Having recently become a dad for the second time I had to end my race season in June. However I still want to to put in a good showing in a ~3min hill climb race in mid October.

2 years ago I did a 3:10 on the course which averaged 480W. My aim this year is 3:00, which I estimate is about 520W. (given similar conditions, and the fact I'm the same weight as I was then)

Looking at my training data from the last 3 months. I have:

1m - 661W
2m - 527W
3m - 475W
4m - 421W

The only one-off effort I have done in that time was a 1:48 hill climb where I did 580W average.

The only time I have to train at the moment is during my commute, so access to good roads is minimal. I have been focussing my time mostly on ~3min intervals where I average ~420W for 5-6 reps. Added to that, I have been doing some days of ~2m @ ~470, and some longer intervals.

As you can see from the 3min 475W number, which came as one of a set of 3x3 (475/462/468) in training, I'm probably in better shape than I was 2 years ago.

As the race approaches I would spend some time getting the feel for settling in to my expected race pace. But am I targeting the right kind of intensity/duration for the bulk of my training? Or should I be doing more longer race-level intervals for fewer reps?

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Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
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Finsbury Park CC

I'm confused.

Is it simply a 3min hill climb? Or is there a race before it?

I don't see much point going for 'longer' intervals. Or even many 3min intervals.

3min is that lovely mix of anaerobic and aerobic, however my thoughts would be to go shorter and much more often than longer. Get that anaerobic system really firing, as a lack of that is going to hurt you more than the aerobic component.

Would do some 3min tests to make sure you're at the very least maintaining, otherwise the shorter stuff should push the 3min power up.


btw, nice power numbers too

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

It's just a 3min hill climb.

How much shorter: Concentrate on 2m? 1m? 30s?

How hard: 95%+ (of interval duration mmp) with longer rests?

I imagine concentrating on these shorter intervals would mean I'm better off doing 2 or 3 days (1 on - 1 off) rather than 3 or 4 during the week.

Cheers,
Matt

p.s. The power numbers would be much better if I was Purito-sized rather than 189cm / 76kg.

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Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
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Finsbury Park CC

How repeatable are those MMP interval numbers?

I probably would not go too much to 2min intervals either, work on 30s and 1min stuff.

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

They are all from the last 3 months CP data, so apart from the 1m number they're all from intervals. I guess that means they're repeatable.

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Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
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Finsbury Park CC

Given the amount of time to the chosen event I would target intervals 20mins and below. Basically you want to be riding at threshold and above or way way below (recovery ride).

In a ~3min event the anaerobic will be brought into play but it will largely still be aerobic so the ol 2x20mins are still applicable. Positional and terrain specificity would also be a good idea i.e.: make sure you do the intervals in the position you are going to use and on terrain you expect to be riding on (or very similar).

So some session would be along the lines of:-
3x3min with 3 min recovery.
4x30sec ON, 30 sec OFF, 10 mins recovery, repeat.
2x20mins, minimum 10min recovery
3x10mins, 5 mins recovery.
20sec ON, 10 sec OFF x 8, 4 mins recovery, repeat (Tabata protocol)
4x5mins with 1 min recovery.
5 x 1min with 1 min recovery.


Throw in a ~2hrs very easy ride, every 2-3 intervals for a mental break more than anything and a full days rest approx every 5 intervals or as needed.

The short intervals are meant to be hard. If you aren't seeing through dimensions of pain and throwing up at the end you're not doing them right.

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"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

Thanks, guys.

Did 3x1m yesterday. Need to zone in on consistant effort level for these harder intervals. 668/598/627 - must push that second rep more.

Might have a go at some of the 30/30 x 4 x 2 tonight. That sounds like....errr..... fun?

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Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
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Finsbury Park CC

Which hillclimb are you targeting? Mid-October should be the Catford and the Bec ones...

Just our club one.

I'm involved in running our club RR on the 14th so I can't do Bec/Catford this year.

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Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
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Finsbury Park CC

You didn't ask, but how much do you weigh? I would also be looking to slightly reduce weight. Jim Henderson was skinny to start with and used to reduce further for the HC season.

Also ride the hill near full-on using some different fixed gears. Then step up a couple of inches for the event. According to Jim fixed is faster on almost all hills unless there's a downhill or near flat section.

No chance of a fixie. a) I don't have one, and b) the gradient is too variable.

As noted above, I'm currently 76kg. I'm aiming to be closer to 75 by the event. (No lattes, even more strict about snacks, etc)

I did a bit of test yesterday before some intervals. Tried to ride a local hill at 520W as a test. Sadly I ran out of road at 2m30 (524W), but I definitely had some more left.

Need to go and ride the actual hill again soon to work out a pacing strategy.

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Snacking on carrot sticks - Where did it all go so wrong?
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Finsbury Park CC