- The race season for me next year sets up perfect for my general plan... 5-6 weeks of racing followed by 5-6 weeks off racing followed by 5-6 weeks of racing. This allows a two peak season with a rest and rebuild section between.
- The way the schedule breaks down is that racing will start in early March and end for the season in mid June. That is a short season compared to other years...
- The main thought going through my head... how should I be training now based on that race schedule...
Most people agree that going too hard right now will lead to burn out during next season. But most of what I read threatens that you will burn out in mid-July... if that is true, then what am I worried about? I don't need to stay sharp until August this coming season...
The main reason this question comes up right now is the Peach Peloton (PP) rides. This is an organized system of rides put on by a local 1/2 guy... the rides have been relatively low impact in the past with a few scheduled attack zones. This year, the rides seem to be a little more aggressive throughout the ride and the attack zones are very fast indeed. I was reviewing data from rides over the last two weekends... one of them was the PP and one was by myself. The terrain on both rides was similar... the main difference is that the one I did by myself was 85 miles and the PP was 75 miles...
Here is the solo effort... 
The graphs show an obvious difference in the way the "flow of the ride" turns out. What is not obvious (the type seems to small) is the numbers... below will clear that up...
The first column is AR or Active Recovery... you can pretty well call these trash miles. This zone is what you might ride if you are riding on a day you should be taking off... just moving the legs a little and this could be replaced with a walk in the park.
The next column is E or Endurance... these are good for building... you guessed it... endurance.
The next column is TE for Tempo... this is known as L3 and where I would like to spend all my time this winter when I am not doing threshold rides (FTP). This zone maximizes aerobic system building while minimizing recovery time needed for the work done.
Next column is TH for Threshold... this is the highest aerobic effort possible with crossing the line... you are close, right at, or slightly over your lactic threshold in this zone.
Last is AC for anaerobic... I also consider these trash miles for winter. The anaerobic system only takes around 3-4 weeks to build to capacity... the aerobic system takes years. The higher the aerobic system is operating, the more power can be put out in the anaerobic system. Any time spent here in the offseason compromises the additional aerobic capacity that could be built during that time and requires more recovery time which further delays additional aerobic workouts.
Unfortunately I got dropped as soon as the attack zone started on this particular Peach Peloton ride so I used the information from before I dropped. I think it is more applicable anyway... I will not take into account what is most certainly an anaerobic feast for 15 minutes... the attack zones are pretty tough...
Even with an additional 1.5 hours spent on the solo ride, I have less trash miles (AR and AC). Total wasted miles in time for PP ride was an hour and thirty-one minutes and a whopping 47 percent of the ride! Compare that with only 24% wasted on the solo effort. The time spent in my target zone... TE and TH was considerably different also. Compare PP at 27% to solo ride at 48%... that was particularly shocking to me.
With these numbers, there is no question in my mind where I will find the best winter workout... the question is whether I have the fortitude to ride alone when the PP rides are so much more fun...
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