A1 for A4

calistro

Right, have taken on a month's training with A1 coaching and want to put my training regime in the public eye for extra motivation for myself.

I started racing in A4 this year and the aim is to get to A3 for next season.

So far I have 6 races done with the following results:

Race 1 - Dropped on 1st Lap
Race 2 - Finished in top 10 but not in points
Race 3 - Dropped on last lap
Race 4 - Bunch finish - no points
Race 5 - Finished 6th - 3 points
Race 6 - Bunch finish - no points
Next Race - Sean Nolan GP

1st session is an FTP test this evening to kick things off. Will report back tomorrow.

pprendeville

Some great blogs on here. Welcome to the club. Look forward to reading all about your progress.

lennymc

ftp tests are fun.

couerdelion

FTP tests are awful but numbers are great. Which were the 6 races you did? No bother if you would rather not say.

Inquitus

I am guessing 6th at the Dunsany GP? Marked man you are now so!

calistro

couerdelion wrote: »

FTP tests are awful but numbers are great. Which were the 6 races you did? No bother if you would rather not say.

The A4 one's ;)

Jazzer Wherity
Coombes Connor
Stamullen GP
North Down GP
Enniskillen GP

Mmmmmm.........I'm forgetting one:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Inquitus wrote: »

I am guessing 6th at the Dunsany GP?

Possibly, possibly not!......actually definitely not!!

calistro

The above is what I'm presuming FTP stands for:)

Okay, so my FTP is around 270W. Warm up done and into the FTP test outdoors and into a headwind. Power zones now all worked out.

Uploaded the Garmin files to the lads at A1 coaching and got great feedback and itinerary for the week.

Today's schedule was a zone 3 workout with some sprint work included, so up early and used it as part of my commute. Great to get some actual structure and explanations behind it as up to this is was mainly intervals dragged from the web without much thinking as to the suitability or effectiveness for what I'm looking for.

Tomorrow has a short sharp shock in some Tabata intervals. Never tried them before.

Probably some info I should have included in the opening post is

Age: 40 (almost)

Cycling History: Tipping around about 4 years, dabbled in triathlons but mainly club spins. Also 2 seasons cyclocross.

Equipment: Don't have an out & out racebike, decided to do 1 season on my sportive type thingy setup with bog standard wheels before treating myself next year. The main expense was a 2nd hand powertap and a good price from a family member.

lennymc

what were the exact intervals before the 20 minute all out do you mind me asking? Just curious.

calistro

lennymc wrote: »

what were the exact intervals before the 20 minute all out do you mind me asking? Just curious.

5 min warm up/ 5 mins to the level where breathing hard but not uncontrolled / 5 min easy

pprendeville

Nice update. Love to hear the figures. What's your weight? That way you can calculate you watts/kg.

Keep us updated on how A1 coaching goes. Aaron Buggle just signed up with him so they seem to have a good setup in place along with a Wattbike and altitude tent.

The Tabata intervals are very tough but really bring you on so expect to suffer but knowing that it will have massive benefits in a very short period of time. Good luck and make sure you have a fan or AC.

Inquitus

Ken Tobin has also just signed up with them, look forward to seeing the results of that one, Ken is flying atm.

calistro

pprendeville wrote: »

Nice update. Love to hear the figures. What's your weight? That way you can calculate you watts/kg.

73kg down from 77.5kg after Xmas excesses!!

Inquitus

What format did you FTP test take and how was the 270W number arrived at?

calistro

Inquitus wrote: »

What format did you FTP test take and how was the 270W number arrived at?

My head hurts from trying to decipher figures:o

Uploaded my garmin file to the guys at A1 and they came back to me with figures. Only new to training with a powermeter so still trying to find my way, I'm presuming the 95% of the 20 min. test , but don't quote me on that,

pprendeville

Fair play, 3.7W/kg. if you have a Powertap and want a true figure do the hour test out on the road. Should feel a bit easier having the breeze in your face despite being longer. Onwards and upwards.

Ryath

calistro wrote: »

73kg down from 77.5kg after Xmas excesses!!

Nearly 3.8 watts/kg. Fairly respectable would put you on the upper end of A4 racers. Was your 5 min interval balls out? If you wussed out on this your 20 min figure is inflated. First time FTP test is tough you'll have a better idea for your next one.

Interested to see how you get on with the couching. Might be the way I have to go to get a bit more disciplined with my training.

calistro

Ryath wrote: »

Nearly 3.8 watts/kg. Fairly respectable would put you on the upper end of A4 racers. Was your 5 min interval balls out? If you wussed out on this your 20 min figure is inflated. First time FTP test is tough you'll have a better idea for your next one.

5 min wasn't balls out but last test I done on TrainerRoad (no Powermeter ) had me at 260 so seems in line.

[/QUOTE]Interested to see how you get on with the couching. Might be the way I have to go to get a bit more disciplined with my training.[/QUOTE]

Early doors but I am really liking the structure of it.

Inquitus

Early doors but I am really liking the structure of it.

