overtrain or detrain during the adaptation period, all of the potential benefits are lost.
Live High, Train Low -
This is a great and wildly impractical idea. The accepted "optimal altitude" is between 6800-9000 ft. This is sort of the happy medium altitude - most people will make the altitude gains and are still capable of quality aerobic training. The lower you can train, the higher the quality will be. So, just live at the top of a mountain at 8000 ft, and then drive down the mountain to 3000 ft to train. Perfect, right?
If you can afford to buy an altitude tent and spend at least 9 hours per day in it - then you may have a solution. Or, you could live at altitude and train low by using supplemental oxygen. They do this at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Live High, Train High -
- This is more practical - the quality of your VO2 training won't be great, but your Lactate Threshold will certainly benefit, as long as you pay close attention to recovery.
Live Low, Train High -
This combines all of the negative aspects of each - you greatly decrease the quality of your training and at the same time, your body will make none of the adaptations to altitude. Your perceived effort will be very high, even though actual quality is very low.
My personal opinion on altitude is that it can be useful when used intelligently. It is not magic though. The most important thing will always be sound preparation and a training plan that allows you to make your hard days REALLY hard and your easy days REALLY easy.
One other note to anyone who is considering altitude training or already lives at altitude - if you have low iron levels you will not adapt to altitude. Low iron will greatly limit the body's capacity to produce new red blood cells and without new red blood cells, the body cannot adapt. Women in particular - whether at sea level or altitude - it is a good idea to have your iron levels checked every 4-6 months.
Here are a couple of good resources on altitude that go into further detail:
- Altitude.org
- A. Baker and W. G. Hopkins
Thanks for the question!
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