Focus. Focus on your Strengths. Focus on your Weaknesses. Focus on the demands of the course. Focus on the demands of the race. WHERE should you FOCUS?
I’m going to keep this short.
This is an image of a client’s State Time Trial Championship. It’s a little under 40K. He rode it VERY well, but now that we’re training to improve upon last year’s effort, the question has been asked: Where should we FOCUS our intervals?
One would think that we’re going to Focus on Xert’s “Time Trial” concentration, or somewhere “Out on the tail.”
And that would be WRONG.
This is a race file. Look at the FOCUS.
“GC Specialist”
What?
That’s right.
And this is just one workout example that might help this individual improve upon their “GC Specialist” Focus.
I’ve got another file of this same client from this weekend. It’s a <8mi TT. It took less than 16 minutes. Again, one might think that his “Focus” should be around the “Sprint TT” area.
This image may be hard to read, because I had to zoom out, so just for the record, here is what I highlighted:
- 20-minute power: 352 watts
- Focus: Rouleur (6-minute power)
- Focus Duration: 6:15
- Time Period: 15:48
- XEP: 350
- Final Metrics:
- HR: 177bpm
- Altitude: 820′
- MPA: 560w
- Best Effort watts: 414w
Translation? He needs to be FOCUSING on 6-minute Power, not 20-minute power! Look at the “Rolling” terrain in this image – ergo, he’s a “Rouleur”!
So this athlete, NOT using a Garmin smart head unit, has been FOCUSING his training out towards the 20-minute MMP values, but given this race result, another race result the weekend before, and another one the weekend before that, along with the FUTURE GOAL race of a State Time Trial Championship….. he’s actually been training, guess where?
That’s right: His weekly volume ratios have placed him in the Rouleur (6-minute power), and Breakaway Specialist (5-minute power) values. His Signature continues to improve. While we are not “Focused” on his 20-minute power (I can’t change that from the coaching portal of Xert’s software), that value continues to rise, showing improvements in sustainable effort over time.
Xert is the most powerful training tool around, but it is still in its’ infancy in terms of development. As a coach, it’s my duty to get people to understand that the right mix of FREQUENCY, INTENSITY, and TIME, can lead to better results.
Oh yeah – I forgot to mention. This athlete has finished 2nd in all 3 of this year’s Time Trials, and at 48, the only person beating him are cyclists in their early 20’s, with 12-20 hours per week of training under their bibs.
