FaCT tip

[Robh]

Hey Rob , thanks for your "live" information.

Your experience is pretty much what we would expect. Your long ride the day before is a perfect example of a STF intensity where FFA (Fat and O2) is used as the main fuel source and the performance is maintained in wattage and heart rate, as well if you would test for lactate there would be very little in the blood as a sign of "complete" control in the oxygen dependent energy production. The regular intake of glucose as you do plus the liquid will maintain this type of performance over a long time..The key of the workouts is to try to increase the heart rate, as well as the wattage and still be stable and move it closer to LBP. It will be very interesting to see where your LBP is in Mallorca but I will take a dangerous prediction here , that I guess it will be about 20 - 30 beats higher than this 130 HR so around 150 – 155bpm.

Here’s an easy "test " you can do:-
If your basic endurance is not that good structurally set you will be able to maintain same HR and a stable wattage for about 45 min - 1h 15 @ LBP. You will have some lactate in the system but can maintain the level after an initial increase. If you "sneak" slowly to the HR of 150 in a "warm up” ramp test you may see very little changes in lactate for the above time. The "test” or workout would go like this:-

Start 3 min 100 wattage 3 min 120 wattage and so on till you reach HR145 - 150 and now you keep this wattage and see how long you can go before you go above 150 - 155 HR. We check the lactate every 10 - 15 min to see a possible trend in this workout.

Another idea to find your most optimal RPM for the time being is a ramp test with RPM. You take your 180 - 190 watts you established in your long ride as a very stable energy supply. Now you bike 5 min with this wattage and RPM of 70 followed by 5 min RPM 80 and so on. Check HR, respiratory frequency and later lactate and where you have the lowest RF, the lowest HR and the lowest lactate trend is for the moment most efficient RPM. This would mean you can start integrating RPM drills into your long workouts with every 15 min change for 5 min to a 10 RPM higher or lower workout to learn more efficiency over a wider range of RPM. Comparing about like you can play the piano over the full length of the instrument or just the keys in front of you.

A better and wider range of RPM in a very efficient way will allow you in long races to switch the coordination pattern and with it the intermuscular coordination and muscle groups to try to recover the other once. Simply spoken more workers sharing the same workload and it is less hard for the individual one and the workload can be maintained over a much longer time..

Juerg