Monday, October 02, 2006

Planning for 2007

My last cycing event of the season is a 10-mile Time Trial on October 4th. After that, I don't have anything planned until racing season begins in April of next year so I'm not sure how to proceed. I have Joe Friel's book and I have a power meter but my perception is that not everyone buys into on the whole "off-season" concept the way he does.

According to Friel, I should have no more than three "A" races per year in which I try to be in peak form. For the 2007 season, my "A" races are the following:

(1) A criterium race on or around April 22nd

(2) A hilly 100-mile race on June 11th

(3) A hilly 100-mile race on September 15th

During the spring and summer there are various crits and short road races in which I'd like to do well but they are lower priority than these events. There is also a semi-monthly 10-mile time trial that I'll probably enter a couple of times.

Some details about me:

- I'm 6'0" and weigh 73kg. I'd like to get down to 70kg by June 11th.

- My FTP is roughly 300 watts. I'd like to improve this, but I'm not sure what would constitute a realistic goal. 320 watts would be fantastic.

- I've only been in three Cat 5 crits, so my sprinting and cornering could use work. Even though 2 of my 3 top priorities are long distance events, I would like to gain crit proficiency since most of the races around here are short. I'm not sure how early to focus on anaerobic training, however. I suspect this is something I should begin in the January timeframe.

- My best 5-hour solo average power is 230 watts (250 watts NP). Improving this will do nothing for my crit racing ability but would do wonders for the 100-mile races. I'd be tickled if I could improve my 5-hour average to 250 watts.

- I need to find a way to get in some sustained hill climbs. Unfortunately, there are no hills within riding distance longer than about half a mile so I may have to resort to climbing and descending the same hill over and over again.

My tentative schedule (subject to change):

10/05/06 to 11/18/06: I'm going to run a half marathon on 11/18 so I will run three days a week, bike three days a week and lift weights once a week for the next six weeks. My cycling days will likely be: (1) 1:30 minutes including a 2x20 at L4, (2) 1:15 minutes with some L5 hill intervals, and (3) a 2-3 hour endurance ride where I deliberately try to stay in the L2 zone.

11/19/06 to 02/11/07: Here's where I'm not really sure what to do, but it's essentially 12 weeks of what Friel would call "Base" training. I'll likely drop the running but continue to lift weights once a week and increase my number of rides per week to 5-6. Or I might continue running 2x per week and ride 4x per week. The question is, what kind of riding should I do? Is it OK to work on FTP during this phase? Is it too early to start doing sprint intervals?

02/12/07 to 04/01/07: Eight weeks of Build phase in preparation for spring Crits

04/02/07 to 04/15/07: Two weeks of Peak phase in preparation for spring Crits

04/16/07 to 06/10/07: Eight weeks to prepare for 100-mile Assault on Mount Mitchell

06/11/07 to 07/08/07: Four weeks to revamp Crit skills

07/09/07 to 09/09/07: Eight weeks to prepare for 100-mile Bridge-to-Bridge race

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