I've bought into the idea and although I will have to adapt my training the closer I get to the Etape to include some seriously long rides, the time-crunched plan will hopefully give me a base level of strength and fitness to take forward. To gauge my progress over the course of the 12 week plan, the book tells you to take a fitness test at the beginning of the first week. It involves two all-out efforts lasting 8 minutes, with a 10 minute rest in between. Let me tell you, after the second effort I went a little light-headed and almost fell over when I got off the bike. I'm glad I don't have to do that for another 12 weeks!
For the test, I hooked myself up to my Garmin 705 which recorded an interesting looking graph. Not need to tell you where my all-out efforts were!
My name is Jim Rutberg, I'm the co-author of The Time-Crunched Cyclist. Your field test looks very good, even via the small graph in your post. In the first effort it looks like you found a little something extra in the second half of the effort, and then the second effort is quite good - although it appears you may have paced your way into the second effort for a while, since the HR doesn't climb as quickly as during the first effort. It appears your averages are likely to be very similar between the two efforts, within 5%, which indicates you have a good base of aerobic fitness.
ReplyDeleteAnd your planned usage of the TCTP should work well. The plan will give your fitness a jumpstart, and then you'll want to add more long rides as you get closer to the event. Hopefully, you'll start those longer rides with greater power at LT and VO2max, which will translate into an ability to do more work (kj) during those longer rides, which will hopefully lead to an even greater physiological adaptation from those rides.
Best of luck,
Jim Rutberg
Wow - the last thing that went through my mind when I hit "publish" on that last post certainly wasn't that the co-author of the TCTP would reply to it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback, I certainly appreciate it. My motivation to get stuck into the TCTP is now higher than ever, hopefully I can report that I am making some positive progress very soon. And I'll be keeping my eye on Carmichael Training Systems for plenty more useful information.
Hi there
ReplyDeleteI have just done the field test myself with a 183bpm avg and 188bpm max.
I am due to start doing some rides from the book next week. I still have to get the full 12 week plan noted all down to follow it.
It is the first time I have followed a training plan like this. I hope I get good benefits from it as opposed to just getting on the bike and riding miles.
All the best, Alec.