Can you outline how many hours a week you have committed to train/race and how it breaks down this week?

e.g.

Mon 2 hours
Tues rest
Weds Club League
Thurs 1 hour
Fri 2 hours
Sat rest
Sun A4 race

calistro

I'm pretty much able to commit to 1.5 - 2hrs a day for the next month until wedding/parties etc kick in in July and scupper things for me.

Main priority is training, maybe 2 A4 races this month but I've asked for the races not to be a priority i.e. I want to get a good grounding in training instead of just training for a specific race if that makes any sense.

Breakdown for this week is:

Wed. 1hr
Thurs 1.5hrs
Fri 20mins
Sat 1.5 pre-race easy
Sun A4 race

calistro

Bit late with the updates but here we go:

Friday: 1st Tabata interval - had planned 1 before work and another after but got up late so just the evening session done. These are tough but I enjoyed the 'get in & get out' nature of them. Very short recovery between intervals (10 sec's) which is great as you don't have time to think about the next one coming up, you're straight into it. Total workout of 20 mins including warm up / cool down.

Saturday: 1.5hr easy spin with a few sprints a small bit of power work thrown in.

Sean Nolan GP tomorrow.

calistro

2 attack attempts & 1 front wheel blowout - nuff said. Must ge me one of them team car thingies!!

Inquitus

calistro wrote: »

2 attack attempts & 1 front wheel blowout - nuff said. Must ge me one of them team car thingies!!

Least you made it home in one piece, was carnage towards the end.

calistro

Inquitus wrote: »

Least you made it home in one piece, was carnage towards the end.

Yeah, was in a car behind the first crash, good few down.

ht9zni1gs28crp

I heard the bang from right behind of front wheel pop! Quite a bang too, scared the ****e out of me!

I looked at the A1 coaching form sent through to me, I cant fill out 90% of the form as I run no HRM, no Garmin so haven't a clue where im at, so that was the end of that!

Will watch this thread with interest, as have similar goals to you.

richieg

What sort of package are you doing with A1? Is it just prep a training plan or is it interactive coaching on a regular basis and if so how much interaction?
What sort of costs are roughly involved in working with a coach?

calistro

richieg wrote: »

What sort of package are you doing with A1? Is it just prep a training plan or is it interactive coaching on a regular basis and if so how much interaction?
What sort of costs are roughly involved in working with a coach?

Hi RichieG,

I've taken on a month's coaching initially to see if it's something I could look at more longterm. As in one of my earlier posts I want to concentrate on getting a good grounding in the training aspects rather than picking a race I want to target (although they can do this also). I get a weekly training plan after talking with the guys at A1 to see what time I can give or if I have races planned and they work around that.

I upload my training spins to them via TrainingPeaks (they set up your account) and then there is a lot of interaction via phone/email/TrainingPeaks to see how I got on/how the workouts felt etc.

As regard's pricing, it's probably best to contact them direct to discuss you r requirements.

calistro

No race planned for this coming weekend so after talking to the lads at A1 they've given me a fortnights training plan consisting:

Week 1 circa 11hrs ride time which includes:

Vo2 Max efforts
Endurance rides
Fartlek
Endurance/Muscular Strength Spins & the all important recovery days.

Week 2

Pacing Efforts
Endurance Training
Recovery rides
Pre-race workouts as race planned for the 21st

This will be a big step up in my training so I'll update each day after the workouts
Nervously looking forward to it

Inquitus

Given A4 races are short, do they really value long endurance spins as a training requirement?

Edit: A better way to ask the question would be. What length and intensity are the endurance spins?

Ken1975

Inquitus wrote: »

Given A4 races are short, do they really value long endurance spins as a training requirement?

Edit: A better way to ask the question would be. What length and intensity are the endurance spins?

Regardless of length / distance / time for these sessions, you should always make allowances and consideration for when you upgrade to the next category.

Im playing a bit of catch up this season because of my upgrade so early in the season. My winter didnt go according to plan so I didnt get the amount of endurance spins required for A1/A2 racing. I (stupidly) only really focused on the A3 distances.
Wont be making that mistake this winter.

Inquitus

Ken1975 wrote: »

Regardless of length / distance / time for these sessions, you should always make allowances and consideration for when you upgrade to the next category.

Im playing a bit of catch up this season because of my upgrade so early in the season. My winter didnt go according to plan so I didnt get the amount of endurance spins required for A1/A2 racing. I (stupidly) only really focused on the A3 distances.
Wont be making that mistake this winter.

Good point Ken.

calistro

Inquitus wrote: »

Given A4 races are short, do they really value long endurance spins as a training requirement?

Edit: A better way to ask the question would be. What length and intensity are the endurance spins?

I suppose what you're not seeing is the detail in each session as I think it would be unfair to A1 Coaching to put up every detail of the training plan. And as it is tailored to my own needs/requirements the need for some endurance work is required.

To give you an example, a 3hr endurance would be mainly in the endurance power zones with a set time in the last hour at tempo.