The Process

In my last blog, I wrote about the second part of my season culminating in the A21 Interclub TT.

Long story short: I snuck under 20 minutes in average conditions, achieving a goal I had been chasing for a couple of years since doing 20:13 on the same course back in August 2019.

Everyone has their favourite TT course, and the A21 is undoubtedly mine. 

Having finally 'done a 19', I then went and did another on the same course two weeks later.

This time, conditions were more favourable.

It was great to get to the halfway point and know that I was on for a huge PB.

Rather than straining every sinew to squeeze out every second on the way back, I was able to relax and attack the three slow parts whilst carrying some great speed in the interim.

Incidentally, I probably went faster because I was relaxed and enjoying it, rather than tense and fighting the effort. Sometimes easier said than done.

I had intended to ride a few 25s after the A21 TT but, because of cancellations and postponements, I only ended up doing one – finishing third on the Uckfield course (again).

With no more races, I took a two week break to mentally switch off from cycling, do a bit of running and get into the swing of lifting again.

No weights meant getting creative with what could offer resistance

Unlike 2019 and 2020, I didn't really need an end-of-season break this year.

In the past I've been hyper-focused on the outcome and, when things don't go according to plan, got stressed.

This season, my aim was to focus on the process – and specifically enjoying it.

Whether I had a sweetspot session planned on the TT bike, zipping up and down a dual carriageway (my idea of Heaven), or an easy 90 minute zone 2 ride just ticking over, I aimed to enjoy every ride.

If I enjoyed the majority of rides, and completed something similar to the planned session, I knew that I would be in a good place when it came to racing.  

It sounds silly but I often didn't enjoy cycling in 2019 and 2020, particularly around big races.

I'd overanalyse things to the point that they stopped becoming enjoyable and started being a chore.

So, with those lessons learned, let's take an objective look at the 2021 season.

2021 – What Went Well

Racing to speed

Varying my effort in response to my speed has been a game changer for me.

It sounds simple: pedal harder when going slower, recover when going faster.

In the two-and-a-bit years I've had access to power data, I've been guilty of focusing on the power number rather than speed. It's easy to forget that:

Power is just a proxy for speed.

What good is a power PB if you went slower?

Power meter

Whilst power in a race is less important to me, power numbers in training are crucial.

Previously I used heart rate to gauge effort on road bike rides which obviously has its flaws.

In October last year, I bought power meter pedals so I could have access to power on my road bike.

This has meant I could make every ride more efficient, but also it gives me a better idea of where I'm going right/wrong when looking back at large blocks of training.

Time under tension

This season I have worked on minimizing my coasting time in order to get better at maintaining near constant pressure on the pedals.

In lifting, time under tension (TUT) is used as a way of quantifying the work being done.

Imagine two people who both bench press 100kg for 10 reps – the person doing them at a two-second-down, two-second-up speed is getting 40 seconds of TUT; the person you see in the gym smashing the reps out is probably getting 15 seconds, if that.

In theory, they both lifted the same weight, the same number of times, but the difference in their adaptation signals would be night and day.

I'm strangely proud of this

Position

I didn't get many pictures of my position this season, but the above image gives you a good idea of how comfortable I was in my time trial position.

This was the final 11 miles of the Kent 100 mile TT where I blew up massively, my power dropped ~50 watts, but I still averaged >25mph for the final 26 minutes.

Admittedly, the wind was mostly behind me, but my positional discipline stopped me from haemorrhaging even more time.

2022 – Where To Improve

Position

Whilst I put in a lot of work to get good at holding my TT position, I still think there is more to come, aerodynamically.

I don't intend on making wholesale changes as I'm pretty happy with my position at the moment.

However, I think it's possible to decrease my CdA without affecting my power too much but, as always, this is a balancing act and will take time and patience to refine.

Pacing

One thing I think a lot of the people who're faster than me have that I don't is the ability to keep their power/effort within a very narrow range.

Maybe it's my lack of experience, or youthful exuberance(!), but I find it hard to keep the power under control.

During a lot of races this season, my ego was writing cheques my legs couldn't afford.

Seeing my 3s power start with a '4' is great for the ego until the many mini surges catch up with you.

Lifting

I'm in two minds about this one.

Back in 2015, I could deadlift 180kg and squat 150kg – both with great form and complete range of motion.

Now, I can't lift even half of those weights.

So, in theory, if I can get somewhere close to where I was 6 years ago, I should be stronger on the bike.

I think the key to this will be how I translate that increased strength in the gym onto the bike.

My reservations about lifting are whether it'll take too much away from my cycling training over the next handful of months.

Commuting

As I start a new job in November, I'm going to have to learn to juggle commuting again.

Over the winter months, when my focus is on volume and lifting, I don't think it'll be too much of a concern.

But, as the weather takes a turn for the good (or less bad?), and with the return of racing, I'm going to have to be careful to keep myself fresh and avoid the perma-fatigue that has blighted previous seasons.

Do more work

Power produced in any given ride can be expressed as 'Work done' (kJ).

The 'miles builds champions' theory is essentially 'more = better', which is true up until a certain point.

I would caveat this approach with the fact that structure and appropriate quantities of intensity are needed but, in the event that these are taken care of, I think doing more work can only be a good thing.

During last year's Base period (Oct - March) I averaged almost 8,500 kilojoules per week.

I can definitely get more work done on the bike.

Waste less time

In the bar chart from TrainingPeaks above, you can see I spent a quarter of my time on the bike in zone 1 during last season's Base period.

The majority of that 55 hours is wasted.

If I ride the same amount (220 hours) but reduce time in zone 1 to 15%, that frees up 22 hours of work, 10% of my total volume.

Whilst that is an overly simplistic view, I think reducing time spent in zone 1, and therefore being more efficient with my time, will make me stronger.

Wrapping Up

If you've read this far, then you're probably just as geeky as I am – commiserations.

This is the sort of deep dive into my training that I love to do.

I don't know why, but I genuinely enjoy this kind of analysis.

The number one goal for this Base period, as always, is to enjoy riding my bike.

(And go a bit faster.)

Thanks for reading.