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This week's GamJams Coaches Roundtable question comes from Dave K., who asks:
Q: Even during road races, I never seem to spend much time in my threshold zone - I'm either above or below it. Why do we focus so much on training in a zone that doesn't seem to get used that much in races?
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Peter Cannell
Cannell Champion Training
I strongly feel training threshold is the foundation for a sound program. Training threshold not only increases the power you can product at threshold, but also increases endurance and VO2 max power. An athlete with a high FTP (functional threshold power) will be able to endure many more spikes in power that occur during races and will be fresher for the finish. Keep in mind I'm stating it is the foundation of training, but not the only type of training a well rounded cyclist should partake in.
While most power files from races show a highly stochastic pattern, data from breakaways and time trials clearly shows significant time spend at/near threshold.
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BJ Basham
Peaks Coaching Group
The easiest way to explain the importance of threshold training is to use the old matchbook analogy to racing.
Everyone starts the race with a book of matches. The goal being to have matches to burn when the racing is hard or when you want to attack or sprint or do whatever. To me, your aerobic system is what determines when you start to burn matches, and your anaerobic capacity is what determines how many matches you actually have in your book or how quickly your matches will burn up.
Training in your threshold zone is aimed an increasing the power at which you can ride without burning a match or without having to burn too many matches. A strong sprinter with a poor aerobic system may be burning matches just sitting in the field. If the race is short enough that sprinter may still have matches to burn when the sprint starts, but if the race is long enough, a rider with a killer sprint may be out of matches when the time to show their talent comes along.
Keep in mind that training in your threshold zone is not just about riding at threshold but being able to ride faster without going above your threshold. Even short bouts of effort above threshold may be costing you matches.
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Chris Mayhew
JBVCoaching.com
Stochastic. It's the new plastic. Or black. Let's back up a few steps.
Among a large population, say your graduating class, VO2 max is good at
picking out who will be the best athlete. However, it's not the best
way to determine who the best athlete on the cross country team is. The
best determinate of success in trained athletes is something called
threshold. Functional threshold power, hour power, LT, ventilatory
threshold. There are 39 different definitions and probably almost as
many names for it, even though they all measure the same
thing.
Threshold governs how hard you can ride, when you need to dip into your reserves and how fast you can recover from those efforts and do them again. But bicycle racing is typically very variable. Easy here, hard there. Stochastic means seemingly random, but for a reason. If you've ever seen a power graph of a race you know it's not a smooth line, even for a well executed flat time trial. So there's a lot of time spent above threshold (say a cross wind) or below it (recovering after a chase effort) but the line drawn across the graph of those efforts representing threshold governs all those efforts. A higher threshold means you might be able to ride a guy off your wheel, or it may mean you can make one more supra-threshold attack to get rid of them.
Furthermore, it's the best use of your time. Since threshold is so important, the best use of your time is to work on that aspect of your fitness (the cake) and work in the rest of it (the icing, mmmm, icing) in training races or hard group rides.
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Beth Anne Leasure
Coach | Team Director | Inspiration
Perhaps you have the wrong coach! If you’re racing a lot, you’re right – you don’t need to spend much time working threshold. Racing in itself can work threshold thereby raising it and making racing feel easier. Instead, once the aerobic base is built – focus on high-end efforts. Racing reaches again and again into oxygen debt; most racers don’t train that system enough. Be thankful you can! Some cannot because the races feel too hard. Also, everybody benefits from working VO2 max. There are all kinds of special formulas to get more magic out of that system. And it is an art form applying the science of training for road performance to the needs of the rider. All this assumes you’re an amateur. A pro has special considerations regarding threshold depending on level of pro, team role, race schedule and opportunity for personal goals. In that case, most definitely seek an advisor with experience training pros.
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Mike Birner
Mid-Maryland Coaching
Simply put - the more you train at a high aerobic level and the more you can raise your threshold power the less time you'll spend above it and the fresher you'll be at the end of a race, right?
To get into more detail, some physiologist somewhere has determined that your power at threshold and your power at vo2max are the biggest determinants of your ability on a bicycle. While it can be argued that there is more to it than just these numbers there is no arguing that riders that are gifted in these two areas often go on to be very successful bike racers. Why? Because having a bigger engine can only help. It will allow you to feel more comfortable and use less energy at even lower power levels while giving you the ability to better react during the critical moments of the race.
Now to clarify your training - you only speak of training in your threshold zone. Hopefully you are doing more than that by training your vo2max and anaerobic zones as well. Each will benefit your racing and will work to increase your threshold power. Even a pure time trialist, who needs minimal anaerobic work, still requires periods of threshold and periods of vo2max workouts to push and pull the FTP to a higher level. Working only one zone or the other will result in a plateau limiting your true potential.
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Pierre Pelletier
Hefler Performance Coaching
I can only speak for my racing, but I spend a lot of time in a race right around my functional threshold power. FTP is the number of watts I can maintain constantly for one hour.
In Heart Rate, it will be roughly equivalent to my Lactate threshold. Roughly 87-94% of my max heart rate.
In any but the most sedate races, jumps, attacks, chases, and sprints will show much higher numbers both in power and heart rate.... So, what is my "threshold"?
Well, tactically speaking, that's where I am "safe" I can still roll reasonably well, and if I am feeling good (and I see an opportunity) I can attack or toughen the race for the other riders.
If I am rolling in the pack and my HR is way BELOW my threshold I can recover, eat, drink, reposition etc... If the race is on and I am ABOVE my threshold well, I had better pay special attention to energy conservation and positioning... This is not necessarily the best time to be in the wind!
So why do I spend time threshold training? to increase my racing capabilities.... it is harder to make sound strategic decisions when I am gasping for air and fully on the rivet!
I want to be in control of my output so that I can think my way through the race or ride...Riding hard AND thinking is where the race is made... Ride too slow and you will be dropped... Ride too hard and you will be countered and dropped by craftier riders who may not be "stronger" than you at all! Threshold training will vastly improve- for lack of a better term- your ability to "cruise" at race speeds.
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