Training season starts (all over again?!)
I hope all of you have enjoyed a great summer so far (maybe a bit too hot here and there) and have energized and relaxed with family and friends. Jeroen and I surely did. Although vacation is always too short, we must keep realizing that it only feels as a vacation if you don’t have the luxury of enjoying it every day!
Today marked my first day back at the job, although I always keep a small eye on things happening while away, so it doesn’t land too heavy on you.
Cape Epic preps are also slowly creeping back in the minds and bodies over here. Ever since coming back late March, I’ve been trying to do a ‘maintenance’ dose of training, although through June it slipped away a bit, all the way up to the start of the holiday. But early on I made peace with that happening, as I realized I would still be going into summer holidays in a much better physical state than last year.
Jeroen recovered from his ankle injury pretty decently and went on a MTB week with friends in the Dolomites. His conclusion more or less was ‘’I’m still improving each year, whereas the rest is moving in the opposite direction’’. I guess he likes the part where he can make jokes about his friends having to move on to e-MTBs 😉.
To kick off the ‘start of training season’ properly for myself I have booked a performance test at SEG Cyclinglab again on Thursday the 20th of August. Last year, Jeroen and I were there on the 21st of August, so it’s exactly one year since. This time Jeroen is not joining; he expects his performance values not to have changed significantly to what he already knows. And although for me that might be true to a large extent as well, I am still interested in getting more detail on the transformation of my body’s energy systems.
Last year my First Lactate Threshold 1, or Aerobic Threshold (LT1) was measured at 190W of power and 144 bpm heart rate. My anaerobic threshold (LT2), where you body produces more lactate acid that it can process (and fatigue will kick in) was measured at 230W and 163 bpm heart rate.
I know these values have moved up significantly, my guess is LT1 now to be around 230-240W and LT2 to be around 300W. But guessing is guessing, so therefore the lab test 😊. Not strictly necessary, but I just like these sorts of facts. Though there is one data point which I think is particularly valuable for me, and that’s LT1. During the Cape Epic, Jeroen’s ability to sustain say 230-240W was so much better than mine, that I was too often too stretched, or Jeroen was for his feel just riding too slow. Expansion of my aerobic base, and with that the ability to ride higher powers for longer, will make a big difference when riding together again in March.
So that’s one of my primary objectives for the coming training months: expanding the aerobic ceiling, while of course also trying to raise VO2Max and LT2 (or FTP) power, as that’s particularly useful in the prologue. The faster you can race on that day, the better your seeding batch for the day after, when the race truly starts. And we’ve learned last year that makes a huge difference for the race.
As we’ve done last year, we’ll keep you posted on our progress and developments, ideas, wishes, dreams and what have you.
Until then? We keep chasing of course!
