It's an impressive sight when the pros race through hot, July-like France on a summer's day during the Tour de France time trial. Hourly averages of over 50 kilometres are not uncommon. And the sighs of the amateur cyclists in front of the screens are almost audible: How do they do it? What recreational athlete wouldn't like to reach such a monkey speed themselves? Perhaps to be the "Lance" in a local time trial? Or even just to give your mates a good thrashing on the Wednesday lap? One thing is certain: watching the Tour de France is not enough. If you want to be fast, you have to push yourself - even if for amateur athletes it's more about reaching the 40 km/h mark.
FOUNDATION OF SPEED
First of all: stubbornly eating up kilometres is not enough. Nevertheless, sensible basic endurance remains the basis of all speed work. The more kilometres in the lower basic endurance range (GA1) in the first month of training, the better. "If you then have 3,000 kilometres in your legs, you are on the safe side," says Björn Stapelfeldt, training scientist at the Freiburg Olympic Training Centre and performance diagnostician at the Freiburg "Radlabor" (www.radlabor.de ). Consolation for all those for whom so much training is a beautiful utopia comes from a competent source: Heiko Salzwedel, former coach of Robbie McEwen and Jens Voigt, former national coach of Australia and owner of the SL Coaching Institute (www.sl-sports.com ), considers five weeks of GA-1 training of around ten hours a week to be sufficient to be prepared for speed work. It should not be less. GA-1 training prepares the body for the stresses of intensive training, optimises fat metabolism, strength and muscular interaction and - importantly! - improves its ability to regenerate. This is why basic training always has its place, even during tempo work.
In the second month of training, you should gradually push the pace if you want to get faster. A diagnosis of your own performance capability is essential at this point at the latest. There are two reasons for this: Firstly, your own health. Unrecognised organ damage, especially to the heart, can even be fatal during intensive training. An exercise ECG is therefore urgently recommended! Secondly: Feeling alone is not enough. If you don't know your individual training zones, you are training into the blue. Too hard or too easy, definitely wrong. Overtraining or performance stagnation are the consequences.
WATT MEASUREMENT OR HEART RATE?
During a step test on the cycle ergometer, the physiological parameters that enable optimum training control are determined. The most important of these are the aerobic threshold (AS) and the anaerobic threshold (ANS). The ANS is the central parameter for all speed work and varies from athlete to athlete, which is why it is also called the individual anaerobic threshold (IANS). One thing is certain: The ANS or IANS marks the limit at which the body's energy requirements under stress can no longer be met by breathing alone (anaerobic = without oxygen); it requires glucose (dextrose), which is stored as glycogen in muscle and liver cells. Even beyond the AS, the body produces lactate, a waste product of lactic acid, which inhibits muscle work; however, it can break it down almost completely. This is no longer the case when exercising beyond the ANS. An excess of lactate develops in muscle cells and blood. The effect of this anaerobic-lactacid energy supply is far less complicated than its name: the muscles become over-acidified and performance decreases during prolonged, intensive exercise. The aim of speed training is therefore as simple as it is sweat-inducing: the ANS must be shifted into higher ranges through appropriate training in order to delay the drop in performance.
If you know your values, you now need to think about how you want to monitor them during training. Be it via the power output, which is expressed in watts, or via the heart rate (HR). If you decide in favour of watt measurement, you will need to purchase expensive technology (from 700 euros). Advantage: The training zones can be controlled very precisely. If intensive training is controlled via the heart rate, the opposite is true: a heart rate monitor is affordable (from 50 euros), but unfortunately biology plays tricks on you in this case. This is because the heart reacts with a very delayed response to bursts of exertion. "The exertion is often already over by the time it is displayed on the heart rate monitor," says Stapelfeldt. Salzwedel calls the heart rate monitor a compromise. Both specialists advocate watt-controlled speed training.
Which brings us back to the original question: How do I get really fast? There's no one ideal way to get up to speed. TOUR therefore presents two different timetables here, both of which can lead to success within five to six weeks.
MORE SPEED: THE SOFT VERSION
The "soft" version: Two aspects characterise this method, which Heiko Salzwedel favours: Firstly, a very smooth transition from basic training to speed training. Secondly, although amateur athletes often train at the ANS with this variant, they rarely go far beyond it. "GA-2 training" and its more intensive form, "threshold training", are the two keywords for this softer tempo training method. In training theory, the GA-2 range is understood to be the range between the AS and the ANS, which is therefore also known as the aerobic-anaerobic transition range. Heiko Salzwedel divides this range into a lower GA-2 range and an upper, so-called threshold training range. Those who train more intensively in these areas for four weeks improve their aerobic capacity, their strength and train their body's ability to break down lactate. They can then maintain a very high pace for a long time - time trialling.
The disadvantage: the shift in the ANS is rather small. Abrupt peaks in speed or climbs are more difficult to cope with, as the highest amounts of lactate can only be broken down poorly or not at all. Heiko Salzwedel does not think much of regular interval training in the top range for recreational athletes. "Hard training beyond the ANS burns mitochondria, the power plants of the muscles," he says: "The endurance level deteriorates and there is a risk of training yourself into the basement." He therefore recommends that amateur athletes only do one short training session a week at peak performance.
(Large picture see below in the download area)
The breaks in GA-2 and threshold training each last as long as the load and take place in the GA-1 range: 20 minutes of exertion in the GA-2/ST range are followed by 20 minutes of rolling in the GA-1 range, etc. In the peak range, training is done using the repetition method. Recovery in the breaks is complete.
GA 1 = lower basic endurance range (approx. 50 to 75 % of the watt/hf output at the ANS)
GA 2 = upper basic endurance range (approx. 75 to 90 % of the watt output or approx. 80 to 90 % of the HR output at the ANS)
ST = threshold training (upper GA 2 range) (approx. 90 to 105 % of the watt/hf output at the ANS)
SB = Peak range (105 % of the wattage or 110 % of the HR power at the ANS)
MORE SPEED: THE HARD VERSION
The "hard" tour: This method, which Björn Stapelfeldt recommends, is harder. The efforts are more intense, but also shorter. The speed training takes place exclusively beyond the ANS according to the interval method in the so-called development zone. GA-2 or threshold training only takes place beforehand (in April) to prepare for the transition to speed training. The extensive intervals last between two and eight minutes. In between, the body is only given a "rewarding break", i.e. the heart rate calms down to around 120 beats per minute before the next effort is made. The advantage of this form of tempo training is that the ANS is shifted more clearly and the body develops a higher lactate tolerance, which enables more intensive exertion. Possible
Disadvantages: Control is more difficult due to the very high training intensity and the risk of not allowing yourself enough recovery is greater. It is therefore important to do longer, restful GA-1 units, both before and after the tempo blocks and the day after, in order to compensate for the high exertion. Stapelfeldt rejects the accusation that interval training worsens form: "The fact that mitochondria are destroyed during such intensive training cannot be denied. The question is to what extent." Those who have built up a solid foundation are in no way jeopardising their form. However, the tolerability of the respective form of training always depends on the individual. His advice: "Athletes should try out both methods and see which one they tolerate better."
The breaks between the intervals are "rewarding", i.e. the next exercise is performed as soon as the heart rate has dropped to 120 beats/min. The break between the series is longer, approx. 15 to 20 minutes.
EB = development range, 100 to 110 % of the individual watt/HF output at the ANS
