Alto Velo, Base, and Potential
I was pointed to this thread on a yahoo-based message board:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/17061
That article about base training that Kirk wrote has been all over cyberspace, it seems. Cool to see that folks are still discussing it this many months past its initial publication! That is the sign of a real good article, IMHO...
I don't know if Kirk would respond like Warren refers to here:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/17094
However, my personal experience is that I've trained the last couple of years pretty much like I laid out in the second "stripped down" article. I'll fill the right on occasion, as the event demands, or according to my weight goals - and I really consider this type of riding as the "frosting" Warren alludes to - I guess - on a conceptual level at least. Really, though, I pretty much adhere to "base/foundation" as raising the left portion of the power duration curve via "in the red" style of efforts.
On the average, I train less than five hours a week on an annual basis, I reckon - and am reasonably competitive here in the pro masters 35+ class here in socal for events that last from less than an hour to aroudn two and a half hours or so. But I can see how there are multiple paths to the same "potential" so to speak.
Personally, I don't think that one can ever really know if they have reached their "potential", as it is such a ubiquitous/vague concept - the concept of "potential" for me, is kind of like psuedo-science at its core - ya'know, no testable hypothesis...
How do you know if you've reached your potential, anyway? If anyone knows how I can answer that question, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The caveman way of thinking is that one can only "run what you brung" on a given day so to speak! ;-)
Anyway, Kirk's article is good fodder for discussion all over cyberspace, and I for one, appreciate the time Kirk took to share his perspective and experience on the topic!
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/17061
That article about base training that Kirk wrote has been all over cyberspace, it seems. Cool to see that folks are still discussing it this many months past its initial publication! That is the sign of a real good article, IMHO...
I don't know if Kirk would respond like Warren refers to here:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/17094
However, my personal experience is that I've trained the last couple of years pretty much like I laid out in the second "stripped down" article. I'll fill the right on occasion, as the event demands, or according to my weight goals - and I really consider this type of riding as the "frosting" Warren alludes to - I guess - on a conceptual level at least. Really, though, I pretty much adhere to "base/foundation" as raising the left portion of the power duration curve via "in the red" style of efforts.
On the average, I train less than five hours a week on an annual basis, I reckon - and am reasonably competitive here in the pro masters 35+ class here in socal for events that last from less than an hour to aroudn two and a half hours or so. But I can see how there are multiple paths to the same "potential" so to speak.
Personally, I don't think that one can ever really know if they have reached their "potential", as it is such a ubiquitous/vague concept - the concept of "potential" for me, is kind of like psuedo-science at its core - ya'know, no testable hypothesis...
How do you know if you've reached your potential, anyway? If anyone knows how I can answer that question, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The caveman way of thinking is that one can only "run what you brung" on a given day so to speak! ;-)
Anyway, Kirk's article is good fodder for discussion all over cyberspace, and I for one, appreciate the time Kirk took to share his perspective and experience on the topic!
posted by kraig at
7:55 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for drawing attention to the Base article, and Stripped Down, both of which rocked in terms of re-thinking cycling training. I wonder, though, when Stripped Down III is coming... fill the right, scatter the plot, etc.
Hey Rob!
Thanks for checking things out over on BTR.
I have to apologize about the stripped down series of articles. The honest truth is that I'm human - and struggle with motivation on writing about the fill the right stuff.
I get reminded every so often that I need to write on the topic, but really, it's a struggle - I just don't feel as passionate about the fill thing. Yes, I do those rides (actually, I just did one of those rides this past weekend - the first one I've done in about six months...) but it's just not at the top of the list in terms of what I think drives my performance in the socal bike racing scene and given what my natural abilities are.
I've got this white-board in my home office, and written at the top of the mid-term objectives is "write 1000 words on fill the right".
It's been on that white board for quite awhile. :-(
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