Big Gear METhis question comes up a lot... Question: I saw a reference on your board about big gear ME sessions and I think I have seen other reference on the tb.com board. Can you please elaborate?
Answer: 2-8 intervals of 3-20 min duration ++++ Question: Do you schedule these as BT sessions or within other base building or long rides? For what limiters would you prescribe this workout? I’m assuming Force and ME. Is this session preferred to more traditional, TT cadence ME work? If so, why? Answer: Typically, M/F are gym strength and on W we do this session. It's a nice session for people that are time limited. For athletes that are time flexible, I drop the main set into a 2-3 hour ride. For most of the crew, it falls into a 60-90 min trainer session. For IM the purpose is to get stronger while sitting on AeT watts. I use for all my more experienced athletes. Novices are typically too endurance limited to need this. Traditional TT cadence ME work -- do you mean tempo riding with 'normal' cadence? I don't prescribe much Tempo work, I prefer upper steady for longer periods. When I say tempo to the crew, they sit at AeT+20 bpm. I've seen better results from extended AeT+10 bpm (with the sport specific strength work that addresses their limiters and the A course challenges). I'll complement this work with hills and upper steady riding -- again for the experienced crew. With novices and BOPs, sitting slightly over AeT is pretty much a strength workout. The mod-hard (tempo/Z3) stuff tends to fry a BOP athlete. Since dropping the tempo, the incidence of illness in my BOPs has declined significantly. They are happier and more consistent. ++++ For IM, the purpose is to get stronger while sitting on AeT watts. *Note that this is the goal, the session itself is done at higher than AeT watts. I don't prescribe watts, simply the HR cap and the guideline to push a big gear. For athletes with watts, I have them note where they are riding for info. |