Coach Jack - block type for winter

Coach Jack Features and Questions
1

Hi,
I am planning to use TD for my off-season and now I am trying to setup the Coach Jack.

What type of block would you recommend for me for 16 weeks block since November? I going for 10-15hours per week, combining with gym, 3/1 and 5 rides per week.

2

It’s so funny I have answered similar questions to this hundreds of times. I really need to improve Coach Jack to go really in depth. But I also think there is something about a human connection that makes it better :slight_smile: I also really enjoy these conversations not to mention each discussion helps me refine my ideas/answers. I would say there are 5 big questions to start with.

  1. Do you have a goal and a goal date?
  2. Are you consistently doing big weeks like that all year round?
  3. What order of priority would you put these in?
  • Health
  • Performance
  • Doing training workouts you enjoy
  1. Do you get injured, burned out from training and/or sick very many times per year?
  2. Do you sleep well?

Once you answer those we can go a bit deeper

3

Hi Alex,
thanks for fast reply.

  1. I dont have any goal. Just off-season indoor trainings so I dont have to start from scratch in new season.

  2. Yea, I am doing 15-20h per week during season.

  3. I would go for:
    Performance
    Health (Time to time I am tired and in muscle pain during season, depends on the workout and how my body is feeling but overall I am feeling great)
    Enjoy (I hate indoor so I dont mind about the workouts indoor and I will keep the enjoy moment for summer :D)

  4. Not injured or sick at all. Burned…I have no clue if I should call it burned or laziness But I am going through it so probably no.

  5. I am sleeping 6-7h a day in a week and around 7-9h at the weekend.

4

Ok so it seems like you have a lot of options on how you can train and one of the key elements is finding something you believe in. Belief in a plan is 1/2 the battle or more :slight_smile:

So it seems like you have a few goals here. Maximize performance for your outdoor season which is in full swing by early April? And that goal is likely related to aerobic performance more than sprinting performance although sprinting performance makes you feel strong and helps.

So a fundamental of training is that you build aerobic performance very slowly and anaerobic performance rather quickly. You can hit an anaerobic peak in about 8 weeks or so, especially if you have a good base. Because you train very consistently all year incorporating periodization is a good idea but if you are mostly just riding 10-15 hours a week outside vs specific hard training then you have a bit more flexibility as you are less likely to burn out. Still the main goal for indoor is not to lose any aerobic performance since you can get the aerobic capacity back at the “last moment.” Also since you don’t likely want to or nor should you do more than 10-15 hours a week indoors then holding on is more likely then improving. Volume is usually the most sure fire way to improve aerobic performance. If you can try to get one long ride in outdoors each week it can really help.

So many people go crazy if they drop all anaerobic performance in the winter thinking they are totally out of shape, when in reality they are not. Many of us here are strong “Zone 2” believers but a zone 2 focus is not for everyone. If you believe me or knew this about anaerobic vs aerobic time lines then doing a pure base period is not so scary. The long term trend for pros is take the Oct-Dec as base and cross training period. So this could include a period of spending more time in the gym and less time on the bike. Really hard gym days take away from your biking training so now could be the time to do that. So Zone 2 + Gym is not a bad idea and incorporate other kinds of zone 2 or cross training work (I always recommend rucking). But on the indoor bike that can be watching netflix and pedalling…

If that does not resonate with you then there are many other options that work. One day a week of shorter duration VO2max or HIIT combined with suggestions above is also a good idea.

Generally if you do a super hard fall and winter then you hit your peak around Feb has limited outdoor benefits. It’s better to peak when outdoor season is in full swing. You will feel fresher and more excited.

So anyway tell me if anything resonates here. You can always do a hybrid approach or do some hard training now and then back off for a mini base period for December and then start ramping up again. My best friend and partner here is a pro coach for 30 years and he feels pros can benefit by having more fun. So I would incorporate what sounds fun into your plan at some level.

One thing about doing zone 2 is you can monitor your HR to power ratio on a weekly basis and watch to see you are not losing aerobic performance. This can significantly help trust as you start feeling out of shape without the higher intensities.