trying to understand form

[bm0p700f]

Well given my lacklustre performance in road race over summer today I surprised myself. O.K it is a flat course which works in my favour but I did alot of work on the front which normally causes me to tire and drop off (I get around this by sitting in if my inital efforts in race cause fatigue). Today that did not happen. I did stretch on the front lap after lap without tiring. even had a sprint at the end but finished 8th die to being cautious going through the last corner ( a very wet and windy day).

The bit I dont get is over the few weeks (since mid september) I have upped my mileage putting in more far more hours in than I have over summer) and while initally that has not done much (blew up in the last race I did in september) this week I have felt better than ever but no rest days and this week I have done 20hrs of training with recovery rides.

I fail to understand this.

Would the stress charts from GC help here as most of my training is done without a PM only a HRM. here is the chart anyway. I seems to show stress was quite low before today but is it making good estimates from heart rate data.

[JimV]

Love GC, but there aren't any really good stress charts that don't rely on power. Trimp, but only sort of. It sounds like you may be doing polarized training and not realized that's what you were doing. Give a listen to a couple of Velonews podcasts on polarized training.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/09/ ... ity_421419
http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/10/ ... lan_422350

[bm0p700f]

It would appear uou are right. I am periodising my training which tyically is 1.5 to 2hrs in the moring and up to an hour in the evening. I have one interval session a week, one ride where i just push myself a bit (sub theshold) and then just ride. I never to the same intervals week on week. Some weeks it is 5 minute hill reps, other it is 1 to 2 minute hills intervals, sometimes it is sprints, other times minute on minute off e..t.c i do this because i always felt a random mixed bag would be better than the same thing every week. Also this random mixed bag allows me to think on the morning what do i feel like doing rather than i have a plan to follow and feel crap when i dont do it. It seems to be i might have been on the right track all along. I'll have to read a bit more and experiment.

I will get the spare pm on my commutor bike and going to buy today for my mtb. That should help me monitor stress levels better although i seem to be doing o.k as it is on feel.

[Multebear]

Form is a curious thing. I've had months doing everything right, but still didn't get in the desired form. And the opposite as well. After months with a lot of training I would expect to be in the best form. But I rarely am. My experience is, that form as a fragile thing to build. And beleive it or not, rest is the key factor. I'm always asuming after 20h training weeks, that this must be the point, where topform will stick. But it's usually 1 or 2 weeks later IF I remember to rest a lot - if I don't then it's back to square one.

[mattr]

Done it before, months of "proper" training gets you nowhere.
Few months of a crappy long commute in all weathers and you suddenly seem to find another 15-20%
Or a two week touring holiday, crap food, lots of beer and luggage, holy shit, that's about 10% as well..........

(Different seasons i hasten to add, finding 25-30% more power would be the stuff of dreams.)

[bm0p700f]

yes rest days over the summer months trying to be in the best shape for race meant I plateaued and got no where.

I dont get it at all. Today I performed about as well as I did in sunday even though my legs felt tired. I will do recovery rides now for the rest of the week, hoping to maintain form for the weekend. Hope is the operative word here. it could go all pear shaped quickly.

[Nefarious86]

Form is a pain in the arse haha. The numbers can say I'm going to have a great day and wind up flat as a tack and I can have a month of being lazy and spend 90mins punching out some of my best numbers in a handicap.

One thing I've started to do is spin on the rollers for 30-60min at a low effort (15-25TSS) on rest days. Seems to make the next day hurt less.

[bm0p700f]

I do that now as a revovery ride. 1 hour spinning keeping the heart rate below 100 bpm. It does work.

[Nefarious86]

Haha my heart rate hits 100 just standing up.

I usually do 2-3 short 2-3 min efforts at 110 rpm to bump the heart rate up 20bpm to break the monotony. Past that keep it under about 50% threshold.